Cederberg Wolfberg Cracks Hiking Pictures

 The Easter weekend stumbled upon us and it was a tough decision of 'where to go' or 'what to do'.

My advice, if you want to visit this area, book Cederberg Accommodation or Citrusdal Accommodation far in advance.  Citrusdal info takes you to 22 km away and further from all the main attactions of the Cederberg.  Cederberg Accommodation puts you in the heart of all the action... its up to you.

 This time around, we found self catering cottage at Keurbos about 50km from where we wanted to stay.  The advantage of this was, we were forced to enjoy the majority of the cederberg valley from Clanwilliam, pass Algeria, right up to the heart of the Cederberg. The cost was R350 per night for a cottage that sleeps 5, with electricity.

A very detailed description of the Wolfberg Cracks and Wolfberg Arch Hike can be found in all the posts connecting to this link.

You need a permit to hike this route, and on the permit is the code to get into the gate.  I take no responsibility for information shared on this blog, but I do hope it will help you to enjoy this hike as much as we have always done.  Take plenty of water and always something warm for the unpredictable cold wind at the top.

Once you have parked your car (see the carpark below), the clearly marked path will take you to the top.  This massive square rock is your halfway landmark to the top.

Once you start to reach the rockface at the top, aim for the gap in the centre of this image.  Here you will find a sign to point you to your next stop.  At the sign is a 2m scramble onto a ledge where most people give each other a hand to get onto the ledge.  The ledge will then take you to the right of this image, where you need to immediately climb upward (easy walk) again back in the direction of the middle of this image.

This is me ontop of the ledge heading in the direction of the photographer.  If you look carefully far into the crack by the fallen rocks (of this image), you will see there is a person standing ontop of the rocks.  These people have already completed the route and are heading down already.

While walking along this ledge there is one section (the size of A4) of rock that is very narrow, where you need to cross the path to continue your way up.  views are spectacular all the way...

After surviving the narrow A4 size ledge, continue to head up the mountian in the direction of this big hole in the rock.  Here you have to again scramble over the rocks as seen in front of me.

Thankfully, as seen above, I managed to get over those rocks and into a section that resembles a rockfall and an amphitheatre.

Aim for left side of the rock in the middle of the image.  Look carefully and you will notice Zita sitting there enjoying her lunch and even more carefully and you will see the white arrow painted on the rock behind her.

Some clever hikers before us painted a white arrow in the direction that you need to follow. Best you put your torch on in here, the very narrow passage has about 5 meters of complete darkness and many boulders to negotiate.

Once you have got yourself through that dark narrow passage, you will reach a sandy patch.  This is where you will find the beautiful wolfberg cracks.

 Dont make the mistake that everyone makes when they get here - and just rush through.  Stop and enjoy!
When you are ready to move on, follow the loooong passage on the left behind me.

This passage continues up the mountain and gets narrower to the end. There comes a point where you need to again scramble over a 2m high rock, so its best you go with someone to give each other a hand.

The final obstacle of this walk is where you need to reverse your body into a hole and wiggle your way under a fallen rock, to get back onto the now very walkable path.

Once you reach the top, again, stop and enjoy the view. 

The way back down is to head about 50m outside of the cracks and then turn left.  Follow the path back down.

From here, give yourself about 1h30min to get back down.

A romantic full moon greeted us as we drove out of the Sandrift area...

Route co-ordinates can be obtained if you contact me.

Alternative Route to get to the Cederberg (and much easier than the other one which I wrote about in my other posts) is the following:

Take the N7 to Citrusdal.
Pass Citrusdal about 25km and then turn right onto the Algeria road.

This road will take you through the Nieuwoudts pass... stunning and easy driving.

 At the bottom of the pass you will see a sign that shows you the direction of the Cederberg.

 This is where you will also pass the Algeria resort, but continue with the road in the direction of the Uitkykpas.

Once you have reached the top of the Uitkykpass, you will be about 20km from the Wolfberg Cracks.

Keep your eyes open for a view of the Wolfberg Cracks in the mountain on your left, which is about in the middle of the image of the sheep above.

Remember to stop at the Sandrift Farm to get your permits during office hours.


Enjoy!

