Despite the miserable high winds on Bailey’s Kloof, 13 intrepid hikers set out at 8am on Sunday to discover the secrets of Labyrinth Cave. After a solid quad-warming direct ascent, we stopped by Stonehenge for a quick look before heading toward St James’ Peak.
Labyrinth Cave, named for its many interconnected passages, makes for a very interesting visit — especially if you choose the tight-squeeze variation on the exit (which everyone opted to do!). The cave wasn’t as wet as expected, but we still managed to see evidence of the numerous streams that carved it out, as well as the spectacular “glittery moss” (actually droplets of water on a type of bacterial biofilm).
The second cave on the agenda was Muizenberg Cave, and after seeing how well everyone handled the tight squeeze, it was decided, without consultation, that we would take the far more interesting South-East entrance. This involved some leopard-crawling before reaching the main chamber. We took a few pictures and then did a loop, exiting via a different entrance.
It was very disappointing to find the cave so full of litter, and despite carrying out two full bags, it hardly made a dent. This was a fully catering cave, with even samp and beans available on the cave floor (gross!).
We stopped by Nellie’s Pool on the way back, not really considering that there would be zero shade after the fires, so we didn’t stay long before heading down with everyone making it down by 12:30.
Photos: Charl Swart, Charl Steenkamp, Claire Fielden
