Location:

Garden Castle Wilderness Area, lower southern Drakensberg.  The most direct route to Langalibalele Cave is to follow the Giant’s Cup Trail back from where it ends at Bushman’s Nek.  This involves a long uphill climb, although it is not too difficult.  The cave is unusual in that it was originally a simple overhang typical of the berg sandstone caves, but the whole lip fell off and now lies across the front of the overhang.  Access to the sheltered area behind this giant rock is via a very narrow tunnel.  Because of its proximity to Bushman’s Nek and the fact that it lies on the Giant’s Cup Trail, Langalibalele Cave is often visited by hikers and day-trippers.  However, since there are some paintings at the entrance to the cave, it may not be used for overnight camping.  The paintings are exposed to direct sunlight and are therefore very faded – indeed, hikers often don’t even notice them!

WARNING! It is a serious offence to stay overnight in this cave because of its numerous Bushman paintings.  This is generally the case for any cave containing large numbers of Bushman paintings.

GPS Coordinates:

Undisclosed

History:

The cave is named after Langalibalele, king of the amaHlubi, a Bantu tribe that lived in what is the modern-day province of KwaZulu-Natal. After conflict with the Zulu king Mpande, he fled with his people to the Colony of Natal in 1848. During the diamond rush of the 1870s, many of his young men worked on the mines in Kimberley where they acquired guns. In 1873 the colonial authorities of Natal demanded that the guns be registered. Langalibalele refused because he did not know which of his men had guns, and a stand-off ensued, resulting in a violent skirmish in which British troops were killed. Langalibalele fled across the mountains into what is now Lesotho but was captured, tried and banished to Robben Island. This period in South African history is known as the Langalibalele Rebellion. After an outcry over his unfair trial, he was allowed to return to his home, but remained under house arrest.

There is a pass in the Giant’s Castle area named after Langalibalele. At the top of the pass are the graves of the carbineers killed in the skirmish with him. Mount Durnford (in the same area) is named after Major Anthony Durnford, who was tasked with capturing Langalibalele.

[Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langalibalele]