THE CRACK & MUDSLIDE 1995

Ó Copyright: Grobler du Preez
e-mail: dPreezG@NetActive.co.za
No photograph may be reproduced without permission of the owner.

Royal Natal national Park

The date...

January 1995

The Hikers...

The Du Preez's from Bloemfontein:
Grobler, Marlene, Nico, Maatje, Ignatius (only 4 yrs old).

The trail...

We started from the Mahai camp site at 07:00, visited the Gudu falls (see separate description), then proceeded up the Crack. Not too difficult. Except for one short chain ladder and a stretch of rock scrambling, the Crack consists of walking with a footpath to the plateau above the Gudu falls. At the difficult stretches, Ignatius had to be carried on the back. The trail then proceeds to a viewpoint at the top of the Gudu falls and then up the hill to the start of the Mudslide. A real nightmare for someone who is afraid of heights... It starts down firstly with a chain ladder and then with a steep rock gully. The trail then descends nearly vertically in big, muddy steps with tree roots as hand holds. At one stage, we lost a sack with sweater tops that Marlene carried on her shoulder. We could hear it fall for quite a long time. We found it 15 minutes lower at the top of the second chain ladder... We reached the camp site only at 19:00. By that time, our neighbours have reported us to the park ranger as missing (we told them where we were going - a golden rule for one day hikers).

Although this route is not very far, it is dangerous and fairly difficult (maybe I am exaggerating because of my fear of heights?). Do not attempt it when very wet. I would suggest that one climb up with the Mudslide and descends with the Crack (the official guide says otherwise).

At the top of the Crack..

The Gudu falls.The trail passes by the top of the falls and then proceeds up the hills on the right side of the picture.

The start of the Mudslide is indicated by a blue arrow.

The Mudslide, in the middle of the picture, as seen from the Mahai camp site.