It’s 6.30p.m. and dusk is falling outside the century-old watering hole, the Himeville Arms. As far as the eye can see, the sky is a dense mass of swirling, circling birds. A host of faces are turned skywards and a quiet debate rumbles among the residents as to how many Amur Redfooted Kestrels are preparing to roost in the nearby grove of trees. Figures on the table range from 6 000 to 10 000. It’s the most impressive, astonishing, unexpected sight – a little like being caught on a movie set while the camera’s rolling. The locals say this migration is a regular feature of the Underberg skyline between January and April each year. They even signpost it to alert visitors to the phenomenon. Both Underberg and its neighbour, Himeville, are full of such surprises. If their names conjure up images of pretty, sleepy little hamlets, don’t be fooled. Certainly, they’re more than pretty, situated as they are on picturesque farmland. However, this region has cultivated a reputation as one of KwaZulu-Natal’s adventure spots, both stimulating the adrenaline junkies and soothing quieter souls. This is the southern Drakensberg region – a World Heritage site incorporating the uKhahlamba National Park – and apart from the myriad mountain-related adventure activities it offers, it is also the gateway to the tortuous Sani Pass, and Lesotho beyond. A wide, wild river runs through it.

Leaving Durban and nipping off at Howick, the R617 dips and winds towards Underberg and Himeville through some extraordinarily beautiful countryside. In summer, the valley is every shade of green imaginable, peppered with sunflowers and all the charming sights of rural Africa. But when the weather closes in, mist, dense fog and snow are common, making it an unenviable ride with poor visibility, slow trucks and even slower tractors. The road is fit for those keen to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

The variety of seasonal experiences available are the magnets that draw scores of visitors – local and international, alone or in tour groups – to this spot at the very foot of the southern Drakensberg. Tourists flock to the area for speciffc adventures, such as the recent Drak Challenge (the canoeing leg begins in Underberg) as well as quad-biking, canoeing, mountain-biking, horse riding, hiking and climbing. The adventures are on offer all year round, while major sponsored sporting events are held intermittently to draw the young, the robust and the restless.

In stark contrast to the adrenaline-fuelled adventure sports is the quieter life of the fly- fishermen, who book themselves into cosy bedand- breakfasts, self-catering cottages, boutique lodges, camps or rustic backpacker-type accommodation and prepare to cast onto the trout-filled waters that flow just a hop away from their doorsteps. This region is renowned for offering more fly-fishing opportunities than any other district in South Africa, and is well -stocked with brown trout and rainbow trout. Private waters abound; the Underberg-Himeville Trout Fishing Club (UHTFC) controls access to some of the  nest trout waters (in the region of 160 kilometres of river, plus 60 dams, with a combined surface area exceeding 400 hectares) in the southern Drakensberg. Bass fishing is also popular here. For the non-fishing partner there is the assurance of a weekend spent in blissful surrounds accompanied solely by the sounds of birds and the odd camera click.

Wolf Avni, author and renowned fly- fisherman, owns and runs Giant’s Cup Wilderness Reserve, a registered site of Conservation Signi cance that Robert Brandon-Kirby described in his book, Fly-Fishing in Southern Africa, as ‘one of the world’s most beautiful trout angling resorts’. Here, one can fish for wildspawning trout of up to 10,5 pounds while enjoying the surrounding countryside, which supports herds of grazing eland and mountain reedbuck as African Black Eagles and Lammergeyers (bearded vultures) circle overhead. For 4x4 fanatics, the road to Sani Pass is paved with nail-biting features. As the third-steepest pass in the world and the only road that crosses the summit of the Drakensberg, Sani Pass leads the brave straight up to the world’s highest pub, and the wonders of the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho beyond.

For mountain bikers, the ride up Sani can range from five kilometres for children and beginners, up to 100 kilometres for the more experienced. It’s a dirt road that begins deceptively as a gradual incline before becoming increasingly steep, with hairpin bends and precipitous drops into the valley below – not for the fainthearted. Lotheni is just one of the many superb reserves that visitors can choose from, with accommodation and leisure activities falling under the auspices of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. For mountain-bikers, the trails can be effortless, like the 14-kilometre trail in the Lotheni Nature Reserve, which runs past the historical Gelib Tree site, or they can be gruelling, such as the Giant’s Castle Mountain Bike Challenge, which pits cyclists against Nature.

Visitors can bird-watch solo at Lotheni, armed with a list of 170 or so species of bird, source an expert guide, or join a bird-watching trail. Most of the walks, from short rambles to overnight hikes, cross the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, which is also administered by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, although some private landowners offer trails through their properties.

