Icidi Pass

We are planning to do Icidi/Mbundini Passes in March over 4 days. First night Grasscutters or Jubilee Cave, next day up Icidi and tent on top. Third day down Mbundini and overnight at 5 Star Cave, Fourth day, walk out. Has anyone done this route ( or vice versa) recently and have any photos? Particularly of Grasscutters or Jubilee Caves and the passes, ( so we know what we are in for! )

Hi Elinda,
We did this round-trip (up Icidi down Mbundini) in 3 days a while back. It makes a nice circuit. First night was in Jubilee, second in Mbundini cave (so no tents). We've walked out from Mbundini Cave in one day several times before without any hassle. The hard part of the circuit was from Jubilee to the base of Icidi pass. As Intrepid notes, there is a lot of bush. We made the mistake of trying to stay on the true right hand bank (south bank) going in to the pass. This doesn't work for two reasons a) bundu b) rivers joining from that side. Best to get into the river and make progress, noting that you have to get out of the river at least twice. From the top of Icidi pass its still a fair way to Mbundini Cave (up to the top of one ridge, down a long ridge and then up another to Mbundini).

Thanks mnt_tiska. I see you left Jubilee at 4.30am and got to Mbundini Cave at 1.30pm. Not sure we would leave that early but would aim for 6.00am. I must admit the thought of not having to lug a tent along appeals greatly........how long would you estimate it took you to get to the top of Icidi?

We were at the top of Icidi pass by about 10:00. We wasted quite a bit of time in the first couple of km after Jubilee. The pass was steep but no problem really.

Part of the reason for leaving early from Jubilee was that we had to find Mbundini Cave as we had no tents. We'd never been to Mbundini Cave before and had no GPS. We got there just as the mist closed in!

Ok, next questions! Is Mbundini Cave easy to find, do you have a photo and or GPS cordinates for it? And would it sleep 6 people?

The cave is easy to find. You just head down Mbundini pass and it is on the right hand side after about 15-20 minutes. You can see the cave easily from the middle of the pass where you would naturally be walking if heading down and not stopping at the cave. I have some GPS points at home. Mbdundini Pass does start at an unlikely place on the escarpment - high up and not with the usual gully. Its a bit like Mblambonja in that sense. But you probably have been there already.

The cave would take 6 people though some will be on flatter sections than others. Its a long shallow overhang and faces into the pass on a major rock outcrop. In mid summer there is an intermittent source of water coming down some rocks on the other side of the pass from the cave (left hand when descending).

I find the descent of the pass from Mbundini Cave pretty easy - its just over steep grassy slopes. But like Icidi, there is no path that I can find. Others have found it more difficult than its neighbour, Fangs.

We came down Icidi in April and camped in the river bed a short distance before Grasscutters cave, which we went to the next morning. Smugglers were obviously camping in there but had disappeared when we arrived. The fire was still burning and all their stuff was there. I have a photo of the cave but am struggling to attach it. will keep trying

Now I'm back to Internet Explorer, which seems to be working again to add pics!

Grasscutters cave




This is a photo coming down Icidi Pass, very overgrown in places

Thanks so much Sabine! This is very helpful. Grasscutters looks like a nice cave, my only concern will be the locals,so we will have a look at Jubilee Cave as well. Your photo of the Pass does look fairly overgrown but not too bad, but nonetheless a fair amount of bundu bashing will be in store for us !

This year our group decided to do a circuit of Icidi Pass and Mbundini Pass as our annual Mnweni epic (having done sister Ifidi and Fangs Passes last year). We did this last weekend, making use of the Thursday public holiday and long weekend. We arranged a lift on a bakkie from MCC to the end of the road (the driver's 3rd hikers trip of the morning) up the Mnweni valley, across the new bridge over the Mnweni River, and started hiking above the confluence of the Ifidi and Mnweni Rivers.

After crossing the Ifidi River, we headed up the ridge past Sethene School, following the path on the right (true left) side of the Mnweni.



We soon spotted the other two groups of hikers on the path on the other side of the Mnweni River, and guessed they were wondering how we had managed to get ahead of them. We followed the trail on the top of the ridge past some kraals and wattle plantations, and gradually descended into the Icidi Valley upstream of the confluence with the Mnweni.

The photo below (taken on a previous hike from the ridge across the Mnweni river) shows Icidi Pass on the left hand side of the shadow, and the Icidi Valley almost to it's confluence with the Mnweni.



Grasscutters Cave is situated at the base of the large rock band on the left of the photo where the gully coming down from Stimela Ridge (top left of photo) forms a waterfall at the rock band. Jubilee Cave is the white spot on the photo at the right end of the rock band above the lower rock band containing Grasscutters Cave.



We overnighted in Grasscutters Cave, grateful that the gps had made finding it under the waterfall behind the trees quite easy, even though it's almost next to the path it's not very obvious if you don't know where to look!



Next morning we continued on the path up through the rock band and visited Jubilee Cave, a very obvious, large overhang also with a waterfall, and with a path leading to it from the main path.