Thaba Ngwangwe to Walker Peak

Hoping to hike from Thaba Ngwangwe to Walker Peak - can anyone advise if it is possible & route to take ?

Many thanks.

Alan

Are you planning on hiking up Thaba Ngwangwe or just past it?

Myself, Kliktrak and Hobbit did Thaba Ngwangwe in a day last year (starting and ending at Silverstreams, 6AM to 7PM). You can get info on the route on my hike writeup here.

Remember that Thaba Ngwangwe is a free standing peak, so you can't go directly from Thaba Ngwangwe to Walker's Peak, I am not aware of any scramble-able breaks in the top rock band on any side other than the south side of Thaba Ngwangwe.

To get up Walker's Peak you can use Isicutula Pass or walk on a bit further and climb the south slopes of Walker's Peak itself. My day 1 writeup on GT last year covers this pass .

You could then use your choice of Walker's Pass (which has 2 different routes) or one of the 3 Mzimude Passes and head back to Bushman's Nek that way.

I don't think you'll get this done in under 3 days. Maybe night 1 at Ngwangwe Cave, night 2 somewhere between Mzimude Cave and the Hidden Valley.

Many thanks for responding. Intend to hike from top Ngwagwe along escarpment edge north to Walker Peak but the terrian does look like it requires climbing equipment.

You don't really need ropes to get up Thaba Ngwangwe - looking back at my photos I think I just chose a bad spot to go up. Its a 2m rock band, we were pressed for time (bear in mind that we only summitted at 2PM and had to hike the entire way back). You could probably find an easier scramble near the cave.

But definitely to get from the summit of Thaba Ngwangwe to Walkers without going down the south face would require at least a 10m abseil (that is a rough estimate, it could easily be much more than that). The easiest probably would be to walk down to the level of the cave and traverse around the top summit cliffs. You could drop to about 2700m and walk around the top of Saddle Nek Pass, traverse under the cliffs of Andre's Knob and use the Isicutula Pass summit gully to hit the escarpment.

Thanks for the info.

My concern was getting up Walker Peak from Thaba Ngwangwe, not TN, which you have confirmed is possible, so many thanks for setting my mind a bit easier. I will follow your suggestion if we cannot find a way down from the summit of TN towards Walker Peak.

I have climbed TN before - if you track along the cliff base from the cave inland, you come to a gap in the cliffs - a patch of grass you can scrambled up, then above this a slope which you can follow upwards back towards KZN, & then through the upper rock bands via grass patches - no climbing necessary.

Just to give you an idea of the route I am talking about - red lines are the routes I am referring to, green is where it disappears behind the mountains.

Thaba Ngwangwe from Thamathu Ridge:






The bit from below Andre's Knob to Isicutula Pass as seen from the river in Lesotho below the back of Thaba Ngwangwe:









@moderators: thanks for sorting that out

Many thanks for all the effort you have gone to - it is much appreciated.

Hi guys

Looking for a bit of advice please..
From berg.co.za, Ngwangwe Cave, the one at approx 3000m on Thaba Ngwangwe: "A small stream originates just below the cave and will provide plenty of water in summer." Would this probably be the case in late March, and how far below/from the cave?

Secondly, heading to Isicathula Pass from the cave, is it possible to traverse/contour round Thaba Ngwangwe, or better to drop down into the valley near the river, up the valley and into Isicathula Pass?

Thanks
Papa D

Ngwangwe Cave is not a great cave, the roof is very high and it isn't as deep as one might hope - so despite being quite a big cave, it isn't well sheltered. To get up the khulu requires careful route finding, Andrew and I found a nice easy way up about 500m west of the cave - definitely worth heading to the top of this one.

Technically yes, you can traverse around the base of the cliff (Andrew and I did this in 2015), it is very scenic - but not easy at all. And you drop more altitude than you might expect. Rather drop down. If you absolutely insist on the high traverse, there is an awesome cave on the north side of Thaba Ngwangwe - basically the opposite side to Ngwangwe Cave (probably the most interesting non-rock-art cave I have been to) which is well worth a visit. There is also a steep grassy gully just below the cave, it bottoms out at the same place as Saddle Nek Pass and quite possibly has not hit 10 uses yet (actually 2 would be a lot considering how pointless it is).

We found a really nice line around Thaba Ngwangwe on my most recent GT, so if you'd like a track - I can send it to you.

Isicutula Pass is obvious enough, just stay true left of the gully till right near the top. It had plenty of water in the main gully till about 2800m in January.

Cool fact about Isicutula Pass: the rock feature the pass is in actually extends about 65km in a straight line right through to Giants Pass. Aside from odd spots such as Little Rhino, the line is almost perfectly straight. Other passes on the route include Twins Peak Pass, Walkers Gully Pass and Sandleni Pass.