Camp site - Organs Top / Cleft Peak / Castle Buttress

Does anyone perhaps know of a good camp site for 3 tents in the vicinity of Organ Pipes top / Cleft Peak / Castle Buttress area?

I have yet to find a even a remotely decent spot during my previous 5 visits

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!!

Hi Supertramp, we recently saw a lot of Basotho activity on Camel and Organ pipes route. I guess for the festive season, and due to lower hiking numbers as a result of the virus?? We reported this at Didima, and the fact that littering increase as a result. I would camp closer to the waterfall on the slopes of Cleft, or use the caves. I have used a flat spot -29.010843852002434, 29.178539557642903 here before, but would not this time. The valleys are also very wet. Hope it helps
Regards
Nic

Thanks a million for the information Nicolaas . I share your sentiment on not camping in close proximity to the highway. Some newcomers to the Berg in this group, wouldn't want to scare them off with Rolands and the group is too large for the Ndumeni caves.

Hi all. I'm new here, thanks for all the great info and posts.
My wife and I are fit regular hikers from Cape Town. Our Drakensberg experience is limited the the Amphitheatre area, we are planning to tackle a 3-night hike from the Cathedral Peak hotel soon. Our main objective is to get up the escarpment. Our planned itinerary as follows:
Day 1: 2pm start from hotel, to Ribbon Falls Cave.
Day 2: Up Camel to Windy Gap, pitch tent somewhere in the direction of top on Tseke pass.
Day 3: walk along escarpment to Mlambonja Pass. Overnight either in Twin Caves or 3km down Mlambonja Pass where it crosses the Countour (latter would be our preference, to shorten the final day).
Day 4: hike out to hotel. Flight home from King Shaka is at 19h30.
A few questions:
1. On Day 1, is the walk to Ribbon Faals Cave too short, should we rather push on to the beginning of Camel and pitch tent at 2100 ASL near the contour path?
2. There are mixed views on this forum on tenting in the Castle Butress / Cleft Peak area. Recent experiences or any opinions welcome. Are there better alternatives?
3. End day 3 at Twin Caves or down Mlambonja Pass at the Countour path? 
4. How Long typically from Twin Caves to the hotel (vs from the end of the Mlambonja Pass to the hotel)?
Thanks in advance.
 

Hi Danteman,

Your route is very doable. If you are fit you can do the entire route in 2 days, 3 is a relaxing average and 4 is plenty of time.

Ribbon falls cave is pretty close to the start of the Camel, but offers shelter and is close to water. so I wouldn't change this. Yes, it's not far, but allows you to adjust a bit to altitude.
Your day 2 is rather short. It's about 11kms from the top of Organ Pipes pass to Mlambonja, and if you stop halfway there you haven't moved very far. If you wnat to stick to your plan why not go up to check out Upper Ndumeni dome (i.e. Rolands cave) - you may even decide to stay over here on day 2 and explore the area a bit.

Twins or any of the other caves at the top of Mlambonja will work. I've read recently that it was a bit dirty (rox hyrax poo etc.) but there are other caves in the vacinity to use. It's not too far from here back down to the hotel. Our fastest time was under 4 hours, slowest was about 6, so if you start early you should still get down in time fairly early. Personally, I'd prefer to spend one more night at the top rather than down below.

Lastly, crossing over from Organs you get Cleft, and then you have two options - either over Mahout or down via Elephant. This is adjacent to the top of Cockade pass. I've found that traveling North it's easier to go over Mahout, while traveling South I find going down Elephant the easier way. The views from Mahout is also remarkable.

Whichever way you go, this is a very scenic area of the Berg and I really enjoy hking here.

Enjoy!!!

Thanks so much for the feedback, Riaan.  I like the suggestion of going towards the Ndumeni Dome.
From what I have read, Roland Cave is not for me! On Gaia maps I see Upper Ndumeni caves 1 and 2, and Lower Ndumeni caves 1 and 2. Any recommendations on which one we should check out as first option?
And on the Mlambonja side: I see a cave marked Bellevue Cave just below the start of the pass. Is this a possible alternative to Twins? As a further alternative, if Twin Cave is already occupied or too messy, is anyone able to help with directions or coordinates to the Annex Cave?
Thanks 

 

Don't bother with the 2 lower Ndumeni caves. They offer very little protection from the rain (I've seen the upper one once covered in about 20cm's of water, i.e. a small wimming pool). Upper Ndumeni cave 1 is the southern most one of the two. Good for 2 people (comfortable), 3 will be cramped. Reasonable protection from the weather but has a large opening so in driving rain you'll probably get a bit wet. Location is easy to find. It's about 30m ASL above Rolands, slightly to the south. How I often walk toward it, is to go up the valley towards Rolands, but when I get close to where it looks like the path ends (i.e. the start of Rolands walk-in), I simply scramble up through the rockband. Easy to do, no climbing skills required here in my opinion. Ndumeni dome will be before you, simply keep heading up till you get to the top rock wall, then turn left. The cave is to your right, and there is a large boulder in front and below the cave that you can clearly see from here. The cave is about 2m higher than the path.

The second cave is to the right when Ndumeni dome is before you. It is also located at the bottom of this top rock band, but maybe about 200m to the right. It's also about 2m in elevation above the footpath, and possibly difficult to find the entrance due to it being above you, and the entrance being pretty small. I've twice walked past the opening (both in the dark, in my defense ) so if you walk past it, simply turn around and keep looking for it, it's there. How I normally find it, is to look for a couple of soccer ball-sized round holes in the rock wall immediately to the left of the cave entrance, if this helps you. Cave sleeps 4 comfortably, and it is very sheltered. Just mind your head as the ceiling is kinda low.

What I would suggest for getting back down to the valley, is not to go back down the way you came up (i.e. Rolands side), but walk along this ridge towards the North (Cleft Peak). You'l switch in and out due to ledges and rocks in your way, but this is a very scenic ridge walk that I've always enjoyed. Something a bit different than the usual Rolands descent.

Near the top of Mlambonja pass is a bunch of caves. Twins and its annex is the preferred caves as they result in a shorter final day. The annex is very easy to find, you will see the footpath leading to it. As you come over the col, you will turn right to get to the entrance of Twins. Rather than turning right here, simply turn left on the path. The annex is not too far down this path, max 200m. It's a bit further than what you would think, and you might find (on the way) something that you think is the cave, but the real cave is a little bit further on. A bit exposed though, depending on the wind direction it may or may not work.

I'm not going to tell you about the other 2 caves in the rockbands above Twins Annex as they are a bit more difficult to find, and not the greatest. Good for emergencies but I've never overnighted in them. The other caves you can consider are a bit further north being Easter cave and Christmas pass cave. I've aways enjoyed Easter, but it's typically a wet and COLD cave. Christmas pass cave is immediate to the right of Christmas cave as you go down the pass. There is a clear path to this cve, and you can clearly see it from the walk-in to Easter cave when yu face south.

There you go - this should get you started.

Enjoy!!!