Sentinel Car Park to Cathedral Peak - Northern Berg Escarpment Traverse

I am looking at doing a 3 or 4 day hike along the Northern Berg Escarpment in April this year. I initially wanted to do the full route from Sentinel Car Park to Cathedral peak but will be driving a hire car and have no way of getting from the start car park to the end car park at the end of the walk. Does anyone have any advice for this?

From reading through this page I can't find any obvious solution, so I was thinking of doing a round circuit instead. My main priority is impressive views/scenery, is there a particular route that anyone can recommend? Is the scenery more impressive around Cathedral Peak/ Bell Traverse, or at Tugela Falls? Are there any possible routes that are more circular (i.e. not just out an back) so we can have full days of different views?

Thanks for all your help!

There are many circular routes for a 3 to 4 day hike. The most obvious ones that come to mind are Mnweni-Rockeries and Mafadi, going up Judges pass and down Leslie's. If you are looking for scenery Mnweni would be a good choice.

It is possible to organise a lift from Cathedral / Didima back to your starting point, but it would be expensive.

That whole area from from Sentinel to Cathedral is pretty spectacular. Nice 3 / 4 day routes for new people new to the berg are:

Rockeries / Mnweni loop (starting from Mnweni Cultural Centre)
Ntonjelana / Rockaries loop (starting from Mnweni Cultural Centre)
Organ Pipes (via old fire lookout)/Malmbonja loop (starting from Didima)

If you don't mind a bit of "exposure" and are a fit and strong hiker can also consider Cockade pass / Bell traverse loop (also starting from Didima)

All of those would take you past some pretty amazing scenery and give you the opportunity to spend the night in some of the best caves from a view perspective - if that is your main priority, ie Ledgers, Mapajwana, Easter, Rowlands etc.

Another option would be to see if you can't get a lift with hikers that will be in the same area with the same finishing dates. Put it ut there and see what happens. You can even have somebody drop you off at your starting point and picking you up at the finish. You do your route, they do theirs and you simply merge dates. I might even be able to help you with this option as I will in all likelihood be doing a hike in the berg during April. Pm me your dates and plans, let's see if we can sync dates and areas. I will be driving from Centurion, and we will more than likely be 3 or 4 people in the car.

Thank you for your help so far. 

Having talked to my travel buddies, we definitely want to see Tugela falls, so think we will start at Sentinel car park and head up from there. 

I also love to look of ledgers cave - is it feasible to do Sentinel car park to ledgers cave in one day? We are quite fit and happy for hike for 6+ hours if needed. What is this route like? Are there good views along the way or is it just a bit of a slog!

If it’s not possible to do instead, where would you recommend going from Tugela instead? Still thinking for a 3/4 day loop/out and back route, with one night on the top of Tugela falls. 

Thanks for all your recommendations:)

Good morning everyone. 

We are planning a NT last week of September, 6 days sentinel car park and down Pipes. All hugging the escarpment . We are all seasoned in multi day berg trips. Been in some really hairy situations, hence my questions ( I might add some stories later) A few questions for the guys that frequent. 

1. I am battling to get distances between camp sites/caves (1 Ifidi ,2 Fangs, 3 Mponjwane 4, tsekesteke ,5 rawlands cave, 6 down windy gap/camel. Am I going to regret this ?  I have downloaded the GPX map but I would like to make sure. 

2. Water situation end of September? I got engaged to my wife in twins September in 2013. On a round trip down tsekesteke but water was a massive problem at the top.
I have also been up kahoona deep in snow a few years before during the same time. We would like to catch some snow melt if possible, even though I am aware it might not snow ? so budgeting for anything ready. But would appreciate the insight ?

Thank you to everyone contributing. Great community and I hope to contribute as well. 

 

Those stages look very do-able GrantB. 
Mponj to Tseke is among the longer 
Tseke to Roland among the shorter. 
There is a lot of scope for adjustment such as Mponj to Twins Cave or Tseke and down Camel in a day. 

I have always found water on the escarpment. What changes is how far into Lesotho you have to go to find it. 

and congrats on the Twins event! What a location

Hello fellow hikers  

My name is Kat and together with my boyfriend we are planning to do the northern mini traverse (sentinel car park to cathedral hotel), coming all the way from Poland to visit! We are going in the end on March and I hoped you can share you thoughts on a few questions we still have (even though the forum is a hidden gem for intel!).      

• Planned route - do you think its best and safe to hike now
  • Day 1: Sentinel CP - Ifidi cave 
  • Day 2: Ifidi - Fangs (or Mbundini)
  • Day 3: Fangs - Ledgers
  • Day 4: Ledgers - Twins
  • Day 5: Twins - Hotel 
• Cave bookings - are those required for 2 people - if so, how would you go about that?
• Permits / entry fees - Can I pay those while entering the Berg?
• Water - I assume in March water scarcity shouldn't be an issue, but are water filters required or is it safe to drink? 
• Transport (to start and from end)- we are trying to arrange sth from the hotel, but if you have any recos - appreciated!
• Any other specific 'must haves' for the hike - so far I read candy, cigarretes, cash for entires, physical maps  

Thank you in advance for your replies and see you on the trail! 
Kat