Tent Pass

After my ascent of Uklebe Pass in April, I hiked a short way across the summit of the escarpment around the base of The Hawk, and descended an unmarked pass between the prominent peaks The Hawk and The Tent. I have called this pass Tent Pass, to make geographic sense. 

I have known about this possible pass for a long time, as it is visible from a long way away and from a large area of Lotheni. There is an obvious gully going up to the summit from lower down, and to the left of this gully, looking up, there are continuous grass slopes. On our way to descend KaMasihlenga Pass in 2024, I had a chance to go to the top of the pass and look down. The gully is not straight, there is a curve in it, so it was not possible to see the entire gully from above, although the top portion to the curve looked doable. I do not know if the entire gully is doable or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there is an obstacle or cliff in it. We then went a short way away from the top of the gully to look down the grass slopes, and were amazed to see a fairly large cairn at the top of the obvious point to descend. The top rocks had fallen off and were lying around the base of the cairn, but someone had gone to considerable effort to build a significant cairn. We could see that the grass slopes were doable, and the cairn seemed to confirm that this pass has been done before, although that had not been in doubt. I have not been able to find any details or information about this pass in the MCSA journals, so it may not ever have been recorded previously. I can’t help wondering if this was once a significant route that has been forgotten over time, and if anyone may have any information on the history of the pass I would be very interested to know more. 

So I was back at the top of Tent Pass and starting to descend. I had used photos from the previous visit, and Google Earth, to plan a route, which seemed quite straight forward, and I was about to find out. The photo below shows the view from the top of the pass.  

 

The grass slope at the top of the pass winds through the rock outcrops.  

 

A view back up the grass slope at the top of the pass. 

 

Below the rock outcrops I continued down the grass slope, aiming to get into the stream bed lower down wherever the terrain permitted.  

 

After getting into the stream bed I had a morning break at water, and continued a bit further in the boulder bed.  

 

I exited the stream at a suitable spot to the right, as the plan I had was to walk on the ridges to the right of the stream to avoid the boulder bed, winding sections of the stream and any obstacles like waterfalls.  

 

I contoured out of the stream onto the ridge, on a side slope that wasn’t unpleasant, and continued along the top of ridge, which was easy hiking. The photo below shows the view back up the pass, with the very prominent gully to the top at the right, and the grass slopes which I descended to the left.  

 

There was a trail on the ridge, and the photo below shows the view back along the ridge and pass, and The Hawk above left.  

At the end of the ridge I descended to the confluence of a side stream and the main stream, crossed the side stream and went over the next ridge to the right. Here it can be seen that the stream is in a steep sided valley with pools and low waterfalls, and would be a lot more unpleasant than the ridge.  

 

I kept as low as possible on the next short ridge, just going high enough to avoid the steeper side slope lower down, and again descended at the end of the ridge to cross another side stream to the right. I had lunch at this side stream crossing. The photo below shows the stream coming into the photo from the left, and the side stream in the foreground, with a high waterfall into the stream over the rock band (waterfall not visible in the photo). The stream was now in a serious gorge, with a lot of pools taking up the entire width of the stream bed and forest on the sides.  

 

I had to ascend a bit onto the next ridge, but there was a trail angling up and going along the top of the ridge.  

 

I followed the top of the ridge, in places there was a rough trail, and in places it disappeared, but it wasn’t hard walking at all. The photo below shows the view back along this ridge, with the pass in the background between The Hawk and The Tent.  

 

There was a huge descent at the end of this ridge down to the stream below. At the end of the ridge I wanted to cross the stream, because lower down there was a trail on the left of the stream, which can just be seen to the left of the patch of forest in the photo below. The Lotheni valley is at the right background of the photo. The trail contours around the slopes above the streams, and continues up the left (true right) of the Lotheni River, ending not far before Ash Cave, which was my destination.  

 

I continued down the end of the ridge, which got very steep at the bottom. The lower section to the stream below was bushy, with several low cliffs which were not easy to spot from above, and this was by far the most difficult part of the route. The photo below shows a view back up this slope – it is steeper and rougher than the impression the photo gives.  

 

I crossed the stream below, had a bit of a clean up after the bushy descent, and afternoon break at water. From the top of Tent Pass I had stayed on the true right of the stream, with the short section in the stream, but would now continue on the true left. The photo below shows a view back to the end of the ridge where I descended, unfortunately in shadow, and the trail I was following after crossing onto the true left. It isn’t a great photo, my camera doesn’t like taking photos into the sun, or the contrast between light and shade.  

 

The photo below shows the view down the Lotheni valley, with the confluence of the stream I followed and the Lotheni in the foreground, and how much the practically level trail had risen above the stream.  

 

I continued on the trail which remained pretty level until it ran out just downstream from Ash Cave, where I overnighted. The next day I walked back to Lotheni office, doing some exploring along the way. 

Tent Pass is an enjoyable pass, and it was convenient for me to do with Uklebe Pass. I’m sure it has been used a lot before, and it’s not more difficult than KaMasihlenga or Lotheni Passes, so I’m surprised it has remained unmarked and unknown. 

I have uploaded my gps track of Tent Pass, and it is available for download, either from the Downloads – Drakensberg Passes section, or the gps data link in the Passes of the Central Drakensberg Index.