The picturesque Barberton valley lies cradled in a basin edged by the high cliffs of the northern Drakensberg escarpment in South Africa

In the center of this valley is one of the most unusual and worth patronizing flying schools and facilities in the world. 'Pyramid' is owned and run by Brian Young - surely also one of the worlds most flamboyant characters.

But it is a fine May morning, Autumn in South Africa....

...and I have just solo'ed on the Cheetah....

As I taxi along the grassy strip, occcasionally veering to the edge to scare away the flocks of wild guinea fowl, I press the transmit button and speak into the microphone......

"Pyramid traffic, this is Delta Delta Golf entering and back tracking runway 12 to hold position, Pyramid traffic "

I check flaps and magnetos and instruments and thrust the throttle forward.... A bit of right pedal to counter the engine torque.....

"Barberton valley traffic this is Zulu Uniform Delta Delta Golf rolling on Pyramid 12 for a right depature. Will be climbing to 45 with altimeter 1026 and heading south west to the general flying area. Delta Delta Golf"

With only myself in the aircraft, the 82 hp 2 stroke Rotax has us up to 300' AGL by the time I head over the end of the runway

The Barberton valley runs down and becomes the Kaapmuiden Valley.

The cold autumn air spills down over the escarpmen t and forms the blanket of fog that lies heavy in its languidity.

The Kaapmuiden valley opens up onto the flat lowveld plain that stretches into Mozambique and the distant coast.

I fly over the Crocodile River near where it enters the world famous Kruger National Park. The park stretches all the way to the Mozambique border.

As we cross the border into the Kruger National Park, Brian Young tells me to drop down the the minimum allowed altitude in the park - 1500' agl and we start to look for game.

Brian took momentary control of the plane and banked to allow me to take an easy picture of this Giraffe browsing unconcernedly below.

After flying over the park for some time I head the aircraft back to the Barberton valley and we get back into the mountain regions. This time we route via the start of the Crocodile River gorge.

The jumbled granite inselbergs slide by the aircraft as we cross over rough terrain that stretches to the Swaziland border.

Nestled in the valleys between the peaks is some great farm land.

The fields of sugar cane and planatations of macadamia nuts form a picturesque quilt work from the air

After almost 2 hours of flying the Barberton Valley rolls back beneath the aircraft. As we get closer the Pyramid runways become differentiated from the surrounding sea of bush.

"Pyramid traffic this is Delta Delta Golf on long final for 12, Delta Delta Golf"

I slow the plane enough to put in 10 degrees of flaps and coming off power let the plane drop at 60mph towards the runway.

After landing I prepare a late salad breakfast.

I sit and enjoy the warmth of the sunshine and the view across the valley towards the distant town of Barberton and the road beyond that climbs the hills towards the Swaziland border.

Finally it is friday evening and as the sun sets a fire is made in the Lapa firepit. I am joined by some of the pilots that have arrived to fly their trikes and we enjoy a 'sundowner' and swap tales of flight and flying.