A number of private organisations employ extremely knowledgeable, qualiffied guides, all of whom are registered with the Field Guides Association of South Africa, or FGASA, and offer guided hikes to suit both stamina and purse in the ’Berg and Lesotho. Ezemvelo are the custodians of the self-guided five-day Giant’s Cup Trail from Sani Pass to Bushman’s Nek, with nights spent in hiking huts built to shelter up to 30 people. Accommodation on other hikes is found in caves or tents.Self-guided day walks range from a gentle two-kilometre walk to Jacob’s Ladder for a picnic, followed by a dip in the natural pools, to the more strenuous 20-kilometre Emerald Stream Trail, which offers superb bird-watching and game viewing. Then, of course, there’s Splashy Fen. Arguably the country’s finest local music festival (certainly the longest-running one), it’s held annually on the farm Splashy Fen, 19 kilometres outside Underberg. This five-day event has mushroomed over the 19 years of its existence to include local music of all genres, from folk and light folk rock to mbaqanga and iscathamiya, mainstream music to alternative rock and pop. The craft festival is legendary. Although the Splashy Fen experience comprises the inevitable trilogy of rain, mud and damp, for thousands of annual pilgrims it’s the highlight of their social music calendar. Many of South Africa’s most successful musicians took their first step into the public eye at Splashy Fen, which has proved an effective launch pad for numerous international music careers.

Underberg, Himeville and the surrounding farmlands, which fall under the Kwasani Municipality, recently met with interested commercial parties to discuss plans for the revitalisation of the town centre. No doubt the area is in need of such an effort, for as you approach Underberg from on high, you get a tantalising vista of trees that sadly gives way to a rather haphazard-looking town centre. Pedestrians, taxis, cars, informal traders and local businesses are all unattractively entwined, and demarcation of areas is desperately needed. The municipality’s vision for a revamp of this area is warmly welcomed by residents, business owners and, ultimately, by tourists as well. It’s a charming town but needs a front door to match. Plans are underway to implement Phase One of the project by 2010.

Underberg is farming country. To a large extent, its economy revolves around farming and related services, a range of professional services for residents, a grocery store or two, a couple of restaurants, and tourism businesses such as art galleries and craft shops. Sue Acutt of Acutts Estate Agents says tourism in the area is big and growing, so accommodation of various types has become soughtafter as much for setting up home as for establishing businesses. The region currently supports 140 registered bed-and-breakfasts and self-catering guesthouses, and they’re all chockfull in peak season and over long weekends. Sue says there are about 600 houses in the two villages, with residents ranging demographically from roughly 200 farmers, traders serving the farming community, retirees and weekenders, to young couples seeking a country lifestyle for their children. She says one of the most common questions asked by those who want to leave behind the stresses of the city and move to this area is: ‘What can we do here to earn a living?’ Tourism, comes the reply – be it in the form of a little bed-and-breakfast, a large five-star guest lodge, a unique arts and crafts experience or, of course, something for the flocks of adventurers, because the more tourism entrepreneurs there are in the region, the more attractive it will become for tourists. Like elsewhere in the country, property values appreciated signifficantly between 2003 and 2006, and Sue says prime land realised 300 per cent.

Angela Walker of Pam Golding Properties says that properties doubled and trebled in price between 2003 and early 2007, with a vacant piece of land changing hands two or three times during that period. She assesses the current property market as follows: entry-level homes (which are in short supply, she adds) sell for around R550 000. A middle-of-the-range three-bedroom family home that is in good shape and situated in a good area would fetch between R800 000 and R1,2- million. Prices climb to R3,75-million for a new five-bedroom, five-bathroom dwelling on a quiet road in Underberg. Good commercial farms are in short supply. She says: ‘This is a highly productive farming area and the farmers are motivated and progressive. Smallholdings, too, are in limited supply and river/water frontage and views fetch high prices.’ She estimates that, depending on its attributes, a 20-hectare vacant smallholding would sell for between R1,2- and R1,9-million.

Estate agents believe that it was the property boom that drove the major changes to the region’s landscape over the past few years. They all agree that the emergence of numerous midand up-market housing estates and a couple of shopping centres are clear signs of those times. Sue adds that subdivisions of over 100 hectares of agricultural land, which is far better controlled by the Department of Agriculture nowadays, are being considered.

For city slickers, it remains an eye-opener to come across the cutest, mint-condition cottage with a charming garden and beautiful vistas of the ’Berg, river or dam for under R1,5-million. While it would be naïve to suggest that crime is non-existent here, residents insist that it’s minor and consists mostly of stock theft along the Lesotho border and low-key, petty theft that is mostly targeted at holiday homes. Plus there is the Community Farm Watch for added peace of mind. The wonderful thing about this region is that no matter what you choose to do, there’s the loud and the quiet, the calm and the active version. You can walk gently or hike professionally, take a gentle horse ride or head for the hills at a gallop, take a rock art tour or listen to rock live at Splashy Fen. Life here can be anything you want it to be. Just add water, and in winter – glorious snow.