I always enjoy the Bushman’s Nek area and we were going to be visiting quite a few caves on this hike, two of them ones I had not seen before. The forecast had been erratic all week, so we were happy to set off under blue skies with beautiful cloud formations. There has been a lot of rain over the past weeks and we knew there was going to be a lot of ‘boots on/boots off’ when crossing the Bushman’s River – nine times in total! Our leader, Dave opted to wear gumboots and although we were a bit sceptical , I think we were all a tad envious when he strode through all of them leaving us with the tedious task of taking footwear on and off whilst he relaxed!
Our destination for the night was Bushman’s Cave which is situated directly underneath Thaba Ngwangwe. The valley was ablaze with fluorescent coral Watsonias which made for a magnificent sight and we enjoyed our walk up to the cave. After lunch it started looking a bit ominous with dark clouds and the grumbling of thunder, but we made it to the cave without getting wet. We discovered the most beautiful white and pink flowers that were blooming next to the cliff face that I have never seen before - Haemanthus humilis subsp. Hirsutus or “Rabbit Ears”
We awoke to a rather grey and miserable morning with soft drizzle accompanied by strong winds. The first climb of the day was directly above the cave to the high ground above, quite a wakeup call as it consisted of three steep climbs, with the buffeting wind and sporadic rain not making it any easier. The rain and wind eased off once we reached the contour path en route to Goats Cave and although the skies remained cloudy and grey, the view of the myriad ridges and valleys below us was magnificent. We had a short break at Goats Cave before heading steeply downhill towards Lammergeier Cave. I unfortunately did not take any photos as my camera remained in my bag – the weather looked as if it could start raining again at any minute. But, Murphy decided otherwise, and it was rain free for the remainder of our hike. We descended towards the valley that houses the two caves I had not visited before, Daniels Cave and Surprise Cave. I was impressed with the former – a lovely level cave with a view of the Devils Knuckles. This cave even has its own built in ‘tap’ – a little stream that comes through the back wall! Then on to Surprise Cave and certainly a surprise for me as I am almost sure I have not seen this cave before despite walking up this valley a few times. There are lovely San Bushman paintings concentrated in a small area with many that have been painted over other paintings over the years. As with a lot of rock art in the Berg, they are slowly fading. We continued down the valley and then it was up and over the final saddle to the Ngwangwane river below. If I thought this was the last ‘boots exercise’ for the day I was mistaken as there were another two before we reached the carpark! Today’s effort was 16km and I could feel it.
We had a lovely crowd and it was good to meet some new likeminded mountain folk!
(Thanks to the McIntyre family for the group photo)
Bushmans Cave
Goats Cave
Lammergeier Cave
Daniels Cave
View from Daniels Cave
Rock Art - Surprise Cave
