Cave Reservations Etiquette

Thanks for your replies.

I have experience of not being able to book caves because I was told there was already a booking.

Thanks for the links to the other threads. There is a lot of talk of having the "receipt" to prove your booking of the cave. Any idea how one can get a receipt when bookings are made over the phone? I am not aware of another system of booking. I asked KZN Wildlife 2 months ago if there was any way I could get proof of my booking - their answer was "no".

Kind regards

When you pay for the hike at reception just before you leave, you get a receipt. Ask them to note on this that you have booked the cave.

If you pay in full in advance, they can make a note on the piece of the register you tear off to take with you, and put the stamp on it to make it official.

It is normal practice once someone has booked a cave, no matter how small the group and how big the cave, that you have booked that cave, and no one else can book the cave because as has been noted above, you just get told that the cave is already booked.

Agree with Tony et al..

We were the "loggers" at Stable Cave on Friday night. VE Pine Project/Pine Busters/MCSA  volunteer pine eradication group.
The cave had been booked for Friday and Saturday night..
Got to Stable on Friday morning, dropped most of our kit, and went out to the work site. When we came back on the path on the hill above Stable, we saw 4 hikers on the bottom path on the way to Stable Cave. When we got there, I asked the guides if they had booked, and the main guy said yes, but I am sure they had not.

We didn't have a problem sharing with them however, our splinter group was away in Eagle Cave, and they stayed up at the top at the Stable part..
As Macc said, the American tourists came down and had a chat with us, which was very pleasant. Quite later in the evening, the 2 guides were talking very loudly amongst themselves in Zulu, didn't really bug me, and I don't think any of the others. If it bugged the clients, that's for them to sort out with their hosts.

Bottom line, if they had tried to book the cave, they would have been told that it was already booked out. Makes me wonder if they even paid their overnight hiking fee..

I am a strange beast.  I am anti-social in the city, and mr. social in the wilderness.  My joke is that it's PEOPLE who make me anti-social.  i think my berg days may be over.  but some of my best friends were met in caves in the berg.  never met a friend in any city.

Can everyone agree that if a party is clearly in trouble, or says that they are in trouble, that they be welcomed, and maybe even cared for, no matter the other circumstances?  This rule ought to have a name.  The emergency rule?

I am always welcoming of company in the wilderness.  Others, I understand, are not.  Absent emergency, still be pleasant, politely present your objections, and discuss alternatives.

In Colorado, I was once turned away from a ski hut during mid-Winter's week at 5pm (sunset) with temperatures at -20C.  we had not eaten or drunk for 24 hours (our water was frozen), and yes we were a day late.  we were even denied water.  we were given no choice but to ski through the night.  i had to rescue my ski buddy who later became ill.  We made the car at 1am.   The people in the hut reported us to the newspaper, who published an article about two monsters who threatened the ten of them with violence.  They described me as huge and well over 2m tall with a full beard.  I am 1.6m, was quite slight back then, and my stubble was 2 days old.  my friend was under 2m, very thin, and beardless.  the mountain community and the forest service came out on their side. Neither one of us ever back-country skied again.  The lack of decency ruined the sport for both of us.

that having been said, i self-question as to how i would treat Basothos who enter my cave and begin a fire, or worse, bring in sheep.  English is useless.  Shouting and pointing may result in an incident.  I'm sure i'll not sleep. I'd seriously consider leaving.  What happened to my camaraderie?  I'm sure I'd put up with French people, even if we had no common words.  I'm sure i'd be relaxed in the presence of Zulus.  There is a very wide culture gap between me and Basothos.  I have so far managed to get along with them.  They have been quite two-faced behind my back, and I am aware of it.  They have robbed me a number of times.  Nothing serious, but the undertow is there.

Easter weekend, I was due to go with some newer hikers to Tarn Cave, the cave had been booked by our party for Saturday and Sunday nights. The hike was called off for a number of reasons, and the memeber of our group who had made the booking, phoned Garden Castle, and changed the booking to Saturday and Sunday nights this past weekend. She phoned Garden Castle on Wednesday, and they confirmed the booking.

