Limpopo has so much to offer. I think most of us know this, and yet we keep getting surprised by those hidden gems, new playgrounds. A perfect example of this happened last weekend, when we went trad climbing at a place called Mhpogodiba Gorge. Although some of us had been there before, a re-visit has been on our to-do list for a while now. Since trad climbing is pretty niche in our club, there just isn’t always a lot of psych to push for it. However, with some folks wanting to climb more, and learn new skills, three of us, Ray, Bronwyn and Marcel, finally got out to climb there!
Even for the well-travelled trad-climbers out there, if you’re not from around Haenertsburg, chances are you’ve never heard of this crag. For years, it was pretty much a private playground for two local legends, Nipper Thompson and Errol Nienaber, who have unfortunately both passed away recently. They used to spend most weekends in the gorge, camping, climbing and having a jol. Fortunately, they have shared ‘their’ crag with others, Ray being one of them, so we relied on him to show us the way.
Temperature was forecast to be 34° C; not ideal for a fully sun-exposed wall. However, we were at the tail-end of winter, with the chance of heavy rainfall around the corner, and the main hike in, is through a dried riverbed… it was basically now, or wait until next winter. So, we packed up plenty of water, hats and sunscreen and off we went!
The gorge is about an hour’s drive from Haenertsburg, following the tar road behind the ZCC Moria. We left early, in an attempt to try and avoid most of the day’s heat. Arriving in the last village before the crag, we went looking for a car guard, something Nipper and Errol used to do. In exchange for lunch and some cash, we basically plucked a local off the street and headed deeper in the bush, parking next to the Mhpogodiba river.
The hike in is short but exceptional: it follows a trail alongside the riverbed for about 2km, until it ends and we hopped onto the riverbed itself. The gorge turned narrower, with a big wall on the right, and the smoothed out rocks and boulders in the riverbed formed our path. The bright sun cast hard shadows, but temperatures were still low enough. Most of the riverbed was dry sand, but with all the pools and puddles, we took our shoes off to wade through them, and other hidden surprises, like knee deep mud. It was somewhat slow going, but we got to the main wall soon enough.
There it was, a big wall on the right, about 100m high. While the top of the ridge is mostly flat, at the bottom there is a slope going up from left to right; higher climbs are on the left; and on the right there’s more of a scramble up to some lower climbs. Since Ray has been here the most, we let him decide on what route to tackle. While it was tempting to try something new, we agreed it was a good idea not to push it and try something familiar. The choice fell on Backburn, a two pitch grade 16.
We scrambled to the base, dropped our bags and geared up. A final quick bite and then we got going. After scrambling up a big boulder, we tied in and agreed on communication signals before Ray went on his way to lead the first pitch. He made steady progress and soon reached the first belay station, about 25m off the ground. Marcel went second and a bit later Bron followed. The climb itself was easy enough; not too steep and a plethora of jugs. Not only did this give us plenty of time to look at, and learn from, Ray’s gear placements, it also made for a relaxing and enjoyable climb.
The second pitch was quite a bit longer, around 45m. Ray would lead this one again, and since he felt a bit more adventurous, he decided on going for a variation of the route to the left, following a crack. If this was a movie, this would have been the point where it all went awry, but Ray was comfortable, and made it up there fast and smoothly. Communication was a bit tricky with the wind and height, but when the signal came, Bron followed, and Marcel went last. The exposure up there was quite nice, with views of the opposite wall and the picturesque dry riverbed
Once at the top, we could relax a bit, and have some snacks with a view. The day before, we were asked to be on the lookout for the Flat Lizards, as there might be something funny going on with the specific species up there. Lo and behold, they started showing up as we were about to abseil down. Bron managed to take some photos and afterwards it was confirmed it was a species that isn’t even supposed to be in the area! Other than that, there were no surprises at the end; we all made it down safe, ready for some late lunch! Yes, you are correct: there’s a lot of eating involved with these trips. The sun was high in the sky and temperatures had risen. On the wall we were fortunate with some cool breeze but down at the riverbed, it was hot.
The walk out felt a lot further than on our way in. We arrived a few hours earlier than we had promised, and our ‘car guard’ was nowhere to be seen… ‘Perhaps he got bored of waiting’, we thought, so we packed up and left. On the drive out though, there he was, walking towards us; he had only left to go to the nearest house to get some more water as he had run out. Fair enough. Before we dropped him off close to home, he showed us to a decent spaza shop for some very welcome cool drinks for the drive home.
All in all, it was a great day of climbing. It is a bit of a mission for just the day, but well worth it: a beautiful setting with great quality rock.
There’s enough climbs in the crag for a whole weekend though…so keep an eye on next year’s calendar!
Written by: Marcel Span
