WILDCLIFF WILDERKRANS KLOOF EXPLORATION STEFAN STEENKAMP 26 MARCH 2008.

Exploring the Wilderkrans Kloof at Wildcliff Nature Reserve from the top down.

On 23 March 2008, Andre and I, explored the Wilderkrans Kloof on Wildcliff reserve, starting at the top with Ena’s falls going down the Kloof as far as we could, with the main aim to establish a Kloofing trail down the river. The secondary objective was to identify the number of waterfalls in the Kloof. Up to the time of our exploration, only two waterfalls had been identified.

Andre is a work colleague who does photographic work with me at Photo & Video in Cape Town. Andre’s wife, Fralene, Peter, my father-in-law, Andre & I started off with the walk up from Talari.

We had driven through to Wildcliff on Good Friday 21st March 2008 after injury and poor health had precluded Nicci and Peter from running the Two Oceans the following Saturday. Here we had met up with Ian and Jenny who were at Wildcliff for a few days. Talari was in the process of being renovated. At this stage the kitchen cupboards were nearly complete. The house now had three bathrooms and the North section of the house which would be for Ian and Jenny’s use was nearing completion.

Our family stayed in the West facing room, Barbara, Peter and Ally stayed in a room that had been designed for them on the east side. The house was still in the finishing stages but it was more than adequate. Andre and Fralene stayed in the Heron House together with Brett (manager), Emily his girl friend and assistant and Pascal, volunteer and researcher.

On the Saturday morning we had walked up the Wilderkrans Kloof to the first waterfall. Andre and I had swum across the pool to see how difficult it would be to get up and past this fall. While we were able to scale the smooth surface on the left hand side to a point where we could jump in to the pool, we were not able to make it to the top of this fall. We had left Nicci and Peter a short way back as they were both not as fit as they would have liked and at this stage we had no idea how far ahead these falls were. Brett, Emily and Pascal joined us at the falls. We had now established a bottom up section of Wilderkrans and were determined to find a top down route.

The following morning we began the walk from Talari up to Ena’s falls. We had packed a roll of Webbing that Peter had as well as some heavy Hessian rope that I coiled around my torso. We took a backpack with some eats and a bottle for water. I had experience of Kloofing from December 2006 when a group of us had descended the Groot Rivier pass from the N2 to Natures Valley and knew the importance of continuous hydration as well as having some kind of energy replacement. The walk up to Ena’s Falls took us through the wattle and pine forest and through the Protea fields up to the top where it is possible to refill water bottles. The weather was an overcast and misty day and we were not too hot. From the Telari house to Ena’s falls is a 3.5km hike along a 4x4 dirt road. We then walked back down to Ena’s falls and then made our way to the bottom of the Kloof just below the pools of Ena’s falls. Here we had a bit to eat and Peter had a swim. Peter was still not fully fit and had decided to climb back up to the road. Fraylene, Andre & I climbed over rocks, boulders and bush to reach what we now referred to as Bum Slide falls.

1. Ena’s Falls is roughly 20 meters high in total. It has a 10-meter straight drop, before hitting a 3-meter wide platform and then dropping another 10 meters straight drop before hitting a pool. This pool is not deep, about knee high in most places. Ena’s falls can be easily seen by steering slightly off the road at the top of the neck.

2. The second waterfall can be seen from the road that leads to the neck. It is about 400 meters further down the Kloof from Ena’s falls. So far we have called this the Bum-slide falls because of its low gradient. I estimate it to be no more than 30 degrees. The falls are about 5 meters high from top to bottom, but are about 15 meters in length. You can easily go down or around these falls without a rope.

A. Section 1 – Ena’s falls to Bum-slide falls (600 meters)

We climbed down the cliff just below Ena’s falls to where the river flows. This climb is fairly easy with just 2 places with a 2-meter drop. However, these are easy to negotiate as it is over a rocky terrain, with lots of foot and hand holds.

Once down in the river, we followed the river down stream. This section is characterized by a lot of enormous boulders in the river. Subsequently, the river often splits in to smaller streams for short sections before joining again. In order to avoid swimming through the pools, we had to leave the river for about 50-meter sections and walk on the right bank. This section, I estimate, is where you turn the bend in the river, before going into the straight with all the pools (this can be seen from the road at the top).

Good gripping, closed shoes are a must to go down this section. Good leg and upper body strength is needed. People from about 12 years of age will be able to do this route.

Just before we hit the Bum-slide falls, there was a 1.3 meter deep pool that we had to go through. There might be a way around it, but none that we could clearly see, so expect to get wet here. Besides this pool, all others can be avoided. We were able to keep most of our kit dry by holding it above our heads as we swam across.

