Cathedral Peak hikes - 3 days

Welcome to VE

You will need to provide a bit more info before we can recommend anything.

It really depends on how fit you are. For a 1 nighter to a great escarpment cave, Organ Pipes/Thuthumi/Smugglers with a combo of the Thuthumi gully/ridge/Camel approach is always great and Rolands Cave does seem to fit the great view criteria. If you are very fit, Mnweni/Rockeries would be a great route if you are fit enough (it is a tough route to do in 2 days though). Otherwise on the much easier side, up Bannerman Pass to Spare Rib Cave, and down Langies the next day is great.

Thanks for the welcome!
We are really keen on a night at Rolands. We are trying to determine the best route. We looking at 2 nights and 3 days.

We were thinking about getting dropped off on Mike's Pass and making the trip up to Rolands via Organ Pipes Pass. Day 2 from Rolands across the escapement, down Tseketseke pass and spend a night at the Tseketseke Hut. Day 3 from the hut down past Ribbon Falls and back to CPH.

What do you think?

If this doesn't work out, you could go for Twins Cave out Easter Cave via Mlambonja or Orange Peel Gap..

Hi Everyone,

** Edit **: I got confused between Cathedral Peak area and Giants Castle area... doh!

I'm really impressed by the sheer amount of information to be found on this forum! Lots of trail reports and pictures, nice!

Yet, this much information is hard to condense into a nice 3 day hike when unfamilair with the Drakensberg area.

Having read some of the topics it looks like it shouldn't be a problem to go up the escarpment in a three day hike, The experience of sleeping in a cave is also quite high on our list.

Would you guys recommend this route?
- Day 1: Cathedral Peak hotel - Ndumeni Cave
- Day 2: Ndumeni Cave - Easter Cave
- Day3: Easter Cave - (via Cathedral peak) - Cathedral peak hotel

Looking forward to your ideas!

Kind regards,

Gar Oome

Regardless, would anyone advice hiking in the Giants castle above the Cathedral peak area? (regarding: Safety. water, scenery)

The Cathedral peak area shows a lot more tracks than the Giants castle area, AND has the Rolands cave option as well.

Hi Gar, welcome to the site! From my perspective, each Drakensberg area is special in its own right. I would say in the Giant's Castle area you can link a few easier passes, if you have less experienced hikers in your group. If this is not a problem, your proposed Cathedral route is worthwhile.
Have you previously visited or done multiple day hikes in the Drakensberg? Personal safety (having enough hiking experience) and weather is always factors to consider in the mountains. During this time of the year, water is abundant in the Drakensberg, except maybe the Bell traverse, which you will do on Day 3 of your proposed route.

Hi Nicolaas,

Thanks for the response . Nice to see that there is an active community around the Drakensberg area.

After some debate yesterday we changed the route to a more relaxed and moderate pace with options to bail out if weather is bad or if we overestimated our fitness level. The 1500hm - 10k climb of the first day looked a bit daunting, so we cut it into two pieces.

The plan is now:
- Day 1: Parking - ~2100m up (no yet sure where to sleep here, any suggestions?)
- Day 2: ~2100m - Rolands cave (this way we have a full day for the ~1000hm)
- Day 3: Rolands cave - Old Staff accomodation (full day for 1000hm decent and maybe a small roundtrip to look over the Ndedema valley)
- Day 4: Old Staff accomodation - Parking (via the Rainbow gorge, can we pass this after summer with lots of water comming down the mountain?)

Some other questions have come to mind after looking around the VE site. Where to register this trip (and the "reservation" of the cave)? Didima camp is closed as far as I understand, so we are a bit lost on where we can register our trip?

This revised plan is quite realistic and a lot less ambitious than your first plan, assuming that you are new to the Drakensberg.

Looking at your map, you intend to go up the Camel route, and down Thuthumi Pass, linked with Rainbow Gorge, which is still a challenging route, but quite suited to four days.

Going up the Camel route, it is not practical to overnight camp at around 2100 m, there is no flat ground there, or water nearby. It would be best to overnight camp above the Ribbon Falls, next to the stream quite near the trail where water is available easily and there is flat ground to tent, at about 1950 m altitude. This is the usual stopover for this route if you do it over two days (or one and a half days, day 1 is quite short and can easily be done in the afternoon), and it is still quite comfortable to do the ascent from 1950 m to Rolands Cave on the second day.

Rainbow Gorge may be a problem with a lot of water, depending on where you descend from the ridge above into the gorge, if it is quite high upstream it will be difficult, if you enter the gorge further downstream it should be fine.

You do not have to make any reservations for your planned route, Rolands Cave cannot be reserved, and is a first come first served cave.

The mountain register must be completed, and is at the EKZNW Didima reception. You will complete the register and pay the overnight fees here, and then you can go by car to the parking area at Cathedral Peak Hotel.

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the extra information! Time to update the plan.

If the Ribbon fall are as easily accessible as you say we might be able to start the trip a day earlier :-D.

Regarding rainbow gorge, we will see whether what the water level is like and access the gorge accordingly.

Looking forward to this trip!

Maybe if you sleep the first night in the Tseketseke hut (shown on your map in pink), second day you do Tseketseke pass and turn south-east towards Rolands cave (Cleft peak is a nice high-point on the route), and on the third day you can do the descent route you proposed.

The Tseketseke hut and Rolands cave you can book through the Didima camp reservations office. I think someone else should advise on the precise procedure, or you might find it on the site.

Edit: Thanks Tony!