Johann Franz Drège

Drège received his first training in horticulture at Göttingen and subsequently worked at botanical gardens in Munich, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Riga.

Smith did not disclose his political agenda for the trip, which was a meeting with Dingaan, and welcomed the scientific cloak given by the collectors' presence.

The Drège brothers spent Christmas of 1831 in Grahamstown and called on the apothecary Leopold Schmidt on his farm Glenfillan on the Brak River 20 km NE of the town.

Within two weeks the brothers set off from Grahamstown via Addo, Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Enon Mission, Zuurberg, following the Sundays River to Buffelsfontein near Jansenville, Swanepoelspoort, Aasvogelberg near Willowmore, Kammanassie Mountains, through the Langkloof, Essenbos, Gamtoos River, Port Elizabeth and Enon Mission.

The brothers Drège immediately prepared for their next expedition and shortly left Enon, travelling through Grahamstown, Fort Beaufort, Katberg Pass, Moravian Mission Station Shiloh, where they met Zeyher on 28 November, across the Stormberg, along Stormbergspruit/Sternbergspruit, Kraanberg/Kraamberg, Buffel Vallei at Aliwal North, across the Kraai River, Riet Vallei at Witteberg, across Bamboesspruit and Sterkspruit, Kornet Spruit on the border of Basutoland, back to Riet Vallei, Bamboeshoek near Lady Grey, Melkspruit, recross Kraai River back to Buffel Vallei, across Stormbergspruit and Suurbergspruit, Colesberg, along Seekoei River, Sneeuwberg, Graaff-Reinet, along Sundays River, Blaauwkrantz and back at Enon on 12 March.

Here they spent some time collecting in the Suurberg before returning to Cape Town via Gamtoos River, Langkloof to George, Swellendam, Genadendal, Paarl on 14 May 1833.

Carl Drège left for Europe on 7 July 1833 aboard the "Porcupine" with a large collection of specimens, and returned to Cape Town in January 1836.

Harry Bolus and Peter MacOwan praised his meticulous collecting and his astounding zest in covering vast areas of the countryside.