Fraylene had twisted her ankle as she came down a step boulder and was keen to go back up to the road where we saw that Peter was waiting. At Bum Slide pools we headed up in a northerly direction and after quite a steep climb met up with Peter on the road. We then all walked down the road to the point where we though that the next fall would be. Here Peter & Fraylene continued down the road and we headed straight into the protea fields and downhill back to Wilderkrans Kloof.

If an exit route had to be created here, this would be the route followed with a Zig Zag at for the last part up to the road. The gradient is quite steep all the way from the river to the road.

B. Section from Bum-slide falls to waterfall 3 (not named)

This section is about 700 meters long (measured on map)
This section is about 600 meters long

Although we have not done this section on foot down the river, this can be seen from the road quite clearly. No big drops can be seen in this section and it should be fairly easy to negotiate.

After following the road back downhill around the bend, we found a rocky ridge to go down to the river again. This route has good foot and handholds in the rock to go down. Although the gradient is steep, it is not that difficult to get down.

Right after you get down to the river, there is a small waterfall of about 3 meters high. The gradient is not very steep and you can easily go down it on your backside. There is no alternative than to get wet here, as the rocks on the side are quite slippery.

About 30 50 meters from here, you will hit Waterfall number 3. (Ena’s Falls = number one; Bum slide falls = number two). This is a very high straight drop with a little platform in the about a third of the way down. We could not judge the height as we looked from the top. We estimate it to be 30 meters high in total. There is no way around this and the only way down would be to use abseiling gear with a proper harness and pulley system.

This can also be an exit route to get up to the road if both section A and B is done in one go.

We turned back up the hill and walked around waterfall 3 on top of the ridge alongside it.

C. Section from Waterfall 3 to Waterfall 4 (1000 meters)

Coming from Waterfall 3 along the ridge at the top, we entered the river along a little side-Kloof / steep valley. This is heavily overgrown by fern and we called it “Fern Valley”. The ferns are shoulder high and very dense. At some points you cannot see further than 3 meters ahead of you and it makes walking down here quite dangerous. Apart from the dense vegetations than makes it slow going, it is also extremely steep and you constantly have to hold on the ferns to avoid falling.

This section of the Kloof has an Afro-Montane vegetation with high trees like in the Knysna Forest area.

About 50 meters after getting down to the river, we encountered a few smaller waterfalls and rapids with 2 big pools we had to swim through. Both were quite deep and you cannot stand here – probably 2 meter + deep.

After going through these pools we hit the 4th waterfall, another big one I estimate to be at least 15 meters high (later we found this to be more like 30 meters high). Again, we saw no way around this and we had to climb back up the cliff to the road. To get out here was very difficult with the gradient more than 70 degrees at some points. Also the vegetation here is extremely dense and it makes going very slow and tiring. You constantly have to grab and hold onto grass and plants to get up. After the steep cliff, you hit a section with a smaller gradient, but here is a field of head high protea with very prickly bush (probably part of the Erica family of Fynbos) at the bottom of it. You have to go through about 200 300 meter of this before hitting the road again – Exit point is about 300 meter from the Pine and Wattle forest area.

Andre & I reached home shortly before dusk. We were both totally exhausted. We were wet cold and in need of a shower. The following day Andre and Fraylene left for Cape Town and while I joined Ian, his Dutch friends; Daf, Willem & Gys and Peter for a walk up to Ena’s falls where they all had a swim, I was still pretty tired and needed this as a rest day. A while later, back at Talari, Ian led and expedition to putting logs and boulders in the Talari pond but Peter & I opted out and took it easy in the lounge.

That evening Ian had a bit of a Wildcliff meeting where he explained how far the progress of the Nature reserve project had progressed. Pascal gave us a very interesting talk and presentation on the Chacma Baboon and in particular the Cheek Pouches and how this is used by a variety of animals as well as the Baboons.

Exploring the Wilderkrans Kloof on Wildcliff Nature Reserve from the bottom up.

1. From Tahelari House to Home Falls ( 1000 meters)
2. From Cave Pool falls Home Falls to Waterfall 4 (500 meters)


Tuesday 25 March 2008, Peter and I endeavoured to explore the Kloof on Wildcliff from the bottom up, as far as we could go.

We started at Oak tree Meadow at about 09.30am and followed the river up stream until we reached the first Waterfall. This took us about an hour. It is a slow walk.

The first half of the way there, you can stay fairly dry by keeping on the right bank of the river. After that, unfortunately, there is no way to stay dry, but the deepest you have to get wet is about knee height. We tried to create some kind of permanent path way but this will best be done with a tin of brightly coloured paint and a couple of attempts to find the most favourable footpath. It is a fairly easy walk apart from the concentration to get a good grip on the rocks. These are slippery due to a fine algae / moss growing on them. The sun does not get here often to dry out the rocks so they constantly stay damp.