Wolfberg Cracks - Part 1: Getting there

Hiking Trail: Wolfberg Cracks and Wolfberg Arch
Name of Reserve / Area: Private Property, Cederberg,
Nearest Town/s: Clanwilliam via N7, or Ceres via N1
Province: Western Cape
Country: South Africa

Duration of hike: 8 hours

Directions to get there: It took us 3 hours from Cape Town, but we also were stuck in the peak hour traffic at 16h00 for an hour, so it took us 4 long hours to get there.

From Cape Town CBD, take the N1 towards Paarl. Take the turnoff towards Wellington, and pass through it and follow the R44.  Pass the Voelvlei Dam on your right and continue until the road makes a 3way junction. Turn right at the junction towards Ceres (and not Tulbach). Follow the road to Ceres.  Once you get into the small town of Ceres, turn left at the second set of traffic lights.  Pass through Prince Alfred's Hamlet.

 As soon as you have driven through PA Hamlet, you will head up onto the Gydo Pass, which then takes you to an even smaller town called Op Die Berg (in an area also known as Die Koue Bokkeveld). Continue on the R303 and soon just outside Oppi Berg, you need to turn right at the Cederberg Sign

 A 17km tarred road will take you onto a gravel road.  From here you need to keep left and follow the Oasis signs for 48km to your over night destination called Oasis.

The following morning we had a scrumptious breakfast, bacon, eggs, toast and a good cuppa coffee to get us going.  This farm kitchen is filled with character and definitely worth a visit.

Gerrit was ready to personally draw up the map of our planned route for the day.  This was 2 A4 pages of pure mapping on both sides.  We held on to this map like never before.  And oh boy, did this map help us enjoy our journey just that much more.  Thanks Gerrit!

 With your back to Oasis, you follow the road to the right for about 6.5km and turn left at the Clan William sign.

...3km further is where you pass the sign for Stadsaal Caves and Rock Art.

Drive for another 3km where the road forkes left to Krom Rivier.  Dont turn left here, but take the right more obvious main road and drive for 5km to the Sanddrif Wine Farm.  This is where we stocked up on necessities (like Cederburg Cabernet) and our permits for the hike.


After leaving Sanddrif main house, turn left towards another Sanddrif sign.  The road drives down into the valley through a few cottages and soon you will cross a low water bridge.  After the bridge take a sharp right.  The road splits into 3. Take the left fork, drive pass more cottages and what seemed like a stunning and very popular camping ground. The road forkes again, take the left fork upwards until you reach the gate.  Enter in your code and drive through to the furthest end where you can park your car and start the walk.



Contact Information:
We stayed at the Oasis Bed and Breakfast.
GPS CORDINATE
23. 33. 20. 21 S
19. 21. 55. 31 E
Tel: +27 27 482 2819
cederberg@telkomsa.net

The owners were extremely friendly and welcoming.  Once you get there, you feel a very welcome vibe.  The visitors seem like regulars, and the place was packed to the brim with tents and the rooms were all fully booked.

Our room did not have an on-suite shower, but we were lucky to have the loo next door to it and a small area on the balcony to make our fire to cook our food on.

Cost was R120pppd, and breakfast was an added R40pp, but comes highly recommended before a journey like the one we were about to tackle.


Best time of year to go: .
April (its coming to the end of summer) and September (just after winter, and flowers everywhere)

What costs did you incur to do this hike:
Accomodation: R120pppd
Breakfast: R40pp
Permit for Cracks: R25pp
Permit for Arch: R25pp

How safe is it: There is no crime here.

Fresh Water: None. Take at least 3 liters per person if you are going to the Wolfberg Arch.

Difficulty: Very easy climb to the top, but its a long hike. Tricky to know where exactly to go, but with good guidance from our host at Oasis (Gerrit), we headed for the hills with confidence.

It took us about 1h30 to get to the top of the cracks.
Then another 1h30min inside the cracks,
30min coffee break
and then an 1h30min to walk to the Arch.
30min at the Arch,
1h30min to walk back,
and 1h30min to get back down.
Total walking time of about 8 hours...

Pets: No pets allowed, environment is very harsh.

How will I rate this hike? Best hike Ive done so far in my life.  Loved it.

The rest of this hike is documented under the Wolfberg Cracks link.  I hope you enjoy reading this hike as much as we enjoyed doing it.  Or just scroll down for Parts 2,3,4 & 5.

We can not wait to go back here again, and hopefully take a group of people with us next time.

Wolfberg Cracks - Part 2: Finding the Crack

Panorama of Sanddrif Valley.

