It is described by UNESCO as having "exceptional natural beauty in its soaring basaltic buttresses, incisive dramatic cutbacks, and golden sandstone ramparts... the site’s diversity of habitats protects a high level of endemic and globally threatened species, especially birds and plants... [and it] also contains many caves and rock-shelters with the largest and most concentrated group of paintings in Africa south of the Sahara".

[3] The Drakensberg area is characterised by a high level of endemism of both vertebrates and invertebrates.

[4][5] Most of the higher South African parts of the Drakensberg escarpment formation have been designated as game reserves or wilderness areas.

The uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park is also in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (under the Ramsar Convention).

Mkhomazi Wilderness Area is a region of deserted badlands in the Drakensberg, lying between the Giant's Castle and the Sani Pass.