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South Africa South Africa cliff

Amphitheatre

You can see 187 km from here, looking north-east.

74Viewyas Score

CliffLong view

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 187 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

74out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 187 kmFarthest ridgelooking north-east
  • 92%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 8Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
  • 2,963 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

The 8 peaks you can name from here

From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.

Bothasberg2,007 m · 143 km · northImpati Mountain1,595 m · 146 km · north-eastMont-Aux-Sources3,282 m · 3.4 km · westElandskop1,762 m · 146 km · north-west

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are from June to August.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Janwest24 min before the sea-level sunset38%
  2. Febwest20 min before the sea-level sunset40%
  3. Marwest14 min before the sea-level sunset46%
  4. Aprwest14 min before the sea-level sunset52%
  5. Maywest6 min before the sea-level sunset65%
  6. Junnorth-west10 min before the sea-level sunset71%
  7. Julnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset77%
  8. Augwest10 min before the sea-level sunset72%
  9. Sepwest16 min before the sea-level sunset65%
  10. Octwest18 min before the sea-level sunset50%
  11. Novwest20 min before the sea-level sunset46%
  12. Decsouth-west24 min before the sea-level sunset37%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Amphitheatre.

Cliff of the Northern Drakensberg, South Africa

Amphitheatre is a cliff in South Africa, 2,963 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 187 km away, looking north-east.

8 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Mont-Aux-Sources (3,282 m), 3 km away.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 92% of the circle.

The skies are clearest from June to August.

Amphitheatre Drakensberg
User:Bothar · Public domain

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Tours, cable cars and tickets for AmphitheatreGetYourGuideSee prices Stays with a view near AmphitheatreBooking.comSee prices Car hire at MSU airport (Maseru)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Amphitheatre seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 7other viewpoints within 5 kmThukela Falls, Tunnel and 5 more
  • 13named peaks within 5 kmSekhong, Sentinel, Devil's Tooth and 10 more
  • 2marked trails within 3 kmMont-aux-Sources Challenge, Drakensberg Sentinel - Cathedral
  • 1shelters and huts within 5 km
  • 3campsites within 10 kmRoyal Natal Mahai Camping
  • 6places to stay within 10 kmTendele Hutted Camp, Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge, Witsies Mountain Lodge and 3 more
  • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • visitor centres within 5 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

What you see from Amphitheatre, and what is near.

Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

Peakyas56 mountains within 25 km
Eastern Buttress · 1.4 kmMont-Aux-Sources3,282 m · 3.4 kmSentinel · 3.4 kmIfidi Pinacles3,070 m · 4.2 kmPhofung3,215 m · 4.9 kmNamahadi Peak3,274 m · 9.5 kmMnweni Pinnacles3,151 m · 16 kmScramble Kop1,638 m · 22 km
Birdyas1 birding sites within 25 km
Orange River26 species · 18 km
Cascadyas4 waterfalls within 15 km
Bilanjil Falls · 1.6 kmTugela Falls948 m · 2.5 kmMahai Falls · 7.6 kmTiger Falls · 7.6 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The view, as people saw it.

Drakensberg 00
Iri Soda · CC BY-SA 3.0
Amphitheatre Drakensberg View
PhilippN · CC BY-SA 3.0
South Africa - Drakensberg (16261357780)
Diriye Amey from Locarno, Switzerland · CC BY 2.0

Other viewpoints nearby.

Amphitheatre

South Africa

  • 74Viewyas Score
  • 187 kmFarthest ridge
  • 8Peaks in view
  • 2,963 mAltitude

Mont-Aux-Sources

Lesotho · 3 km

  • 83Viewyas Score
  • 203 kmFarthest ridge
  • 18Peaks in view
  • 3,261 mAltitude

See the guide

Njesuthi

Lesotho · 65 km

  • 83Viewyas Score
  • 229 kmFarthest ridge
  • 17Peaks in view
  • 3,446 mAltitude

See the guide

Thabana Ntlenyana

Lesotho · 85 km

  • 82Viewyas Score
  • 164 kmFarthest ridge
  • 17Peaks in view
  • 3,472 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q2844394) · CC0
SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Birdyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit