Bannerman Cave

Strangely enough I seem to have never opened a thread on Bannerman Cave - after all the threads I have opened, what are the odds

Stranger yet, despite my most frequently done pass being a tie between Langies and Bannerman, its strange I've never even seen where the cave is (although I have never gone close enough to get a proper look).

How is Bannerman Cave? Size, dryness in late summer, comfort, security (I haven't seen a Basutho in this valley once - or on the north side of the Senqebethu Ridge for that matter), near to water etc.

I'm also interested whether or not there is a spot that tents could be pitched on near to the cave.

Photos would help greatly

I haven't been there for several years, but remember Bannerman Cave as being a lot better than "just a narrow damp hole". It was quite spacious as shown in some of the bergdotcodotza photos. There was also a well defined and well used path leading to Bannerman Cave from the Bannerman Face side and the Langalibalele Pass side. Unfortunately I don't have digital photos of it.

Ghaz, its high up on the right hand (escarpment) side ridge of the valley we walked up from our Langalibalele campsite to Bannerman Face on the GT. We were much lower down on the opposite side of the valley.

I was last there some years ago whilst on the North to South GT but also remember it as being not too bad, fairly spacious but dusty. I will see if I can find any photos that are on my external drive at home

I was there a month or so ago, spent a misty damp night there, the cave sort of has two sections, one fairly exposed and one very low more sheltered section, as far as berg caves go it is very average. It is on a fairly steep section, so not really anywhere to tent close by. We would have tented in the valley , but can across 5 or 6 horses so thought it safer to sleep in the cave.

As requested, some photos of Bannerman Cave.

From the Sanqebethu ridge, looking south towards Langalibalele Pass, Bannerman Cave is in the prominent rock band immediately in front of Giants Castle (just below the white mist around Langalibalele Pass above the rock band) in the photo below. The cave is just behind the front protruding bit of rock to the right.



As mentioned previously, there used to be a strong trail to the cave from both sides, but this has faded with time, and now is only strong close to the cave. Approaching from the north, near the start of the rock band, this cairn on the rock band marks the approach to the cave, which is to the left behind the bit of rock sticking out.



Looking in to Bannerman Cave, the main sleeping area is to the left behind the rock wall.



To the right there is a tunnel going in quite deep.



The main sleeping area on the left, the foreground is damp, but 4 - 6 people could sleep here.



The tunnel to the right is damp with an uneven floor, and someone has made a fire at the back; at a push 2 - 3 people could sleep here.



The best photo I could get of the outside of Bannerman Cave, you can see the slope outside the cave starting at the right foreground, that makes taking photos from further back impossible.



Note that if coming to Bannerman Cave from Langalibalele Pass, it is quite high up and you have to cross through several rock bands heading up to the cave. Once you are at the correct rock band it is easy to find, but much easier to find from Bannerman Pass side. Being south facing the cave is also very cold.

In mid December last year, The Real Dave and tonymarshall did a four pass hike at Giant’s Castle, and we overnighted in Bannerman Cave on the second night after ascending Hlubi Pass North. 

We had both seen the previous post by Smurfatefrog, and decided to use the opportunity to visit the other cave that he had mentioned while we were in the area, but were uncertain what to expect. It turned out that the other cave was not usable, as the flat area was a pond of water.  

 

If it wasn’t wet, the area would be suitable to use overnight, and is a convenient spot to put up a tent. The overhang is quite shallow, and doesn’t provide much shelter, so it’s probably not ideal to use without a tent, unless the weather is near perfect. The photo below shows David at the shelter.  

 

There was water nearby, so we filled our containers, and began the ascent up to Bannerman Cave, which is about 100 m elevation above the other shelter. We expected Bannerman Cave to have some drips from the roof and to be damp in some parts and this was the case, although there was enough dry space for us on the extreme left of the cave. There was also some dry, flat area at the back of the tunnel on the right, where one person could have slept. David decided to do his cooking and other things at a different dry area from the level area where we would sleep, so he was fine with me taking up much of the sleeping area with all my things on my groundsheet, and just having enough space for his mattress. There was a slow drip on the bottom corner of my groundsheet, but it wasn’t a problem.  

 

I see in my previous write up, I didn’t include gps co ordinates of Bannerman Cave, it is at S29° 15.985' E29° 25.716' at 3155m. The area where we had slept, after we packed up the next morning.  

 

Another photo at the entrance of Bannerman Cave, showing the damp floor area and wet rocks all around where the drips from the roof were falling.  

 

We descended Thumb Pass, and returned to Giant’s Castle camp.