Beyond the turn-off to Pevensey the R617 continues to swing west towards Underberg and Himeville under the soaring fastnesses of the Drakensberg.  These two villages give access to all the wilderness areas, reserves and parks of the Southern Drakensberg, including Mzimkhulu, Mzimkulwana, Sehlabathebe and Mkhomazi.

Underberg, on the Mzimkhulu River, started out as a single store built to serve the settlers who had started farming there in 1886.  Because the authorities thought the settlement lacked adequate natural defences in times of trouble, they promoted a new village, Himeville, 5km to the north, as the seat of the magistracy for the district.  Nevertheless, in 1916 Underberg was chosen as the terminus of the 62km branch railway line built from Donnybrook (on the Pietermaritzburg-Kokstad line) to serve the area.  The village is dominated in the east by the mountain Hlokoma (1904m) whose name means 'the place of echoes'.  

The vegetation of the 1937 m squared district is mainly grassland and the main economic activity is cattle and sheep ranching.  It is a very well watered region:  the Mzimkhulu and its tributaries as well as a multiplicity of other streams rise in the foothills of the Drakensberg within 30 to 40km west of the village.  Trout fishing is excellent.

* Coleford Nature Reserve and fishing resort (1272ha), some 25km south of Underberg, was established in 1948.  The reserve is used by the Natal Parks Board to breed various antelope species.

* The Reichenau Mission, about 20km east of Underberg, was founded in 1886 on the banks of the Pholela River and named for the German monastery island of Reichenau.  The stone and brick buildings include a church with beautiful stained glass windows, a monastery and convent.  The mill on the river was used until recently to generate electricity.

Accommodation in and around Underberg