Overnight Berg hikes for beginners

Hello everyone,
I am so happy to be on this forum.

I am looking for some advice, I have done a couple day hikes and one 4 day hike and I now want to explore the Drakensburg,

I am looking for a challenging but rewarding hike, I really enjoy being in the mountains, up high if possible and i really enjoy views from the top and I don't mind getting up,

I don't know the area to well but Iv heard that Champagnes castle is great aswell as The Bell Treverse.

I am planning on going in August and want to do it self guided. I will be doing it with a friend, we are both very active people and a good level of fitness.

Id really like to do a 3 day hike staying over in huts or caves.

Thank you all very much for your time and effort.
Werner.

Hello Werner and welcome to VE

Hmmm - a good 3 day hike for fit people. The old comment about the length of a piece of string comes to mind

But jokes aside, there are tons of routes around, but I would recommend doing something with as much of a good trail as possible, and probably less tricky stuff (I haven't done the Bell Traverse yet, but I am pretty sure its not a good place to start).

I would rate that the Mnweni Marathon route would be a good one. Day 1 to Shepherds Cave, day 2 up to Mponjwane Cave and day 3 back to MCC. It is a challenging route, but the trail runs the entire way to the top and if you can find the top of Rockeries Pass, there is a trail the entire way from there to the car park. The views are also quite worthwhile. There are threads with photos on both passes and Mponjwane Cave.

I take it you have read all the "things you have to know" threads, have the gear to survive bad (and cold) weather etc?

Shepherds cave is being occupied at the moment, or rather was in January this year.

Thank you for sharing this information and for this pic, does this mean that this cave is a no go?

Hi Werner,

It means that the cave is currently occupied. There is another cave (actually two caves) nearby called 5 star cave (or dagga planters cave, the one is just a little higher above the other) about 300m or so away from the Mnweni river in the ravine towards Fangs pass. Both are basically overhangs, should be fine except if it rains (unlikely) or snows.

The lower of the two caves on the path