(Click on images for enlargement

all images by Alex Aitkenhead)

To get to this part of the hike, we drove for 4 hours from Cape Town, and spent the night at Oasis Bed and Breakfast.  Then we drove another 22km to get our permits at Sanddrif Wine Farm, and our final 2km to get to the parking area and the start of this route.

I had been waiting for 2 years to do this route.  There was always something that stopped me from doing it. Alex and I were both very excited to finally get here and start the trek up this gauntlet.

This part of the route is fairly simple:  Follow the path to the top.

It was not long before our car became a small speck in the car park below.

After walking for 45 minutes, you will reach this massive square rock.  This marks the halfway spot in your up route in terms of time.

The tricky part of the route starts here.  I have marked the rocks in the picture below to help you should you wish to follow this route yourself.
1,2,3 are bolders that have rolled down and blocked the path up.  This is where you need to find your way around the right of boulder 3 and get to the back of it and aim in the direction of point 4 behind it.
(Note: if you pass the left of boulder no.1,  you can also climb up the easy route to the top (follow the sign).  This is not recommended, as you will be missing out on the most special part of this route). 
4. Here you are faced with a 2.5m (90 degree) climb onto the ledge leading to point 5.  But first get yourself to point 4.

Once you have reached point 4. A short scramble to the top will take you onto a easy ledge.

Follow the ledge to the end, turn left at the end.  Be careful as there is one section where the ledge is not wider than an A4 size paper.  It gets better immediately after this point.

A short scramble will take you to a massive arch in front of you.  Once you reach the arch, scramble between the rocks marked 1 & 2 into a beautiful rock-filled amphitheater.

In the picture below, the amphitheater is show to be about 20m in width.  Scramble over the rocks, directly across and opposite the arch.  Do not take the more obvious (but not easy) route to your right (more or less where the people are standing in the picture).  Rather walk across in the direction of where this photo was taken from.  Im sorry to not have taken a picture of this, but for now this is the best that I can do here.

You will be walking towards a massive rock cave, seen in the image below.

Above pic sourced from lastfrog.co.za

Enter this cave on its left side.  Its a tight squeeze for 6m of darkness.  But you are able to see the light on the other end, the moment you enter the cave.  Be careful, and best to switch on your petzl lamp on this tiny part of the route.

The next section of this route took us into the most beautiful rock formation hidden deep into this mountain.

Wolfberg Cracks - Part 3: Adventures inside the Crack

The fun began here.  Entering this passage was the start of a 200m adventure into the mountain.

This is a dark narrow passage of about 6m long.

The other side of the passage brings you to a sandy spot where the party can re-group before the next adventure.  Make sure you bring your Fisheye lense- if you have one!  (We forgot ours at home, so its another reason for us to just have to come back here again) - jeay!

venture around as much as possible and enjoy the moment for what it has to offer. stop somewhere here and have lunch, and give yourself time to really look around.

to get to the next level, keep to the right of the crack...

crawl under this large rock to the next section of the passage...

The arches and rock formations are like some of my friends would say: "to die for darlin'!"

The chief happy snapper taking a break ...  (he was fired from all and any navigational duties, but he is still allowed to take snaps) ~ LOL

Soon the crack is split into 2.  This is where you must take the left passage at this section as seen in the pic below.

Alex, the love of my life,  doing what he loves doing :)

The passage is very long and becomes narrower as you walk into it.

Once you reach what seems to be a dead end, don't despair.  But its a tricky 2m scramble to the top of this rock.  This is a link to an image of an easy way to get up.

Once you have reached the top of this rock, after 5m you will notice your last obstacle before you exit this crack.  Its a trapped rock.  You need to lie on your back, and go head first into the hole.  Its the only way you will be able to get your body out on the other side.  See the graphic of the image below on how to do this.

This lady is about to get through this trapped rock.  Its very easy and thousands before you have done it already.  So don't be afraid.  Leave your city fears behind you and Just Do It!

Within 2 minutes of walking you reach the top of this crack.

In the image below I looked back into the crack.  All you can see from here is the thin and narrow split in the mountain ...

Find a spot to enjoy the view and have a quick coffee break before you head off to your next adventure.

From here you have 2 choices:
1. Go back down.  (We came from the crack behind me to my right. The way down is the bushy patch on my left.) 1h30min to get back down.
2. Follow the clearly marked path to the Wolfberg Arch.  Please see Wolfberg Cracks: Part 4.  3 hours needed for this section to get back here.