Minerva day Hike : 14 Feb 2010

Imagine standing in a cave where 12 natives were apprehended in 1906 by the British Police then tried and executed shortly thereafter?? This is part of the history behind the scenic Minerva day hike, led by David Tighe on Valentine’s Day 2010! We were a group of 7 enthusiastic hikers, meeting just outside Richmond to go on this great day hike. The previous couple of days had been the normal blistering hot Durban February summer days but on the evening before the hike, the heavens opened and broke the spell with much rain. Sunday morning arrived and the weather was much, much cooler and the Richmond area was almost totally covered in mist! I was thankful I had packed my rain gear for this hike even though it was midsummer and we were not in the Drakensberg! We first drove our vehicles up a long dirt track to the top of a hill and parked at a farm house where the altitude was 1400m. Sadly, we were unable to see any of the normally spectacular views visible on a sunny day. The hike started at 9am along the same dirt track and we reached the tallest point at an MTN mast, at 1500m. http://i47.tinypic.com/1626sm0.jpg  Just before we got to the mast, a large herd of Blesbuck ran through the grasslands in front of us. http://tinypic.com/r/slgymh/6  Dave is extremely knowledgeable on the history of the area and gave us full details on the farm owners down in the valley below us and also gave us a lot of history on the Byrne and Baynesfield areas. He is an absolute fountain of information, and makes story telling an art! The hike took us along Nyamakazi Ridge and then down into the Pine Forest below. http://tinypic.com/r/2r5g2zn/6  Along the way, we could clearly see many ox wagon tracks on the other side of the hill from centuries ago! This area is indeed steeped in history. The bird’s song drifting through the forest was just beautiful. We had a water break at Porcupine dam where Dave had previously come to watch the Porcupine who frequents this particular area at night. We moved on to Picnic Rock which has a most magnificent view over the entire valley below.

After we had eaten Dave invited us to go and look at some caves. Naively, we all followed him and suddenly realised there were chain ladders!! Not for the feint hearted....or so we thought, but Dave had done an outstanding job of securing these ladders in place and it was perfectly safe to go down into the wet, mossy forest in search of the caves. http://tinypic.com/r/2v2xn48/6  These were the caves that Dave had searched for and found (man alone, mind you!) for many months, just so that he could bring day visitors like ourselves and tell us the story of the uprising between the natives and the British which ultimately resulted in their execution! It was quite a privilege to be invited to such a historic site! http://tinypic.com/r/30rtu9t/6  We all made it back to the top quite safely, just covered in mud from the very damp forest. After lunch we took a walk to the Woodcutters Trail and Dave took us along the trail for a couple of meters, just to show us how lovely the trail would be once it was cleaned up, but unfortunately it had become overgrown and needed quite a bit of clearing before anyone could successfully complete the route. We back-tracked to the main path and walked steadily back to the farm which we reached at 2.30pm.

We were then treated to a visit to the Minerva museum...... what a place, it is filled with machinery, engines, tools, and numerous other items from way back. A jet engine, circular aeroplane motors, a motor from a Sherman tank, old cameras, an air lung, old tractors, and..... and....and....

I started this hike thinking this is just another walk in the hills, but it turned out to be an awesome experience! definitely to be recommended. Thanks David. http://tinypic.com/r/9u27aa/6

Marie von Bargen