Vergelegen hikes - 4 days or longer

I'm interested in doing a 6 or 7 day hike in the Vergelegen/Lotheni area in October. I've been puzzling over the map trying to put a route together but struggling a bit as I'm not particularly familiar with the area. I'd like to keep distances below about 18km per day if possible.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers. .

Hi Mike, welcome to VE

Interesting question - and the answer depends hugely on what you enjoy doing. Personally I am an obsessed khulu bagging and would plan such a hike with a really hard day 1 to get to the top and spend days climbing every peak in the area, looking for caves and taking 300+ photos a day

Others may prefer to head up one pass, down the next and up the one after that (which naturally requires an insane fitness level)... The thing with both Vergelegen and Lotheni is that its tough to get from the car parks to the escarpment in a day.

Naturally any long trip to Vergelegen must include Thabana Ntlenyana (if anyone in the group hasn't done it before - don't let people tell you that the view from the summit isn't worth the effort), Nhlangeni, and if you are going to spend that long in the area, you may as well include KaNtuba.

If you provide more info I can give you some suggestions. Basically what you are looking to achieve, the group fitness levels, experience etc.

Ps. Remember that when you post a question we always look forward to a hike report and some photos after the hike

Thanks for the welcome and for the ideas!

Fitness wise I'd say it's an average of 3/5 across the group (if 5 = really fit). I live on a game reserve in Botswana at the moment which makes endurance training a little risky. We'd really like to explore the area as extensively as possible; little berg, plateau and escarpment. I've got a bad case of the 'what's around the next corner?' syndrome. If it was entirely up to me I'd like to scale every peak, venture up every valley and check out every cave but others in the group might not be so keen on that (would probably need a bit more time for that as well given the fore mentioned fitness level). If there's any known rock art in the area it would be great to try to incorporate because one of the group is an archaeologist.
I have a little berg experience having done the chain ladder, the rhino 3 times, a few 2 day hikes and a fair bit of scrambling around the little berg in the Drak Gardens area. The rest of the group have done a bit of hiking elsewhere but are new to the berg.

Will definitely put a report together

mikedexter wrote: Fitness wise I'd say it's an average of 3/5 across the group (if 5 = really fit).

Ok - that definitely changes things. Having done a Grand Traverse earlier this year I know how tough it is to take a pack with that many days of food. At least the first pass we went up was with a pack containing 3 days worth of food due to the Sani resupply on day 3.

mikedexter wrote: I've got a bad case of the 'what's around the next corner?' syndrome. If it was entirely up to me I'd like to scale every peak, venture up every valley and check out every cave but others in the group might not be so keen on that (would probably need a bit more time for that as well given the fore mentioned fitness level). If there's any known rock art in the area it would be great to try to incorporate because one of the group is an archaeologist.

Exploration of the Berg is one of my favourite hobbies - I am pass hunting on the upcoming long weekend. Its definitely something worth doing

If you want to spend more time exploring, consider spending all of the time on the trip in a smaller area, i.e. either Lotheni or Vergelegen. Climbing peaks is a murderous task, my record in a day was Popple, Mafadi and Lithabalong (so thats SA's no 1, 4 and 13 highest). As much as 8 in a day is possible, its really hard.

If you plan for 13-15km in a day, you will reach your target of 18km in a day with exploring and maybe a bit of peak climbing. Earlier this year I did a hike that was supposed to be 20km and turned out at 23km even though we did not deviate from the planned route. Maps tend to be misleading.

As far as advice on which nature reserve to head to if you do just do either Lotheni or Vergelegen, I personally would be highly torn between the 2.

Lotheni has amazing views, awesome passes, really cool peaks and its ridges aren't as difficult as Vergelegen's. There is also a good collection of small berg features, your loop can be extended as far north as Giant's Castle Peak. Really, Lotheni is a nice area.

Vergelegen has the second highest point on the escarpment edge (which should have an insane view - KaNtuba Buttress, it also happens to be the 7th highest peak in SA), amazing peaks like Nhlangeni, Mohlesi and Senhlolong and the worthwhile Thabana Ntlenyana (the highest point in Southern Africa). It can also be coupled with a trip as far south as Sani Pass (you could even spend a night there). Its more rugged, more wild and probably the least visited area of the entire Berg. That being said, its got a shocker of a road and the car park is an insane distance from the escarpment.

I am not aware of any rock art sites in the area, there are probably a few hidden somewhere, but I don't know any of them.

Based on what you have said, maybe a trip something like this (this assumes that you have transport to start and end at different reserves - it will be difficult to access the first few days of hiking otherwise):
Day 1 - Get to Vergelegen car park and aim to do no more than 12km (heavy packs and possible delays in driving there). Unfortunately the contour path seems to kind of go up Hlathimba pass, so some bundu bashing may be required if you started this route from Lotheni, but if you start from Vergelegen you can consider heading up the Inkangala Ridge towards the Evranda Rock Arch. Alternatively you can overnight in Birds Nest Cave , but then you would miss the rock arch.

