Stephan and Christine met Brad and Eva from New York when they were climbing the Rwenzoris - Margerhita Peak in Uganda………………….. they have kept in contact over the ensuing years with a view to visiting South Africa at some point. So when Christine told me that a trip had been planned for April, we decided on a hike that would showcase a spectacular part of the Drakensberg. This is the Upper Injasuti area and our route would be from the office up to Centenary Hut, then up Corner Pass via the Northern High Approach. We would spend a night at Upper Injasuti Cave and then head north, crossing the Red Wall Valley and tenting again in the valley where Injasuti and Hilton Passes top out. We would head down Leslies Pass and spend our last night at Marble Baths before heading back to camp.
The weather forecast was looking good with ‘some wind’ but no rain and we headed up to Centenary Hut under blue skies. We had decided to avoid ‘Heartbreak Hill’ ( a climb of seemingly unending false summits and thoroughly deserving of the name) and made our way via the Rangers outpost. This is still quite a tough climb, especially when carrying 5 days worth of food, and we were relieved to gain the start of the old jeep track. The wind which at first was gentle and much appreciated, later turned into very strong gusts – not so pleasant! We made a quick stop for lunch and then continued on our way, eventually arriving at Centenary Hut in the early afternoon. There was an Afrikaans group already camped out on the grass in front of the hut – we had met them earlier at the office. They were intending to summit Mafadi ( the highest point in South Africa) via Judges pass . Brad and Eva had very kindly brought out our new tent from the States – a Z Packs Dyneema tent which weighs in at a paltry 600g. The material is incredibly strong and it seemed strange to just be using two hiking poles, but it would be put to the test later that night with very strong blasts of wind – we are happy to say that we were pretty impressed with how it held up! Late that afternoon a lot of other people arrived and proceeded to put up their tents. All were headed for Mafadi so it appears that this has become immensely popular. The peaceful evening in the mountains that we had envisaged for our guests was not to be……………… We counted about 6 groups of hikers all in all. We decided on a fairly early start the next morning as there would be a lot of climbing ahead of us. We elected to use the Northern High Approach which cuts off a fair bit of distance as it contours into Corner Pass about half way up the pass. Most of the other hikers were going up Judges Pass which is further south. We soon arrived at the scramble which was higher than I remembered – however with a bit of care we all managed to get past this obstacle and shortly afterwards were heading into Corner Pass itself. The views from here are pretty spectacular. The first crux in the pass was the chockstone that one has to climb up to bypass a small waterfall. Here Stephan was a huge help as he hauled our backpacks up, allowing us to scramble up without the added weight. Just at the top of the pass there is a small chimney where he again helped out – and soon we were on the escarpment and heading down towards the river where we had lunch and a break. Now on to the last push for the day – the long uphill to the top of the ridge behind the Trojan Wall. The sight of the valley with the Triplets below is always a spectacular one and it did not fail to impress. Although we had booked Upper Injasuti cave, we had elected to tent below instead as we could foresee a possible bunfight with a lot of hikers intending to overnight in the cave. As it turned out, we saw 2 hikers arrive at the cave with the Afrikaans group arriving later on. We never saw all the others so can only assume they never made it that far.
Our next day was to be a leisurely one and we had an unhurried start which was welcome after the tough first two days. We walked along the escarpment edge taking in the superlative views of the Triplets and then headed north, crossing into the Red Wall valley and its waterfall. We had a ridge to climb into the next valley which is where both Injasuti and Hilton Passes top out. Here we found a tenting spot next to the river and had lunch. That afternoon we went for a walk below the Lesser and Greater Injasuti Buttresses and looked down into the infamous Hilton Pass. This is not a pass that I would care to tackle again!
Temperatures plummeted that night and our waterbottles were frozen in the morning – we heard later that it went down to minus 6 degrees. We packed up and summited the first and last climb of the day before walking towards Leslies Pass. We saw several teams of hikers on their way to Mafadi and also going down Leslies Pass. The mist had come in by now and we headed down into the grey gloom. Leslies has never been a favourite of mine, and it did not disappoint. It has become very eroded due to the amount of traffic and the last thirty metres or so just as you head down the nose into the river bed were really bad. It has now become a sand slide and I ended up in a most undignified heap at the bottom – luckily with no injuries. We stopped for a break at the river which now looks very different to what I remember with a number of rock landslides in the vicinity before tackling the last final ridge down to the bottom. We were all pretty relieved to reach level ground. After lunch we headed down the valley towards Marble Baths which was to be our stop for the night. The path through much use, is much improved although you weave your way in and out numerous bush, trees and gullies for a long way – it felt never ending. We eventually reached the tent site at Marble Baths, none more thankful than Eva……….what a trooper she was! She tackled all with a smile and never complained. Marble Baths is a beautiful place with its aqua pools and flowing water – a paradise indeed. This is another spot that has become extremely popular and we were saddened and disgusted to find little heaps of used toilet tissue very close to the tents. Greg and Thora did a good job of getting rid of this. Hikers kept arriving, some tenting and some heading up to the cave. A lesson learnt – avoid popular places over a long weekend if you want peace and serenity in the Berg!
We had a short walk out the following day and were back at the office by 11.30am. We all thoroughly enjoyed the hike and it was such a pleasure showing off our Drakensberg to our American visitors. Brad and Eva, thanks for the wonderful company and being such good sports. I hope you get to visit again soon!
