An active warbler with a long graduated tail that is sometimes cocked. It is warm brown above and yellowish below with fine streaks mostly restricted to the chest and lacking on the throat and belly. Pairs frequent grassland and scrub near rivers, or forest edge, where they are active gleaners of insects, occasionally hopping on the ground. The typical song is a reedy piping “kli” note repeated 4-15 times, with scratchy buzzing notes interspersed. The similar Karoo Prinia differs from the Drakensberg Prinia by having colder upperparts, whiter underparts, and more extensive streaks and blotches on the underparts that often extend to the throat and belly.