SA’s highest weather station has been installed right on top of the Amphitheatre in the Maloti-Drakensberg, 3100 metres above sea level!
Maloti-Drakensberg Park (18 November 2025) – Installed by the University of the Free State’s Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) together with the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), the station is now the highest in Southern Africa and one of the most important scientific tools in the mountains.
It forms part of EFTEON (the Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network), a national programme designed to gather long-term climate and environmental data.
The Drakensberg’s alpine zone is extremely important for water, weather and biodiversity, but up to now, it’s been one of the least studied environments in South Africa.
“This station represents years of collaboration between SAEON and the ARU,” said Prof Ralph Clark, Director of the ARU. “It opens a window into the environmental processes that shape mountain ecosystems, which are vital for water security and biodiversity.”
Getting the station up there was no small job. The team, Abri de Buys and Jeremy Moonsamy from EFTEON, had to place cutting-edge instruments on one of the most dramatic cliffs in the Drakensberg.
Now that it’s operating, the station will feed real-time data to researchers studying everything from temperature shifts to snow events, wind patterns and how the mountains store and release water.
Prof Johan van Tol, one of the co-coordinators of the project, says the data will help scientists understand long-term changes across the entire Maloti-Drakensberg system, a vital catchment area for both South Africa and Lesotho.
This new station also forms part of a full chain of monitoring sites stretching from UFS Qwaqwa Campus, up through Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge, and finally to the alpine ledge where the new equipment now stands. Together, they support the Mount-Aux-Sources Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Platform, which is the only cross-border research platform of its kind in Africa.
SAEON will maintain the station, and the public will be able to access its live data online. meaning anyone, from hikers to climate scientists, can see exactly what’s happening at the roof of Southern Africa.
Sources: Linked above.
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