Drakensberg Northern traverse

Hello all. I took a group of novices on the Northern traverse end of Apr. I must say, it was a blast! And Mlambonja pass was extremely well-marked. We didn't miss the route once. I downloaded a GPS track from this site but never used it. I just had a look at it now and again but whoever made that track, did some unnecessary bush-whacking, The scramble to get to the contour path was, well, a scramble with your diff-lock on all fours, but very manageable. No bush-whacking ever. It was awesome!!
Thanks for everyone's input on this site. It really does make life easier to be more knowledgeable! 
  
The group on the last morning, at the camping spot on the contour path on the way to Cathedral Peak hotel.

@Petroengel,

Glad to hear the newbies (and yourself) had an awesome time in the berg.

If I may shed some (possible) light on why tracks would include bushwacking etc. Not saying it specifically applies in your instance, this is more of a general comment. I've had poeple comment on tracks I sumbitted as well, so I am speaking from my experience here. Quite often, conditions change in the berg. Floods, rockfalls, thick snow, hiking at night (had some serious bushwacking instances in the night, while it was raining), all these often contribute to the typical path being unusable/unstable/dangerous/too much effort etc. I've seen similar comments on David Bristows one book about hiking in the berg as well. Same story, after some nasty floods, paths on the left of the river may be completely destroyed with new ones being opened on the right hand side. After the floods a few years back, the river coming down from Mnweni pass had competely changed some sections closer to the pass. We had to walk through rather deep water in certain areas and were searching for the paths, which we never found as they were underwater and washed away. We did link up with the path up Fangs pass a bit higher up again. Anyone looking at this track now would be wondering what in the world we were doing!

Hope this explanation sheds some light on the above.

petroengel wrote:

 The scramble to get to the contour path was, well, a scramble with your diff-lock on all fours

 

Hi Petroengel - was this stretch a near-vertical shoot (or gully) of soft sand (or mud when wet) up the bank away from the campsite towards the contour path?

@Tiska,

That little stretch would definitely qualify for engaging difflock

I've personally done 2 variations from the campsite to the contourpath, all on paths in various stages of being overgrown, and they were all properly steep. As you say, it's either sandy and slippery, or muddy and slippery No way around this stretch really, unless Parksboad creates a more gradual contouring path to link up with the contour path higher up.

In October 2024 two of us went down that slippery, sandy, steep shoot towards the bottlebrush tree campsite on Mlambonja Pass. Since we were going back the same way in a couple of day's time, we were not looking forward to going up since we had needed diff lock even on the way down.

As it turned out, on the way back from the bottlebrush tree campsite to the hotel two days later, we ascended the path, initially with some bundu bashing, but didn't encounter the sandy, steep shoot at all. Instead we found ourselves on a slightly lower path which contoured some 20m (at a guess) below the shoot.  That path was fine. It rose steeply up the bank but was easy enough to walk.

Then in February 2025, after going from Bell to Twins, we descended Mlambonja to the bottlebrush tree campsite. And then ascended the steep bank onto the contour path. This time with no bundu bashing at all. Once again we missed that sandy, steep shoot and repeated the slightly lower and straightforward path. 

So 2/3 times we missed the sandy, steep shoot though more through luck than navigation.

As is the way, once we had found our way on the better path, we didn't backtrack in order to look for the trouble. We just carried on.
That said, I think the branch happens on one of the steep zig-zags. On the way up, a right fork takes you to the sandy, steep shoot while a left fork takes you on a decent line which is slightly lower down.

The reason for asking Petroengel about the route their group followed is that I don't think GPS helps much in avoiding the sandy, steep shoot. The two routes are likely very close together and on a steep slope so the x,y distance between them will probably lie within GPS sampling error. The best bet for us, I think, is that if someone finds themselves on the diff lock path, to put some branches across the entry/exit to indicate that it is not the best route to follow.

Also, since the authorities who maintain the Berg don't manage to get out of their office blocks anymore, I wonder if it would help for the hiking community to clear the woody approaches out of the river valleys onto the contour paths. The contour paths are such an asset but are hard to use these days only because of a few hundred meters near major river crossings. A small pair of hand clippers would clear the way with an hour's work.

Tiska, yes, indeed, it is that sandish straight shoot up from the riverbed. There were cairns there, though, so then you assume it's the best way to go. It wasn't that bad. But, ja, maybe the branches are a good idea so the "actual" path can rather be used more often.
Oegh, we had such a great time! And the best weather for 5 consecutive days 

Love this pic! You all look so fresh and keen.. Mountains do inspire us!!