Hike report Lotheni June 2011

Hi all,

Day 1: We set off from Lotheni and took Eagle trail to the contour path, then headed to Hlatimba pass (south). Spent the first night in Hlatimba Cave (north).

Day 2: Up to Redi peak, along the top and over into the river valley near Ntubeni pass where we saw many Basothos and their herds, no problems though. Spent night #2 in Lotheni cave (finding it was easy thanks to the GPS coords from this forum!).

Day 3: Down Lotheni pass, the smugglers route. We then left their well-worn path that heads away from Lotheni and hopped along the river until we could meet up with the path that goes past Ash cave. This path is not in very good condition and we spent a lot of time on ankle-breaking slopes, it only gets decent near Yellowwood cave.

Thanks for the GPS database on this site, it's really great. If anyone wants a lightweight GPS system on the cheap, try this: Get a phone with a GPS on it running Android operating system (check out Samsung, HTC and ask around). Get an application called OSMand+ for R30 from the Android market, it can download all the terrain maps from Google Maps (excellent detail and contours) which can be used "offline" with the phone in "flight mode" (saves battery). The app can open the GPX files that are provided here on Vertical Endevour and plot them out on the terrain map along with your location.

The battery will last +-7 days in flight mode with infrequent use, hardly weighs anything, and gives you a lot of confidence that you're not going to get lost.

Hey Jon, we melted some ice, which kept us going until we got to the river system near Ntubeni pass. Would have been tough without the remains from the heavy snow!

Sounds awesome! I'm jealous...