<P> When most South Africans and visitors speak of the Drakensberg, they refer to the Great Escarpment that forms the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu - Natal, believing it to be a range of mountains extending into Lesotho, more correctly known as the Lesotho Highlands . This highest portion of the Great Escarpment is known as uKhahlamba ("Barrier of up - pointed spears") in Zulu and Maluti in Sotho . </P> <P> About 180 million years ago, a mantle plume under southern Gondwana caused bulging of the continental crust in the area that would later become southern Africa . Within 10--20 million years rift valleys formed on either side of the central bulge, which became flooded to become the proto - Atlantic and proto - Indian oceans . The stepped steep walls of these rift valleys formed escarpments that surrounded the newly formed Southern African subcontinent . With the widening of the Atlantic, Indian and Southern oceans, Southern Africa became tectonically quiescent . Earthquakes rarely occur, and there has been no volcanic or orogenic activity for about 50 million years . An almost uninterrupted period of erosion has continued to the present, resulting in layers several kilometers thick having been lost from the surface of the plateau . A thick layer of marine sediment was consequently deposited onto the continental shelf (the lower steps of the original rift valley walls) which surrounds the subcontinent . </P> <P> During the past 20 million years, further massive upliftment, especially in the East, has taken place in Southern Africa . As a result, most of the plateau lies above 1,000 m (3,300 ft) despite the extensive erosion . The plateau is tilted such that its highest point is in the east, and it slopes gently downwards towards the west and south . The elevation of the edge of the eastern escarpments is typically in excess of 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It reaches its highest point (over 3,000 m (9,800 ft)) where the escarpment forms part of the international border between Lesotho and the South African province of KwaZulu - Natal . </P> <P> The upliftment of the central plateau over the past 20 million years and erosion resulted in the original escarpment being moved inland, creating the present - day coastal plain . The position of the present escarpment is approximately 150 km inland from the original fault lines which formed the walls of the rift valley that developed along the coast during the break - up of Gondwana . The rate of the erosion of the escarpment in the Drakensberg region is said to average 1.5 m (5 ft) per 1000 years, or 1.5 millimetres (⁄ in) per year . </P>

What is the average height of the highest peaks in the drakensberg mountain range