Bushman's Nek Pass

Bushman's Nek Pass

Started my mission yesterday 7 October 2015.
Our idea was to travel light in and out within 24 hrs.

Starting at KZN office in Bushman's nek up to Cedric's Pools.

Very flat and easy section but a lot or eroded paths. Take the main path closer to the left hand side hill away from river. Cedric's Pool is stunning and worth a swim. Evidence of otter in the area but we didn't sight any. Takes about an hour to do. About 4,8 kms and an ascent of 110m







Next Stage was to climb Bushman's Nek Pass. We took the right hand route which follows the river up from Cedrics pool and then doubles back along the flat spur meeting the pass above the erosion if you were to go straight up the cut backs from Cedric's.

There are about 4 steps to climb and this makes it one of the easiest passes to climb. Very scenic but does have erosion problems, we passed a Basotho with 2 horses and a donkey on his way down. Top of the pass is also about 4.8 km from Cedric's Pool and an ascent of 510m.




View from Pass:





We then hiked across the top to Tarns cave. It is a very flat section of the berg and the border is marked with a fence that is mostly in a state of disrepair. Was very easy to cross over into Lesotho. This is the first time I have ever en-counted some sort of fencing on the border. Tarn cave area is very different from any other area in the berg. There are stunning eroded rock formations and lovely tarns. It is almost something out of the movie Lord of the rings.











Top of Bushman's Nek to Tarn Cave is about 4.1 km and an ascent of 111m.

There is so much to explore here and its worth spending some time climbing some of the rock features. We Rested up at tarn cave.





Tarn Cave Scores 5 Thumbs ups
1 for water close by
2 for lots of space to cook
1 for warm spacious sleeping area
1 for epic views,
1 for ease of access.








Once we were done we set off back down the ridge by tarn cave and linked up with the path in the valley back to Cedric's Pool and then back to KZN office at Bushman's Nek.

Was a dark nigh hike with no moonlight and with the clear skies gave us an epic view of the milky way and Scorpio rising.

Took us about 12 hrs from start to finish with lots of stops and exploring and swim at both our stops at cedric pools. Was such a warm evening that the night swim was not brain numbing at all.

Enjoyed this quick berg experience and think I should make another trip soon.

Devil's Kuckles were calling me. So I think that's my next hike.

Thanks for the writeup

No arguement on the quality of the cave. Tarn Cave is a really awesome cave - I have slept in it twice. Easily the nicest small Berg cave I have ever used.

Wow! That's quite amazing - I have overnighted many times in Tarn Cave and have stood on that exact piece of rock that is now no more............quite sobering!

Thanks for sharing

Just serves to remind us that rock is not always rock-solid.