5 August 2006
Report by Teresa Whitfield
Pics from Allison Gunning
On a frosty but clear morning 14 hikers all in a row set off across the moors. They were barely recognizable through their balaklaved, gloved and fleece-encased bodies. Their rewards for braving the cold were majestic views of the snow-covered escarpment, which Dave Sclanders in his unaccustomed position as sweeper of the party, stopped, or should I say, caught up with the party, to give a brief peak-and-pass identification lesson.
Some of the group in front of the Giant and his castle against the backdrop of the snow covered mountains
Pretty soon we reached the end of the moor and found a route down into the valley to cross the Moor River. Once over this, it was a hop and a skip to the shelter with interesting and some stunningly preserved rock art. Dave again stepped into the role of informant and gave us a brief history of the four stages of development of San Rock art, examples of all off which can be seen in this cave.
Mponjwa (spelling????) Cave with the rock paintings
Some paintings
Our intrepid rock art specialist!
We had an early lunch before choosing the steepest route back up out of the valley. This necessitated another lengthy break while we waited for our breath to catch us up out of the valley. We stopped in view of a frozen waterfall which reminded us to put our fleeces back on again! Then it was just a short amble back to the car-park.
On the way home, we stumbled across the unusual sight of a reedbuck sleeping in the warm wintery sun. Just before reaching the car-park, Dave took us to see a real gem, actually three gems; a stunning waterfall, a magnificent deep and narrow valley and the most amazing rock formations. We were even able to climb onto the rock formation via a very narrow neck which joined it to the mainland! Who would have thought that there was such a spectacularly beautiful spot so close to the car-park?
The star of our hike was 80-year old Shirley Vogt who walked the 12km at the head of the group! Thank you to our leaders, Allison and Dave who once again enabled us to spend a thoroughly enjoyable day out in the wonderful Drakensberg.
Teresa Whitfield
One of the photos - an iced, snowed waterfall