Easter Cave Hike

About Easter Cave Hike

Start: Cathedral Peak Wilderness Area, northern Drakensberg
Finish: Cathedral Peak Wilderness Area
Fitness: moderate to difficult
Our tip: this is one of the few caves in the 'berg that looks like a cave, with a real hollow, curved entrance, rather than an overhang

Easter cave lies right up on a peak without a name, between the Ntonjelana and Mlambonja passes.

Most often the cave is used by those on the Drakensberg Grand Traverse that follows the incredible stretch of the 'berg's spine from the Sentinel to Bushman's Nek.

It takes some two weeks to complete, and the Easter cave is but one of the overnight possibilities en route.

Because Easter Cave is so high the views from the mouth of the cave, out on the Cathedral Peak range, is particularly beautiful.

But before one can get there, hikers have to negotiate Mont-Aux-Sources, the Khubedu River valley, yet further valleys, ridges, Fangs Pass, another valley, another ridge and more.

Conversely one could head up the Icidi Pass from the Mweni Cultural Centre, overnight in the cave at the top and head across the escarpment to Easter Cave.

Either way, it is not for sissies.

If someone mentions they have overnighted in Easter Cave, this marks them as intrepid hikers.

The cave sleeps between four and six people, depending on the season (the floor can get wet during summer, because of the drips in the dave and, with a ground sheet, four is comfortable.

A little further down the nearby Kwakwatsi River find a series of rock pools (roughly 15 minutes' walk).

There is a faint path that leads around the escarpment from Easter Cave and links up with Twins Cave, although the path peters out after awhile.