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I did the Icidi pass from the Cultural centre some years ago and remember there being an awesome cave on the left of the valley (almost like Xeni cave, only with a view). I have read that Grasscutters cave is presently not the best accomodation option but this cave (perhaps Jubilee?) was further up the pass and at the time really really special, does anyone know the name of the cave or been there recently?

What exactly have you heard about Grasscutter's Cave that it is not good accommodation?

Both caves are used by the locals, and you will see signs of this (like fires and a bit of rubbish), but it's not too bad and I would happily still use both caves. I quite like Grasscutters - very well sheltered and has a small waterfall going over the front. Lies very close to the trail, but it's so well protected by trees that you can easily walk by and not know it. Jubilee is also a fantastic cave with a lovely view. It lies above the trail, easily visible, and from below it is characterised by a large, beautiful section of overhanging sandstone, which comes to a point in the middle with wide, black streaks running down across the face. Both caves lie pretty close to each other, but it sounds like you are referring to Jubilee.

This is one of my favourite valleys and the caves are great!

thank you very much, it certainly was / is Jubilee, one of the most amazing places I have seen, I remember us sheltering there after hiking the whole day in pouring rain, having had to turn back at the actual pass, it was so wet we couldn't (and I mean couldn't) get up the grass slopes, they were too slippery! I don't remember jubilee being dingy at all (perhaps I have low standards) why would the locals use either cave? it's not like they are on the way to anywhere?

I've been trying to work out which cave we stayed in before going up Icidi. It was relatively small, with another cave next door perhaps 5-10m away. Which one would that have been? Where is the other relative to this?

The night we stayed there, some locals camped next door. We offered them tea and sugar and so on. We kept pretty much to ourselves after that, but without any hassle. They were there to grow dope in the valley.

We went up Icidi pass the next day. Left at 4:30am in the soft rain (it was 31 Dec) and made the mistake of hugging the south side of the valley hoping for easy access into the pass. Our shins got destroyed by sharp, leafless sticks, so after about 30 minutes we dropped back into the river and walked up stream. The river was pretty full and we had to go up some steep river banks to work our way round some 3-4m high waterfalls. After all that, the pass seemed like a breeze, although there was still more to come that day as we needed to find a cave - it was summer and we had laughed off taking the tent. We made it to Mbundini cave by about 1:30pm - just just before the mist enveloped the escarpment. No one in our party had been to Mbundini cave before, so we were pleased to find it. The nice bottle of red wine didn't even make it out of the bag that night - everyone was too tired!

Great story - if anybody ever finds a semblance of a path on Icidi, please let me know!

I haven't been to Jubilee but Grasscutter's Cave would certainly not be described as small! The sleeping area is limited as far as I can remember (we didn't sleep there, just walked past) but the overhang itself is massive. Like something you would expect to find in Golden Gate.

Another one to add for some Icidi nostalgia:

We came down the pass in 2001 with the constant presence of helicopters in the river below us. A few hours later, just after a scramble past the first waterfall, we arrived at the scene. There were about 6 slaughtered cattle lying in the river. The police were on the scene - hence the choppers. After explaining to us that Basotho had raided the cattle from the foothills and slaughtered them at the first major obstacle in the pass (presumably carrying the meat up the pass into Lesotho), one of the policemen requested that we take photos of the scene as they did not have a camera with them. He left us with the address of the Bergville police station and we posted the images to him a few days later.

Needless to say, we waited until we were well up the Mnweni valley before drinking from the rivers again!

Stijn wrote:
There were about 6 slaughtered cattle lying in the river. The police were on the scene - hence the choppers. After explaining to us that Basotho had raided the cattle from the foothills and slaughtered them at the first major obstacle in the pass (presumably carrying the meat up the pass into Lesotho)....

Interesting that they chose Icidi pass. I would guess because no one in hot pursuit would expect them to go that way? On the other hand if cows can't walk up Mbundini or Mnweni Pass, which are probably the least rocky in the catchment, then thieves are left with carrying meat up in any case. Icidi would be the first valley with a pass in it when coming from the Mnweni Valley.

Its also interesting that choppers would go after 6 stolen cows. I wonder if there were events leading up to this? Was it winter Stijn or your supertraverse summer trip? If in winter, you'd expect the meat to last quite a while in the shade.