There are several pools in this relatively slow flowing stream, but at no stage is it necessary to swim. The last pool before the first waterfall upstream (dubbed the Home falls) is deep and wide. The only way you can reach the waterfall on the north side is to swim across the pool to the falls.

The Waterfall is about 7 meters in total. It is two tiered, with the top drop of about 3 meters and the bottom drop into the pool being about 4 meters.

Peter and I took some long nails and a roll of seatbelt webbing. We clambered up to the first ledge and then with the inexperience of first time attempts we nailed the webbing into some crevices on the left hand side of the waterfall. The waterfall goes through a narrow part, about 2.5 meters wide. On the left side, there is a very slippery section where we found some footholds and got up to about 2 meters next to the waterfall. After realising that we had reached a point which was not really where we had wanted to achieve, Peter went back to the rocks where we had left our backpacks to both fetch more nails and his Leatherman which we would use to cut the webbing. As he used to webbing to climb back up to the ledge where I was waiting he realised that the assistance that the webbing gave was not ideal as it was too far to the left, but it was sufficient to assist him to almost reach the top of the falls. He was just not strong enough and so handed over to myself. I was able to clamber over the final part of the waterfall. This was quite scary, as a fall here would have surely meant some broken bones or severe bruises.

I found a big rock to tie the rope around and let the rope down the waterfall for Peter to grab and pull himself up. The second part of the fall was relatively easy to climb, as there were some loose boulders on the right-hand side of it.

Once past this waterfall, the boulders get bigger and bigger and the gradient of the river increases. The river makes a natural bend to the left. At a point you can see a recent (last 10 to 20 years maybe) rock slide from the overhanging cliffs on the left-hand side. These rocks are enormous and difficult to get over.

Once past these rocks, another 100 meters up stream you get to a very big waterfall. This is the same falls (Waterfall number 4) we had to stop at when coming downstream on the 23rd of March.

Now seeing them from the bottom, I can safely say that it is at least a 30 meter drop with a gradient of 70 to 80 degrees. Unfortunately, just as we had thought from a vantage point at the top, these falls are just impossible to negotiate without proper abseiling equipment – harness and helmets. You would also need a few ropes of at least 50 meters each.

On the way there, we saw a ravine going up on the right-hand side. This would be a possible entry or exit point. The vegetation is very thick though and it will mean clearing a path before this will be possible.

Coming back down the river, back towards the Home Falls, was not difficult at all. We had to swim through about 4 pools at waist height – it is just safer that way, rather than scaling the cliffs on the side to try and stay dry.

When we got to the Home falls, we encountered what we first thought to be a Puff Adder that had fallen from the overhanging cliffs into the water, just where we tied the rope previously. It was battling to get onto the rock, trying to swim against the current. It was right in our path and no way to go around it. So we helped it onto the rock with a stick and managed to get around it (about 1.5 meter away) and climb down the falls on our newly tied rope.

It was a very nervous affair, with both of us watching the snake and trying to find footholds while going down the falls. On later reading a snake book at Talari we think that it was a harmless Egg Eating Snake which also has “V shaped” markings on its back but does not have the Diamond Head of a Puff Adder. From there the route back was quite easy as before. Peter was quite exhausted by this stage and had banged his chins a couple of times. The slippery rocks and his exhaustion took its toll and he slipped and fell a couple of times.

However we both had a sense of elation as we had accomplished our first objective of establishing a way up the “home pool falls”. Both the webbing that we had nailed to the rock-face and the second section of webbing that we had tied around a rock and released into the falls were now reasonably permanent fixtures and would certainly enable future Kloofing expeditions to take place.

It took us 5 hours in total from Talari to the big falls and then back to the house again. We spent about 1 hour in getting the ropes fixed, so it is safe to say that this would be a 4 to 5 hour hike depending on the number of times stopped.

We have now located and identified 5 waterfalls that are over 5 meters in height. These are all in the Wilderkrans Kloof.
Named from the top of the Kloof down:

1. Ena’s Falls – approx 25 meters
2. Bum-slide falls – approx 5 meters
3. 3rd Falls – approx 30 meters
4. 4th Falls – approx 30 meters
5. Home Falls – approx 7 meters.

Possible hikes in the Kloof:

1. From Ena’s falls to after the Bum-slide falls and then exiting towards the road to the left. (600 meters)
2. From Ena’s falls to the 3rd Falls and exiting about 30 meters before the falls on the rocky cliff on the left.
3. From the road, down Fern Kloof (small ravine leading to river between falls 3 and 4) and then up fern Kloof again. In this hike, you will be able to see the base of the 3rd falls and the top of the 4th falls. Waterfall 3 and 4 is 100 meters apart
4. From Oak tree Meadow, following the river up stream to the Home Falls
5. From Oak tree Meadow, up stream across the Home falls to the base to the 4th falls.

Stefan Steenkamp
26th March 2008.