Cannibal Cave Trail + Mushroom Trail (2017)
Adventures in South Africa…with a broken wrist
Sometimes it’s the things you didn’t plan that make a vacation worthwhile. On my first day in South Africa I broke my wrist. A complicated fracture. After two days in the hospital my feet are itching to hike again. Namibia is uit of the question, but South Africa has lots of trails too. One of them, the Cannibal Cave Trail, ranks among the most beautiful I have ever hiked.
Cannibal Cave Trail, 16 km
In early morning darkness David and I leave Johannesburg and while the sun slowly rises the landscape around us becomes more and more beautiful. After we have left the shanty towns with its corrugated iron houses behind us, the landscape becomes empty and sprawling. Eventually hills and even mountains appear. Just outside Clarens an old mansion is our destination. Next to it there’s a working farm and behind one of the outbuildings the Cannibal Cave Trail starts. Officially it takes two days, but we have confidently planned to do it in one. It’s only 16 kilometer after all. Even in Switzerland I covered that distance in less than one day. The path is way marked with white feet and from the get go the trial is spectacularly beautiful. We hike smack across bare rock till a sandstone cliff curling over above us. The roof of the rock looks like shards have been chipped off and in small that remain bits of clay signal where swallows have built their nests. A bit further on the rock face shows red and black bands and I wish I could read the history of the earth in them. We hike trough low shrubs along a deep gorge, filled with the only vegetation in the area. At the end of the gorge the walls close in, until the rocks form a roof where you will surely remain dry during a storm. Exactly at the end of the gorge there’s a rock formation called Batwing Falls. In this dry season, just prior to the rains, there’s just a small slimy trickle across the rocks, but the rocks are smoothed by the stream which flows here every spring. We climb, twist and turn. With every step the view changes and I am thoroughly enjoying myself. Despite my broken wrist, I am perfectly fine. My left arm is in a sling and I have to make do with just one trekking pole, but I have energy for three. One zero day after the operation was more than enough.
We get to a perfect swimming lake and cross a stream. I taste the water, delicious. One gorge follows the other. A blackened tree trunk sticks out above the vegetation, a sign that thunder storms are risky here. Then we climb out of the gorge and reach a massive grass plain. In the distance we can make out houses. Fortunately we are already descending into the next gorge. That is how we end up at Mike’s Cave quite early for lunch. According to legend cannibals roamed here around 1800, feasting on people sleeping in the cave. We don’t meet anyone however and enjoy the calm and quiet surrounding us. You can stay in the cave however, and although it looks quite primitive, below a slope there’s an outhouse. The ground is covered with huge sheets of white plastic to put mattresses on when someone wants to sleep here. It looks very unnatural and we munch on our biscuits looking at the natural wonders stretching out before us. We do miss the San rock art though, that is supposed to be hidden here somewhere. We continue on and follow the edge of the valley. Before we have even noticed we have climbs a ways and hike above the shrubs. As we reach the top of another hill and traverse the barren rock along a gorge we go too far and lose the route. A bit of backtracking and on the gorge floor we see a white foot guiding us. Through a forest we descend and a bit later we are walking along a creek taking us to a special rock formation. It looks like a small toadstool. With the mountains behind it, this picture could easily feature on a calendar. A bit later we reach a gravel road we can follow to the mansion. Hardly a fitting end to this spectacular day. Fortunately we notice a sign towards Mushroom Rock. That can’t be far. Let’s do it!
Mushroom Trail, 4 km
Along a stream we hike through a forest and cross a suspension bridge. On the other side there’s an easy and a hard trail. David knows me well enough by now to know which I will choose. Hard of course! Via a slope of small, pink pebbles we climb into a cave, where I hear bats squeaking. We don’t see them unfortunately, of should that be: fortunately? At the other side we descend on a ladder. It takes some effort with just one hand, but I give my trekking pole to David and manage. For a moment we can take a breather and the terrain is level, but then we start climbing again, until we reach a worn iron ladder. At the end the trail disappears in the shrubs around a huge rock formation. For a moment we do not understand, until we turn around looking for a way marker. Right in front of us is the rock we admired from a distance. The huge rock on a slender stem which is so famous it even has its own tourist sign. Mushroom Rock lives up to its name. Awesome! Despite this vacation not going as planned I am completely satisfied and content. I am hiking, taking pictures and with such gorgeous landscapes around you, how could I be anything other than happy? On my own I would never have found this place or even looked for it. Because of my accident I am going places I have never dreamed of.
We backtrack and follow a track to the mansion, where our host is very impressed. Two trails on one day is unheard of apparently, but I am not even tired yet.
