The Saunter highlights the aspect of South Africa’s cultural heritage which is also the world’s cultural heritage: San/ Bushman Rock Art. Not only are the San, previously called Bushmen, the earliest of our known groups to inhabit southern Africa, but their genetic diversity means they are one of, if not the, oldest peoples on earth. We are all related to them.
This is why the San are depicted on South Africa’s coat of arms. These gentle hunter gatherers were themselves hunted almost to extinction by black pastoralists and white settlers alike when in areas like the Drakensberg, their hunting grounds were reduced and they were forced periodically to hunt farmers’ livestock. We know so little about them but their art tells us something. This art cannot be fully dated yet, but the newest dated so far is 400 years old and the oldest 3600 years old. We also know from artifacts found, that the Drakensberg was inhabited by the San and their forebears from before the Middle Stone Age which starts about 30,000 years ago. The last sighting of San here was in Royal National Park in 1878.
South Africa is recognized as having the richest collection of Rock Art in the world and the largest number of paintings are in the Drakensberg. Some 20 668 individual paintings in about 500 caves and sandstone overhangs are protected here. Many are accessible via short hikes, some require overnight stays in nearby caves given the distance and some can only be viewed accompanied by a knowledgeable guide for a small fee.
Some paintings depict scenes of their hunter gatherer way of live. However, a painting in Game Pass Shelter, Central Berg, has become known as the ‘Rosetta Stone’ of South African rock art. It was this painting that uncovered a vital key to understanding the symbolism of the paintings. The San believe that a spirit is in everything. Theirs is a shamanistic belief. In the painting a partly transformed shaman, who moves between the real and spiritual world, holds the tail of a dying eland. Its head is lowered and it has exaggerated, erect hairs. The man’s hoofed legs are crossed in imitation of the eland’s legs. Another shaman with erect hair is also partly transformed into an antelope. In the centre, a shaman dances in a bending forward, arms-back posture. The painting shows how shamans are transformed by the spiritual energy they have obtained from the dying eland. That supernatural energy changes them partially into an eland. They believed this gave them healing powers.
With this key it became possible to interpret the paintings with the trance beings, which are the half animal, half human figures with arms bent back and/or noses bleeding, as well as other figures. The trance state causes the shaman’s nose to bleed. Paintings such as their important rain dance become understandable.
Visiting San Rock Art sites is quite awe inspiring. We may not agree with their beliefs, but to understand this ancient people and why they painted what that did, is fascinating. See more detail in www.thesaunter.co.za/listing/san-rock-art/
The closest place to stay that we recommend, when visiting the Game Pass Shelter, is the wonderful Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse and their two stunning self -catering options.
If you search for accommodation in the Central and southern Berg, you will find many options of places to stay.
Go and visit these sites yourselves in their absolutely beautiful surroundings of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park.
Battle scene painting at Battle Cave, Injisuthi
Christmas Shelter, Kamberg.
The KZN Museum in Pietermaritzburg is excellent on Rock Art.