Overnight Berg hikes with kids

It depends largely on the individual - Hobbit had already done the Giants Cup Trail in 3 days at 9, and was doing High Berg Passes by 11, and did his first GT at 14, while I was barely able to manage my first High Berg Pass at 21.

Tarn Cave is a nice route, and if they find the walk up to it to be too easy, you can always take them across Knuckles Traverse Pass and down Thamathu Pass (the trail is iffy in places, so make sure you download the GPS track).

Hi all

I intend taking my 1.5yr old up the escarpment next week. The idea is up Langalibalele Pass and down Bannerman's Pass. Shortish loop with relatively easy escape options. Needless to say the baby will go on a carrier. Has anyone here ever taken a child this young up the escarpment? Any advice? Is this just madness? We should be a group of 5 adults and the little one, so plenty of backs to spread the extra load.

I will advise against this. 9/10 you ill be fine but what needs to be considered is the 1/10 times and what the outcome of that could be. I will give you a scenario that played out on this very route with a group I took up in December 2008: Left in perfect skies - lunched in Bannermans cave with cloudless skies towards Lesotho. AS I raised my pack to leave I noticed something drifting down towards me and caught a perfect snowflake on my hand. Within 5 minutes we were in a total white out, were forced to spend the night freezing cold in the cave with extreme winds. The next morning the top were covered in 30cm snow with I estimate a 40-50knot wind which made progress down Bannermans pass extremely dangerous. At times the wind would flatten all three of us. My wife stumbled at Bannermans hut and the wind rolled her like rag doll for a few meters,.The condition was scary and I felt real concern for our group - let alone a baby. 

When considering these kind of questions take into account the worst case scenario's: What I experienced was by far not the worst case. Add more snow, rain and lighting to the picture and the situation can become at best very unpleasant and at worst life threatening. 

Gollum,

If nothing goes wrong then it should be ok, but you need to consider what you will do if things go wrong. You will be far from medical assistance and young childrens' immune systems are not yet fully developed. Also, the environment is not very child friendly, with rocks, etc. posing a risk to a child that is probably not yet super stable on his/her feet.

In my opinion (you are welcome to disagree) the risks are simply too high to take such a young child up to the escarpment. I took mine (boy and girl) to the berg on overnight hikes when they were 5 & 6 years old. We started in the lower berg, and the next year (6 & 7 years old) we took them up for a 1 nighter on the escarpment, ironically in the same area you are going to. Up Judges down Bannermans in a day, sleeping over at Bannermans hut. Only the year after did they sleep over on top. But, this is just the way we did it and it will not work for everyone. At the end of the day, you need to be comfortable with your decision, as you will live with the outcome of it.

Thanks for all the input!

Advice taken on board, will adapt our plan based on the weather next week and see how it goes.

I totally agree  with Berg Attie. Not a good  idea at all 
 

Some feedback.

One of the pack-mules in our party had to drop out, leaving us with only 4 adults and the toddler. The weather also did not seem favourable, with rain and thunder threatening every day. As a result the risk was unacceptable, so I opted out of the escarpment. Had the weather been better and our pack-mule showed up, we quite likely would have gone ahead as planned.

We ended up driving to Injisuthi and doing a one-night hike to Grindstone Cave and back. Very tame, but thoroughly enjoyable and successful. Would definitely recommend!

Hi there, and thanks for all the information already on this thread. I have already taken my son on an overnight hike to Blind Mans Corner in the Monks Cowl area when he was six without issue. I am in the process of planning another lower berg hike over the Easter weekend in the Cathedral Peak area, and in the process of looking up the overnight tariffs, I came across these words in the KZN Wildlife tariff document (see attached picture, which is a snapshot of the document):

"Minimum age for children on wilderness hikes is 16 years if unaccompanied by a parent/legal guardian and 14 years if accompanied."

This is the first time that I have come across this rule, so I am a bit taken aback. Does this mean that I am not allowed to take my son on overnight hikes in the Drakensberg until he is 14? Does anyone have any other information about this?