This site aims to make all relevant information on the Drakensberg cableway proposal readily accessible, and available to everyone.
Views from all sides of the debate are presented.
Site last updated: 12 August 2023
The idea of a cable car in the Drakensberg is nothing new, having been in existence for some 20 years. No proposal has been successful to date. The site for the current proposal - driven by the KZN Provincial Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DEDTEA) - is in the Busingatha Valley, in the Northern Drakensberg, with the proposed top station being near Mount Amery.
There is a dedicated forum thread on the mountain-interest community site Vertical Endeavour where all updates, comments, questions, opinions and documents are regularly posted: Drakensberg Cable Car discussion thread
Updates are also posted on The Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains Facebook page.
Current Status
In the latter half of 2016, the Democratic Alliance received a written reply to several queries that they had directed at the KZN DEDTEA. From the response we learned that the initial studies on the Busingatha proposal released in 2013 did not address certain technical and regulatory requirements which are needed for the EIA. Thus a new feasibility study has been launched with the hope of establishing the proper documentation this time. This implies that the R1.2 million reportedly spent on the 2013 studies goes to waste. No updates on the progress of the current study have been released.
The KZN Section of the Mountain Club of South Africa recently released detailed and insightful notes on the investment conference held in 2016.
A detailed history on the sequence of events of the proposal can be viewed here.