Water Watch 2019

i should also mention there was a drip at Twin's Cave - enough to fill up a liter overnight.

This weekend went up Cathedral Peak. Small stream at Shermans cave is still flowing. Trail all the way up the mountain was quite damp, so I expect rivers to pick up since it started raining.

Eh but it's dry up there above the clouds!

Water quite deep down behind Organ Pipes pass but not running nicely and lots of livestock to man it up. Drank it unsterilised but it did not look nice.

Water in the stream that starts behind Tsekesteke only starts to appear behind cockade pass and was stagnant and smelt like livestock. Deeper down the river into Lesotho it looked better but we did not go that far.

Plenty water in Kwakwatsi but not really flowing(at least at the point where you leave to access Mlambonja pass). When Compared to the same time last year where we bathed in a pool in line with Easter cave and water was flowing fairly strongly...it seemed noticably lower. 

No stomach bugs to report.

It is still dry up there. I blame the lack of any significant snowfalls this year.

Top of Ribbon falls stream is still good.

Also, a small amount of moisture starting to form on the stream section on the camel just before you climb to windy gap but not yet enough to take water from.

We went straight down twins path to the altitude of the Bell traverse and saw no hint of water. the drip in Twins cave was still...dripping

Loads of plastic in the rivers on the Lesotho side and in the Ribbon falls stream close to the hotel. Sies man!

Was up at Cathedral Peak on thursday, and they had a 5 hour thunderstorm with sustained moderate rainfall for about three hours.  So here's hoping we will start getting some good rain.  

Seems Cathedral Peak is getting a lot of traffic! Any updates on Mnweni/the Senqu? It was bone dry at the end of September. 

We did the Bell Traverse this weekend and can reiterate the above, not much has changed. Clear pools in the Kwakwatsi below Easter Cave and a very slow flow. Most of our party drank it untreated and there are no bugs to speak of yet. There were also a number of drips starting to form along the path which I imagine will get stronger with this week's forecast. 

It would appear that Giants Castle and Shaleburn, near Underberg registered 35 and 34mm respectively for yesterday's weather system.   Cedara recorded 26mm.  So that is good news  www.infoclimat.fr/climatologie-mensuelle/68572/decembre/2019/shaleburn.html

@Smurfatefrog yup that was us! Always good to put faces to names