Day 2: head south on the contour path below the saddle until you reach Mkhomazi Pass (it was considered as an alternative option for a road pass when they built the Sani Rd). Climb the "easy" pass and you will find a peak just south of the pass that looks like this


Thats Nglangeni peak, and should have a phenomenal view. I wish I had an opportunity to climb it, but we were behind schedule on our longest day, so I didn't get a chance.

From here you can climb Thabana Ntlenyana if you would like to - its tough - you have to gain almost 500m to gain the summit. From near Nhlangeni it looks like this:


To be quite honest, if you take a trip up Thabana Ntlenyana you will have a real tough day. Maybe camp near the escarpment edge south of Nhlangeni peak and spend some time exploring the base of this peak.

Day 3: head up Thabana Ntlenyana and maybe follow the ridge to Thabana Ntlenyana 2 and 3 (both are in Lesotho and are higher than 3400m). This is the first time when a call to end at Lotheni vs Vergelegen makes a difference. If you do the Vergelegen route you could spend some days doing the KaNtuba, Mohlesi and Senhlolong ridges. Well the Mohlesi ridge is the Thabana Ntlenyana ridge, but any way.

If you head the Lotheni way, drop back down to the Mohlesi river above Mkhomazi Pass and follow it towards the very impressive Ngaqamadola Peak. There is a good path for a long way here. If you are up for a challenge, climb Ngaqamadola Peak, otherwise walk around the base of Lamunram Peak (in Lesotho) and camp on the river near the Saddle between Ngaqamadola and Ntsupenyana. There is no shortage of flat land in this valley and there is lots of water. Just don't camp too close to a path.

Lamunram peak looks like this:


Day 4: Head over the not overly difficult Mlahlangubo ridge and drop down into the Hlathimba Valley. The valley is the home to some really nice passes (Hlathimba North and South as well as Buttress Pass).

Climb the Litseketseke ridge and follow the top of the ridge till you reach the coolest land bridge between the Litseketseke Spur and Redi Peak. Follow the ridge and after Redi drop down a steepish slope till you reach the valley of the Tent and the Hawk. Its a nice spot to camp in.

Day 5: head down eNtubeni Pass and overnight around Ash Cave area. With the pass and the possibility of climbing the Hawk and/or the Tent in the morning (not to mention the compulsory half an hour of staring at Giant's Castle - the view of Giant's Castle from here is amazing), this will be a fairly tough day.

Day 6: Enjoy a leisurely walk back to the car park.

Thats more or less what I would do - feel free to post questions regarding any of it or any variation (and don't worry, I won't take offense if you don't do a single bit of what I have mentioned). I'm sure the other guys on the forum will have some input as well, maybe a bit more about stuff to do in the small berg in the area. But by day 6 of the hike you probably won't feel like sight seeing, you'll just be looking forward to a burger and a warm shower.

Thanks so much for the great advice!
There's a lot there that I hadn't even considered so all of it will definitely be put to good use.
I'm still a little undecided because I think a bit more time in the little berg and less on the escarpment might be called for. I'll definitely incorporate some of your suggestions though as you clearly know the area well.
Cheers. .

mikedexter wrote: Thanks so much for the great advice!
There's a lot there that I hadn't even considered so all of it will definitely be put to good use.

Thats a pleasure - I enjoyed putting that together

mikedexter wrote: I'm still a little undecided because I think a bit more time in the little berg and less on the escarpment might be called for.

To be quite honest, the reason that so little of the small Berg is included is that I don't know the small Berg in this area well. If you are looking at less time on the escarpment, maybe going south from Thabana Ntlenyana is a better idea. 2 days to reach the escarpment and 2 days spend getting back down would give you a nice balance of small berg and escarpment - morning 1 to midday 2 in the small berg, midday 2 to afernoon 2 on a pass, day 3 to 4 on the escarpment and day 5 to 6 on a pass and small berg. Maybe dropping down Mangaung Pass or Mqatsheni Pass and checking out the Sulphur Springs and the Burnera Ridge. Although this would result in the hike ending on a road (which may actually be a relief after days of hard hiking).

@MikeDexter: Just been reading over what I wrote, not sure how clear it is - just to clarify, I know the escarpment in this area pretty well, but not the small berg and Vergelegen Passes. Please make sure you get a second opinion

Ok, how does this sound?

Day 1: Vergelegen to Kaula Cave via Burnera ridge
Day 2: Kaula to Birds Nest Cave
Day 3: Birds Nest Cave to Rock Arch
Day 4: Rock arch to somewhere around Mlahlangubo peak via Mlahlangubo pass
Day 5: Mlahlangubo to top of Nhlangeni pass
Day 6: Nhlangeni to Birds Nest Cave via KaNtuba pass
Day 7: Birds Nest to Vergelegen

Thabana Ntlenyana is very tempting but I think will have to see how everyone in the group is doing at that stage so I haven't included it as part of the route.

Any thoughts?
A few of them are quite short to allow for 'exploration time'

Cheers. .