Whytes Cave via Robs Cave Gully

We recently hiked to Whytes Cave from Garden Castle and did the route via the gully that runs up past Robs Cave.
Whytes is one of my all time favourite caves in the Berg and as usual did not disappoint. We started the hike from Garden Castle and elected to cut off the rather tedious section of the Giants Cup Trail by heading up the path towards Sleeping Beauty Cave and then taking a direct off path route to the left up and over Swiman Ridge.

Once down the other side, we headed down towards the river where Secret Valley joins the main Hidden Valley and from there made our way upstream. It’s a steep climb up to Robs Cave and we stopped to have lunch before continuing. I don’t think many people sleep in Robs Cave as it is not exactly 5 star accommodation, but the views are great.

The gully is very choked with undergrowth and trees at the bottom section but we managed to avoid the worst bit by walking along a narrow ledge that runs next to the cave and then climbing down into the gully by means of a very obliging tree.

From here progress is fairly straight forward – there is a vague path which I think is more of an animal track more than anything else as I am not sure this would be a well used route. Once at the top of the gully, there are two choices, a steep grassy bank to the left and another steep tree filled gully to the right. We elected to take the left hand route and had another very steep slog to get to the top.





The views we had from here were superb but not for long as the mist was closing in fast . We headed right and followed the ridge around, eventually coming out at a high point. From here we could see the huge sandstone cliffs that tower above Whytes Cave below us so knew we were heading in the right direction. We headed down the steep grassy slopes that lead down to the river at the bottom and from here there is a path, although a bit overgrown. The waterfall at Whytes was flowing strongly and it’s the first time I have seen the first section of the waterfall that comes down from the side in full spate.





The next day we walked out via White Horse Cave and Painters Cave, again experiencing very thick mist before eventually joining the Giants Cup trail and the long trudge back to Garden Castle.
A most magical cave and area – and always a very special place to be!

Thanks for the write up Elinda.

Your photos really capture the majesty of the Berg well.

Myself and Elaine spent 3 days exploring in the Garden Castle area. We left the Wildlife office and went over Sondonzima Ridge into Hidden Valley, then up to overnight at Wave Cave. The next morning we climbed onto the ridge overlooking Curtain Cave and discovered a cave we called Black Rock Cave as the floor was one big black rock. On top we admired the valley above Robs Cave area and joined in with the path going to Whytes Cave area. We walked into the area above Whytes cave, something we have been wanting to do and admired the rock formations. As always we enjoyed overnighting at Whytes cave and then back to the Wildlife office via the Giants Cup Trial. My photos can be viewed at....goo.gl/photos/m5hqKM2UVcS6dNLa9

Thanks for the report, the link to the pics doesn't work for me though..

@Papa Dragon: the link should work now. Here it is as well.... goo.gl/photos/m5hqKM2UVcS6dNLa9

Thanks Richard, beautiful pics. Can't wait for next weekend..

Richard Hunt wrote: @Papa Dragon: the link should work now. Here it is as well.... goo.gl/photos/m5hqKM2UVcS6dNLa9

Fantastic photos!

To follow up on Richards post, here is my write up of the hike.
Richard and I did a hike over three days last weekend from the Drak Gardens Parks Board office. The main aim was to explore the area immediately above Whyte’s Cave as I have always wanted to see where the river enters above the cave, thereafter plunging down the massive overhang into the pool below
On day one, we climbed up and over the Sondonzima Ridge ( which is the ridge directly behind Swiman Hut) into the main Hidden Valley, thus avoiding the longer round route of the Giants Cup Trail. We got to Curtain Cave and noted that there was no water flowing at all through the cave, only a rather stagnant looking pool. There is a sleeping area in the cave, but it’s pretty dark and the floor slightly sloping. We went a little further to Wave Cave which has a lovely open feel with a flat area that will sleep 3 – 4 people. There was water flowing in the gully behind the cave and we settled in for the remainder of the afternoon, taking a walk with our cameras. We noticed clouds coming in from the escarpment and later that evening, thick mist engulfed the cave, becoming very wet and making everything damp. This drifted away in the early hours of the morning so our sleeping bags dried out by themselves by the time we packed up next morning. There was still a lot of cloud about, but this coupled with the soft drizzle and mist of the night before made the colours brighter and the grasses redder, making for good photography.
Previously I have used the ridge just beyond the caves to get to the plateau above, but we had spotted a huge overhang high above Curtain cave, so we decided to climb up and take a look. It took us about an hour to get there and it was steep in places, but the views were worth it. The overhang is massive with a black rock as the floor – one could sleep there but it would be a problem in Summer as there is a waterfall coming over the top and falling directly on to the rock. Fine for Winter if you are prepared to slog up there with water and the views are amazing. I am sure we are not the first to have gone up to this cave, but we named it ‘Black Rock Cave’. From here we traversed around and up the final grass slopes to the ridge that overlooks the valley that runs behind Robs Cave. Fascinating to see all the rock formations and many gullies that make up this area and we will probably make a return visit some time to explore this further. From here we found the path that comes down from Mzimude Pass – G18a. It comes and goes, but you can generally find your way. Once we reached the high point of the ridge we turned off and headed for Whyte’s Cave. We descended into the valley immediately above the cave and noticed that the waterfall below is fed by two streams that converge behind the massive rocky formations just above the cave. The upper one is the perennial river and the lower one intermittent, although both were flowing, albeit slowly. We walked down to the lower one and I could see exactly where it flowed over a small gap into the drop off below. It falls into the gully and joins the flow from the higher stream. We had our lunch here enjoying the weird and wonderful rock formations that tower over the area – this is truly a fascinating place! We then made our way down to the cave and settled in.
A strong wind came up in the early hours and we were lucky it was blowing from the escarpment as we were mostly sheltered by the massive overhang. If it had been blowing from the other direction, we would have been covered in dust as Whyte’s is pretty sandy! We met the full force of the wind as we left the cave and this stayed with us throughout our walk out back to Drak Gardens which was via the Giants Cup Trail route.

All in all, an enjoyable exploratory hike to the ‘Cathedral’ of caves and surrounds



Wave Cave



Wave Cave from the top of Curtain Cave



Heading out from Wave Cave on Day 2



Black Rock Cave



Black Rock Cave



View looking into Valley behind Robs Cave

View looking towards Thaba Ngwangwe



Looking into the valley above Whytes Cave



Stream running into the top of Whytes Cave ( northern)



The sandstone cliffs of Whytes Cave

Thanx guys, great images of a beautiful area that i dont really know that well.

If you were sleeping where Richard was standing in Black Rock Cave, do you think you would get wet from the waterfall? Also how much higher was the top of the overhang, is the above image, a view looking into BRC?