Mini Hike Reports

On Friday myself and Ross hike up to Bannerman Hut for a headstart. On Saturday morning, we left up Bannerman Pass at 5:30AM. We sat out some rain and hail in Spare Rib Cave and were very happy to see the sun coming out as we left the cave. The sun quickly disappeared, and at the top of the pass, we took a left turn (as opposed to the right turn to Mafadi that was planned) and went to Bannerman Cave.

We reached Bannerman Cave just before 10AM, and watched the snow come down. At 5PM, we finally decided to take a short walk up Bannerman Face and Sanqebethu.

On Sunday morning, in perfect weather, we headed south and bagged Mount Durnford, Long Wall (we also built a snowman here), Giants Pass Peak and Giants Castle. We descended Giants Pass and were back at the offices just after 4PM.

Ross has now bagged 7 khulus despite having hiked less than 100km in the Drakensberg. Not a bad start at all!

Total distance: 46km

 

Thanks for the report Smurf, and for putting together a good hike.

Although things didn't go quite as planned, a string of the right decisions on the fly led to a very memorable hike nonetheless..

Look forward to the next one..

On Friday morning 28 September 2018 my father and I departed from the Drakensberg Sun Hotel on our way to Stable Cave
via the Jacob's ladder route. My father having been an avid hiker in his younger
days and not having been active for a number of years asked to go on a short re-introductory
hike. I decided to use the opportunity to explore the area since I had not done
so before.
 
We departed from the hotel following the fern forest route which is well marked and which we could easily follow. However, after
leaving the fern forest section behind we lost the path. Our GPS coordinates
and our map did not correlate. Almost two hours were spent looking for the
trail. We were in for some bushwhacking and had to work our way through a section
of wattles which have been eradicated. It was extremely hot and being September
water supplies was limited.

We managed to find the path close to theJacobs ladder sign and managed to navigate to stable Cave. We spotted some Eland.
This was a first sighting from me and something special to see.   Ofconcerning was the many camp fire spots which we saw along the last section of
the Jacobs ladder route and in Stable Cave itself.

We chose to take a different route back tothe hotel the following day using the coordinates which I received from members
of this forum. This time the route was clearly marked and we had no difficulty
navigating or finding water. I should mention that the Monks Cowl KZNWildlife Office appears to be using a new mountain register. The register was
different from previous registers which I have used at Sentinel car park and Didima.
I noticed that the register does not have a section asking for details of the
route which we planned to take. Not sure if we were asked to complete a
register means for day trips only? I can definitely recommend the route forany new hiker! Below is a link of a video of our hike.

The easiest way to Jacob's Ladder via the Fern Forest side is to follow the service road up from the stables all the way over the saddle and round to the fire-break path.

Martial Eagle Cave Hike

In 2005 I was part of a hiking group led by Dave Sclanders that visited the Martial Eagle Valley and cave.  This was a 4 day trip that started at Bannermans Hut in the Giants Castle area and continued on to Centenary Hut, with the third day being dedicated to exploring the Martial Eagle Valley cave and surrounds.  This was not an area often visited by the public as its hidden in the lower Berg amongst the many high ridges and valleys and according to Dave was only known by the staff in the early days and used for ‘VIP’s.  This was borne out by the fact that it even had a toilet built above the cave with a wonderful view.  Very few people know of its existence.  Richard and I decided to revisit this place some 13 years later to see whether we could find it again.Our hike from the camp site to Bannermans hut  was long and hot.  We detoured down a ridge just before reaching the hut, heading down into the long valley below.  The going was tough as the grass was very thick and long which made walking difficult and hard on the feet, not to mention the extra energy involved in picking up your feet higher than  usual.  After an hour or two of negotiating side gully's and steep contouring we could see the tree lined gorge where we thought the cave might be.  Sure enough a little further on we came across the toilet, still sitting there intact and pretty well hidden as its in a slight hollow. We duly took the obligatory photo and then made our way down to the cave. It was clear that it has not been used in years and as there are many trees and a massive boulder in front, is very dark, gloomy and dusty. I was intrigued to note that there were several tree stumps arranged neatly on one side, each with a rock deposited on the top, and I wondered what that was about.  I contacted Dave who told me that it was he who had put the rocks on the stumps to see whether baboons  or hikers would move them.  It would seem that this cave has remained largely undisturbed over the last 10 years or so.  Dave also mentioned that many years ago the dagga smugglers used this cave and when he first found it, the cave was full of litter. It is not used by Park Rangers as they no longer stay out overnight.We had noticed a lovely tenting spot just prior to entering the gorge so we set up camp here, right next to the river.  It was a perfect afternoon and evening.We were up early the following day as we wanted to get going before it got too hot. We had to negotiate our way up, down and around quite a few massive ridges with more bundu bashing to endure and although it was rather a tough day, we saw some beautiful valleys and waterfalls and the vastness of these huge and at the same time secret spaces was once again impressed upon us.  The Berg is always much bigger than you think!  It was incredibly hot and it was with much relief that we trudged into camp at 3.00pm  - that beer and cider never tasted so good!

I recently read a book called ‘Drakensberg Ranger’ by Dr  George Hughes who spent his early years at  Giants Camp under the mentorship of Bill Barnes.  Dr Hughes  went on to become the CEO of KZN Nature Conservation Services and I am currently trying to contact him as I am sure he will have more on the background of this cave and area.  I will post any further information I receive.



Heading down Martial Eagle Stream Valley



The gorge where the cave is situated - you can see the air vent for the toilet in the middle of the photo



The loo in all its glory



Martial Eagle Cave





A serene sunset looking up the Martial Eagle Valley towards Bannermans Pass



Camp site for the night



Almost home - looking over Giants Castle camp from the Secretary Bird Trail

elinda wrote: Martial Eagle Cave Hike

It is not used by Park Rangers as they no longer stay out overnight.

!

Surely that is one of the perks of the job ?