Day 30 – Sungubala Camp via Rustler’s Gap

40 days – 40 hikes – Walking 4 Education

Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will ~ Vernon Howard

We departed from the Cavern’s front lawn at 2:30pm. Our youngest was celebrating her 8th birthday so we had tea & cake commitments at 4pm at the Camp.

We walked along the Putterill’s Weir path which goes along the edge of the Fern Forest and then headed up to the Echo Cave path. This was a pull but lovely after a week of more gentle walking.

Rustler’s Gap is a break in the intermediate cliff line and was the route used by horse and cattle thieves in the 70’s and 80’s. This has been an age old problem with rustlers coming over the Drakensberg and finding livestock to chase through to Lesotho. They move huge distances in the night and are often far gone when the problem is discovered. I remember one incident in the 80’s when all 25 of the Cavern horses were stolen. Thankfully they were found before crossing the border but I do remember the anger and worry that it all caused!

From Rustler’s Gap we walked along the Bishop’s contour for a short distance and even though we had 3 dogs we were very lucky to see 3 Mountain Reedbuck and 6 Eland.

The path then cuts down towards the camp on the Sungubala side and we arrived just in time for birthday cake and tea!

Update

Below is an update of the progress so far…