Mid-week hiking partners ready to go!

Hi all!

My girlfriend and I arrived in SA last week from Canada hoping to do an unsupported GT N-S, but have taken a conservative stance on safety . We took a guide from Royal Natal park thru Sentinel finishing down at Cathedral. Now we find ourselves at Inkosana Lodge in Monks Cowl area hoping to find other like-minded hikers who want to continue hiking south. Any takers by chance? We only have until Feb 7 and want to see as much of the Drakensberg as we can.

At the same time, any subjective opinions on us attempting, for instance, Monks Cowl down to Sani Pass, just us two? We have the GPS waypoints loaded, maps and compass, great gear and extra food, and (we believe) saavy hiking intuition, but don't want to risk being naive about our safety up top , especially being one male one female...

Many thanks in advance. Feel free to SMS or WhatsApp messenger +16138598944

Cheers,
Graham (and Petra)

Hi Graham (& Petra)
It seems you've not had much response to your invitation for hiking partners; I suspect that this has more to do with timing (Jan/Feb is 'back to school/work time' for a lot of us) than anything else, even this forum is pretty quiet at this time.

Monks Cowl is a picturesque part of the Berg with some great hikes and caves to explore the Little Berg (i.e. the mountains & valleys below and east of the main Escarpment) so perhaps consider those as a safer option to a Escarpment traverse. Mark Robertson is the Ranger in Charge at Monks Cowl, he's a hiker and could recommend routes & caves for you. He will also be able to give you an accurate update of the current security risk in the area to help you assess whether to proceed with your planned traverse.

I hiked there in October 2016 with my son (20) on a route up & down Grays Pass, we saw several Basuthos, all of whom were friendly, and only three other hikers (all within 3 hours of Monks Cowl Rest Camp) and did not feel at all threatened. I wrote a trip report if you're interested (Memories are Made of This).

Enjoy your time in SA and the Drakensberg