quality:corruption, linguistic:translation, structural:reformatting
Appearance

The escarpment seen from below resembles a range of mountains. The Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Lesotho Drakensberg have hard erosion-resistant upper surfaces and therefore have a very rugged appearance, combining steep-sided blocks and pinnacles (giving rise to the Zulu name "Barrier of up-pointed spears"). Who first gave these mountains their Afrikaans or Dutch name Drakensberg, and why, is unknown. The KwaZulu-Natal – Free State Drakensberg are composed of softer rocks and therefore have a more rounded, softer appearance from below. Generally, the top of the escarpment is almost table-top flat and smooth, even in Lesotho. The "Lesotho Mountains" are formed away from the Drakensberg escarpment by erosion gulleys which turn into deep valleys containing tributaries of the Orange River. The large number of such tributaries give the Lesotho Highlands a very rugged mountainous appearance, both from the ground and from the air.

The higher parts of Drakensberg have a mildly periglacial environment. It is possible that recent climate change has diminished the intensity of periglaciation.

Knight and Grab mapped out the distribution of lightning strikes in the Drakensburg and discovered that lightning significantly controls the evolution of the mountain landscapes because it helps to shape the summit areas – the highest areas – with this blasting effect. Previously, angular debris was presumed to have been created by changes typical of cold, periglacial environments, such as fracturing due to frost.