The Tugela Falls plunge 948 metres off the Mont-aux-Sources plateau in five leaps, the longest single drop being around 411 metres. They are visible from below as a thin silver thread on the face of the Amphitheatre, though the scale only becomes clear when you stand on the escarpment edge and look down.
The falls can be approached from two directions. The most popular route climbs from Royal Natal National Park through the gorge and up the chain ladders to the top — a full day's hike that ends with the extraordinary view from the escarpment. A shorter and less-visited path approaches from the Lesotho side, starting at Sentinel Peak, which allows hikers to reach the top of the falls in around three hours from the car park.
The Lesotho approach is often overlooked by travellers coming from the KwaZulu-Natal side. The road to Sentinel Peak crosses into the Free State before reaching the trailhead, and the surroundings — high Lesotho plateau, basalt formations, a landscape with almost nothing built in it — are part of the reward.