Zulu Cave, 13-14 July 2024
Hike Leader: Deon Small
As the morning grew closer the anxiety and butterflies gave way to excitement and adventure. We planned to all meet at the Monks Cowl car park bright and early to give us the earliest start, but more importantly to tackle the uphill in the cool of the morning. After completing all the necessary paperwork and checking of gear and a quick repack here ant there, we started our quest of conquering the ascent to Breakfast Stream. The path is not that steep but it is relentless and feels like it never ends, however the views do make up for all the suffering.
The weather forecast was cool to warm, but it turned out to be hot in the sun and soon the sweat was beading on our foreheads. The progress was slow but steady, and slowly we made our way up to Cristal Falls where we had a refreshing break, and filled up with fresh mountain water. This seemed to give us a burst of energy.
Our pace seemed to increase and soon we reached Breakfast Stream where we had a chance to fill up and rest before moving up to Blindman’s Conner. The view in front of us must be one of the best views in the Drakensberg – I say one of the best because there are so many amazing views. The veld was burned black as they did a block burn about two weeks before. The black burnt area has its own beauty and is a stark contrast to the all to familiar golden sheen of the grass lands.Â
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On reaching BMC, we were running low on water and I know that around the corner there is a reliable stream where we would stop for lunch. I think it was just in time as everyone had had an early start to their day. We all enjoyed the cool water as it now started to warm up quite a lot – you would not have thought that it was winter.Â
Upon reaching the contour path the big climbs are over, our pace began to increase and before long we passed Hlathikhulu Neck and started to make our way down to the Zulu Cave junction.Â
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The long downhill lay before us, and this hill was aptly named by a previous group as SOB Hill. Everyone looked very apprehensive as we knew that first thing tomorrow we will have to walk up that very same hill. Just one more river crossing to do and luckily the Mhlwazini River is low and made for an easy crossing. From here its is just a quick walk away to the cave and by 16:00 we were all settling into the cave.
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Zulu Cave is a sandstone overhang that can sleep 12 hikers with ease, but what makes the cave so special is not its size but the waterfall in the middle of it. Even though we did not have a lot of winter rain, the falls were still substantial. The water however was freezing and no one actually tried to go have a shower but a few did go down and have a quick wash.Â
It was surprisingly warm in the cave and as we all made supper, the sun started to set and before long it was dark outside with just a few slithers of moonlight making its way into the cave. It was a sight to see all the different lights bouncing of the cave walls and all the smells of supper must have woken all the wild animals down the valley.
 We made sure to pack all our food away as a few weeks ago we were raided by a Genet and it made of with a substantial cash of food – but not this time, we will be ready!
Everyone slept surprisingly warm as the night was unusually warm for this time of the year.Â
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We packed up while having breakfast and I think everyone was eager to get back to the vehicles.Â
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Soon we all had our burdens on our backs and slowly we made our way out of the cave and made our way to the dreaded SOB hill. We all walked up at our own pace. Huffing and puffing we made it to the top. And from here the last stretch to the contour path.Â
As we took a rest break, I was told that someone said that this is a family friendly hiking trip, well sorry to disappoint you, but this is not a very family friendly hiking trip, however it will make everyone family as you suffer together as a family. This overnight trip has more a moderate trip rating but for the less experienced it might be said that it’s a bit more of a strenuous grade. The big game changer of this trip is that you must be able to carry a back pack for at least 10 to 15kg. The lighter the better but most of us will sneak some luxuries in that unfortunately leads to suffering.
The last stretch of the walk after the contour path is basically downhill. We opted not to take Keartland’s Pass and rather the route we knew, and took the Sphinx route down. The down hills are a killer for most people’s knees but we made it down without too much damage. We reached the car park and needless to say that if it was even a hundred meters further, I would have had to use a whip to get the last ones into the kraal, as the back markers were very close to starting a rebellion.
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