Northern Berg escarpment loops from Sentinel Car Park/Amphitheatre

Hi Acki - welcome.

You can head out to Ifidi cave which is about 15km out. This depends on your fitness and experience - the cave is a bit tricky to find so good map reading skills and/or a GPS will be important. Next night back at the falls in your tent or else in Crows Nest cave which is closeby and quite good. 

Do yourself a favour and scour over the many threads on this website wrt. hike options in the area - lots of information available.

 

Thank you BergAttie. This sounds like a winner. Will maybe consider sleeping in Crows Nest the second night, saw that the area around Tugela falls has quite a high risk of getting into some sort of trouble. If I can't rope in some friends to join on the hike it would probably be the safer option to spend both nights in the caves.

Ifidi cave will be the most secure of the lot. Crowsnest is not always available so be sure to take your tent as back-up (general rule wrt. caving. Sentinel cave is also a back-up but not a great cave from view and temperature point of view.

Good day everyone. Me again on the same topic, just a different year. So my girlfriend and I never made it to the Berg last year as she fell of her horse and broke her collarbone a week before we were set to head out on our hike. Given recovery time and then just life getting in the way, 2022 and early 2023 just wasn't an option for us to try and make our dream hike happen (we also don't fancy hiking in the winter). So here we are starting to plan our hike again aiming for September/October.

The plan at this stage has two alternatives:

Plan 1:
Day 1: Sentinel car park up the chain ladders with a lunch at Tugela falls. After that hike to Ifidi Cave where we will spend the night
Day 2: Hike to the Mt. Amery camp or camp near Ribbon falls for the second night
Day 3: Head back to Sentinel car park via chain ladders again or sentinel gully for a change of scenery

Plan 2:
Day 1: Sentinel car park up the chain ladders with a lunch at Tugela falls. After that head out to Mt. Amery or Ribbon falls for the camp the night
Day 2: Hike towards Crow's Nest where we will then sleep in for the second night and maybe summit Mont-Aux-Sources during the day
Day 3: Head back to Sentinel car park via chain ladders again or sentinel gully for a change of scenery

Our idea is not to have a jammed pack hiking schedule even though we are fit hikers (we hike the Magaliesberge a lot because it is close by, day routes and over night hikes). We would like to be able to take in the scenery as much as possible, so I believe in order to do that Ifidi cave is the furthest we would like to go. If possible we would also like to have one morning in a tent in a nice spot to watch the beautiful sunrise. Plan 2 was the original plan, but due to safety concerns around Tugela falls and Crow's nest cave I thought about the other plan out of a safety perspective (and that Crow's nest might be occupied). The benefit of Plan 2 is the possibility of bagging a Khulu which will be a first for us both. Plan 1 is a bit further, but as far as I know it would probably be a lot safer than the other option. Between camping near Ribbon falls and near Mt. Amery, which would offer the best views in the morning? And would trying to summit Mt. Amery be doable on day 2?

I would really appreciate any input from you guys about the two plans and which of the two you would enjoy more. Any comments about my security concerns would also be appreciated. It will only be the two of us.

Sorry if this type of route has been discussed already! I tried my best to find something similar on here.

 

Summit via chain ladders and go straight to top of Tugela falls. Don't waste much time there, instead hike across Bilanjil ridge, then follow the Bilanjil river towards the escarpment to reach Bilanjil falls. This is a stunning place. Walk around he gorge and sort of back towards Tugela to a viewpoint from where you would be able to see the entire Tugela falls from top to bottom on a clear day. From there head south towards Ribbon falls and make sure you visit the Southern amphitheater pinnacle. You will have to get coordinates for this....... hard to find if you don't know where to look. Nice place to sleep first night is just north of Mount Amery, right on the escarpment opposite Devil's tooth....... beautiful sunrise. From there you can hike to Mont Aux Sources via Crow's nest the nexr morning.  From Mont Aux Sources hike towards a spot upstream from Eland's falls, next to the Eland's river to camp the second night. These camping spots are much safer than at the Tugela falls. 

Going to definitely look at that! Sounds like a bit shorter hike than all the way to Ifidi which might just be what we need for our first Berg trip. Thank you for the suggestion!

@Drakie1 thanks for this post, a group of 6 us are planning on following this route in late April based on your suggestions. I have a couple of questions hopefully someone can help with:

1. Do you have a rough estimate of the distances covered per day from Sentinel car park to Mount Amery(Day 1), Mount Amery to Eland's Falls(Day 2)? 
2. Water availability along this route at this time of year?
3. Are there any permits required for this area and are they available at the entrance or do they need to be booked beforehand? Any limits on number of people allowed entry per day?
4. Is there a recommended map for this area available for purchase?

Thanks and much appreciated.

Hi Juice
1. Distance day 1 is about 10.8km day 2 about 6km if you are camping at Eland Falls.  Work on 22km for both days total back to the car park.
2. Water should be fine in the Thukela Bilanjil and Ribbon falls rivers, as you climb up top Mount Amery there should be water that flows toward Ribbon Falls.  I would fill up here as I don't think there will be water near the approach to Mount Amery.
3. When u drive into the park there is an entrance fee per car or pp R70 and then a hiking fee pppn of about R75 at the carpark.
4. Latest Slingsby or the KZN Ezemvelo Drakensburg North maps.

Pleasure.