9 to 12 August 2007: Drakensberg hike Greys Pass/Tlanyaku Pass

 

Hikers:- Neil Ransome, Sue Desmond, Bengt Dressler, Paul van Beek, Brian lloyd, Hanneke Robat, Angelo Denicolo, Monica Brits, Daryll and Laura Elliott.

 

Six of us met at Bengalela restaurant for supper on Wednesday night.  The others traveled down early on Thursday morning and met us at Monks Cowl camp site.

 

The weather was perfect with blue skies and no wind.  We walked up the usual route up to blind mans corner via the Sphinx and then to Keith Bush hut.  When we arrived at Keith Bush at about 15h00 there was no water in the stream next to the camp site.  To get water one had to go back down the valley, which took another three quarters of an hour.

 

On Friday the weather was also perfect and we all got to the top by 11h00.  On the way to Talanyaku pass we were accosted by a bunch of Basuto herd boys begging for food.  They followed us for several kilometers before they got the hint to disappear.  At one point I could still see them walking on top of the hill where we would have walked to Talanyaku , Sue Desmond suggested that we should walk down the valley and camp by the stream where the traverse hikers had camped on previous occasions.  The water in the stream was very cold and in the morning the water turned to ice.

 

We all set off by 08h00 and by 12h00 we were all in the valley above Ndidima Gorge. There we had a wash and lunch. After lunch Monika, Angelo, Sue and Paul decided to go on ahead in order to get as close to the junction of Keith’s Bush Camp as possible, making the next day a fairly short hike back. It was agreed to contour around the ridge to C13 (contour path) instead of taking the short cut over. They missed the turning and ended up going a very long route via Leopards cave. They did however find a beautiful valley with a waterfall worth returning to at a later date.

That evening the remainder of us camped on a hill close to the “The Gat ” The next day we arrived at the camp site by 13h00, showered and were finishing lunch when the others arrived, a bit later than they had planned. Needless to say, their next days hike wasn’t short at all.’ Niel Ransome