Royal Natal National Park hikes

Thanks kliktrak!

That sounds all straightforward. It looks like Mahai is closer, but if Tendele is only a little bit further below the Dooley ridge, then we'd probably prefer to walk out from the chalet - it is nice not to go near the car during a 5 night stay!

Loveliest accommodation there is, Thendele. You will most definitely enjoy it.

Thendele is amazing! Cannot wait to go again...

The family and I will be at Mahai campsite this coming weekend, we want to do Tugela Gorge hike on Saturday and thinking of Gudu falls on Sunday morning, any other suggestions for a 3-4 hour there and back before we go home?

Have any of you Berg "fundies" out there done this hike or know anything about it?

It is a fantastic day hike from Mahai campsite or from The Cavern Resort, culminating in a spectacular viewpoint from Broom Hill.
I stumbled upon it by looking at one of The Cavern Hotel's old hiking maps. It seemed to be a bit of a legendary lost trail and not many people knew about it. Megan from The Cavern said she had been to the hole in the wall but had not been up and over to complete the route. Ephraim, the hiking guide at the hotel, said he had only done it once by special request, and had had to search for it.
Not knowing what to expect it took me some effort to find it myself.
The key is to walk towards the Royal Natal National Park Grotto and then just before you go into the forest keep on the right hand side of the river and head up on the edge of the forest to the sandstone barrier which is part of Castle Rocks. There you will see some cairns and painted on a cliff in the bush are the words: "to the hole and up".
It was all a bit like a treasure hunt. The bizarre thing was I found an old concrete sign at the bottom of the route which said "HOLE IN THE" and at the top of the gully, which you have to climb after crawling through the hole, another one that said "WALL".
It must have once been an official route. Maybe it is time to put it back on the map.



The Hole in The Wall




The concrete sign found near the grotto


Sign at the top of the gully


Crawling through The Hole In The Wall



Climbing the gully above the hole in the wall to access the top of the little berg.

I don't know about the others, but I can't see any pics, Chris.

oops .... here are the photos that were supposed to be attached!

That hike is listed in the old RNNP booklet of hikes.

Inspired by the success of shadowravenn's search for the mystery cave, I have a similar problem to put to the VE community.

Ages ago, when I was very much following rather than taking the kind of notice I do now, we exited what I think was the bottom end of the Grotto gorge in RNNP and made our way up the little Berg to Broome Hill. I remember backtracking down from the head of the 'gorge' at the grotto some way and, I think, finding a way out on the south side of the valley. The thing about the exit is that it was via some short steel ladder or set of pegs.

I was hoping to have a look this last December, but ran out of time. I did manage to find the hole in the wall exit which is to the north and threads through the sandstone outside the Grotto Valley itself.

Does anyone know about the artificial exit via the pegs or ladder?

Hello fellow berg lovers! We are looking at taking our almost 5 year old on his first overnight berg hike. Can anyone recommend a nice place to camp with a short (around 5k) easy hike in. Possibly a nice pool to swim in or other interesting feature. We really want to tent in the berg and not just a day hike with staying in the camp. Looked at Tugela Gorge, but it seems you can't camp there?