Mnweni hikes - 3 days

Hi Riaan

Day 2 will be long. On the GT in December, we hiked from Ifidi Cave to a point near Rwanqwa Pass. We did dilly-dally summiting a few khulus along the way, but it was a long day all the same. I am sure you will have to go closer to 30km than 25km. But, if you can get up Ifidi in a day you should manage this

As for the route - if you want to hike into Lesotho toskip any ridges, you have to go all the way into the Khubedu river. I would suggest just hiking over the rigdes closer to the escarpment.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the advice, think we are in for a monster day 2
Either day 2 will be long, or if we don't manage it then day 3 will be long, so either way we are in for a tough hike.

I was looking at the map last night and saw exactly what you said above - a long detour into Lesotho if we want to skip the ridges. Also thought not worth the effort as we would have to do quite a bit more milage. Was thinking of basically staying close to the escarpment till we get to Mbundini pass. This way we do a bit of up and down but from Icidi it looks like we can stay on a fairly level contour till we get to Mbundini pass. From here I think I'l drop down into Lesotho for a bit of more level hiking till we get to the pins pass area where we'll have to climb a bit. If we can't get to Ledgers then at least we'll be fairly close to Mnweni pass from the Lesotho side.

On the GPS route we plotted the distance as 27km's, depending on the amount of sightseeing we do. I've seen the area around Mbundini and Fangs before so don't mind skipping this part of the escarpment, but would like to stay on the escarpment edge the first part (Ifide to Mbundin) and then when we get to the Mnweni cutback.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan? Fortunately it will be full moon next weekend so we can walk into the night if we have to.

That route sounds sensible. It is a reasonably large but gentle pull to get over the Stimela Peak ridge (just before Mbundini). Rock bands high up push you a little way from the escarpment. If you follow the valley immediately behind the escarpment all the way up to the obvious saddle, you will be fine.

It is a bit easier if you pass the buttress above Black and Tan wall on its rght hand side, as you seem to be planning to do. Look around, there are pathes in the valley itself.

That valley behind Stimela was also one of the only places we found any water last year September, so it makes for a good route.