We arrived at Bushman's Nek office, and were busy getting ready to leave, when a large group (12 people) arrived. When we asked where they were headed, we were surprised when they answered Tarn Cave, and said that they had booked it too. Back in the office, the guy seemed a bit clueless, but written in the book was
"Shantel (sic) Tarn Cave 30/4 and 1/5
Hannah Tur Cave (sic) 30/4 and 1/5"

While we were discussing with the leader of the large group, trying to find a solution, a group of 4 more people arrived.  Guess where they were going? Tarn Cave!!
They had been at the office earlier, and the guy told them that Tarn Cave was available for them to sleep in that night!! Fortunately, they had planned on tenting at Citadel on the Sunday night, so said they would tent near the Tarns on Saturday.

So, we needed to sort out 16 people, and where to sleep. The other group was large, a couple of fit guys, some new hikers, a pregnant lady, and a couple of Australian visitors, so we decided to let them have Tarn.

I had been to Gargoyle, but a while ago, so a quick call to Smurf, and I decided we would check Sehlabathebe for a shelter, else head to Gargoyle, which is what we did. We didn't find anything in Sehlabathebe, and made our way to Gargoyle, getting the not very long before dark. Gargoyle is sloping, and the floor is quite rocky, but we made do. 

The large group was only in Tarn for Saturday night, so we had Tarn all to ourselves on Sunday night.

We managed to resolve the situation, but had the large group been in the cave already, and another group arrived, believing they had also booked the cave, this could be an awkward, even dangerous situation.

The booking system really needs to be improved.

 

Totally agree. My experiences when trying to book caves in recent years has not instilled any confidence in the system. Officialdom on the other side of the line generally very uninformed, non-committal and there is no confirmation in the form of writing/email/sms. Money making scheme with little to no functional benefit.

When I climbed the Inner and Outer Horn about 5 years ago, we confirmed Twins Cave was available when we arrived at the Didima offices for the following night and put our names down to sleep in it. We got to the cave and all was fine till a guided team showed up and told us they had booked it too, and since he had paying customers and we were just an informal group, we must get out and leave it to him and his group. I said they are welcome to share it, but we aren't moving. After about 15 minutes of him shouting at me and me standing my ground (well, sitting, since I was in my sleeping bag), he left and took his group to one of the nearby caves.

I took an MCSA group to Zulu Cave in 2018, we booked for full capacity, and another group of two had apparently also booked the cave - so we all ended up sharing it. EKZN doesn't have the best systems with this.

I have also been the one who didn't book and showed up to an occupied cave - but usually the people in the cave are happy to share. I was very happy to walk into Upper Injisuthi Cave two nights ago to find it unoccupied on a long weekend.

A few weeks ago we booked and paid for a party of two at Twins Cave for one night. There were no other bookings for the cave that night.

While on the path not far from the hotel football field, the Didima office phoned us and said that others were now joining us in Twins as well. We appreciated the fact that they phoned us but kept the conversation short.

It turned out that a few hours after we arrived at Twins, a party of two North Americans plus a guide duly arrived. We moved over to another cave because sometimes it is nice to have some peace and quiet and to choose what time you want to sleep and wake up without disturbing anyone. We left before sunrise the next morning.

We asked out of curiosity once back at Didima whether booking a cave meant that others could not subsequently book that same cave for the same night. There was a bit of a shrug in reply suggesting that others could book the cave for the same night - it wasn't a big deal.

I'm wondering if guided parties are unlikely to be refused a booking, even if a previous booking exists. And if so, whether the number of people already booked into a cave is a factor. What if, say, two parties of 8 book Bell Cave? And it rained.

For a guided party, the fact that others are in a cave already is probably less of an issue. The guide is already something of a stranger to them anyway. A few more strangers won't change anything. For the officials doing the booking, it isn't an issue. They're not going to be there. And it is a bit more cash in the till.

In my opinion and experience the whole system is dysfunctional and not working. The same goes for most of the mountain registers. At best both are a good registry but it is not used as a control system according to the original intent when introduced. I find it handy to go through the register upfront to see if caves have been listed as overnight spots by other parties. In this way you can at least avoid the occupied caves upfront.

I am a guide and I book the caves well in advance for all my groups, this is so that I can ensure the cave for my groups.

I was told by KZN Wildlife customer support that a cave can't be double booked, so if I book it for 2 and the cave can sleep 12 - it cannot be booked by another group. But we all know this happens.
So yes it happens a lot that you will book a cave and find someone else are there claiming that they booked the cave, and a lot of people claim that they don't know that caves need to be booked. 

Mountain registers are a joke - we were in Giants Castle this passed weekend, most of the groups doing overnight hikes did not even worry about filling in their routes nor even complete the register.