Drakensberg

After a busy week of classes, papers and a biology field trip, I was ready to have a low-key weekend full of rest. It was not to be, but I can't say that I was disappointed. Saturday morning, all 53 of us loaded up the buses with our packed lunches, sunscreen, water and cameras. We were headed to Giant's Castle in the Drakensberg Mountains northwest of Pietermaritzburg. Our destination was a historical site within the Giant's Castle nature reserve - cave paintings created by the San Bushmen people of South Africa, thousands of years ago.

Our drive into the Drakensbergs was incredible. As we drove northward out of PMB, the suburbs slowly faded, and the rural side of South Africa came into view. We slowly gained elevation driving on the 4 lane highway, and the surrounding landscape revealed pockets of forest among the bright green rolling hills. The occasional squatter camp passed us by, full of children kicking a soccer ball around or women carrying heavy bags on their heads. The road became more and more narrow, and I soon realized that we were no longer driving on a highway, but a single lane road ripe with potholes and farm animals. Our driver Phillip must have had a tough time dodging goats in between the potholes.

Our arrival into Giant's Castle came about 2 hours after we left A.E. As I got out of the packed bus, the scenery was absolutely stunning. Towering green hills surrounded us inside a valley that extended toward the even steeper mountains just north of us in Lesotho. A few cliffs revealed several waterfalls that drained into the stream at the base of the valley, meandering peacefully alongside light brush, beneath a bright blue sky. Our group of 53 was a little too big to hike into the caves where the paintings were, so we split into two groups. One group would eat lunch and wait for about an hour while the other hiked to the caves. So I munched on my pb & j sandwich and explored a bit while the others viewed the paintings. The hour went quickly, and we were soon on our way toward the caves.

The 1 or 2 kilometer hike to the paintings itself was worth the drive. It had been a while since I threw on some hiking shoes, so I was happy to be out on the trail again, no matter how short the distance. We began the hike at a slight uphill grade on the side of a hill looking down to the stream, and up to the edge of the valley. We hiked without canopy cover for about 3/4 of the walk, until we eventually crossed the stream at the bottom under a nicely shaded covering. we stopped for a quick tree-climbing break, then hiked up the hill eventually reaching the caves.

A tour guide greeted us at the beginning of a walkway that led us to a viewing platform inside the caves, which were essentially naturally hollowed out cliff sides. The exhibit was set up with life size models of the San people, who were no taller than 5'8". It was amazing to see how evidence of humans who lived over 2000 years ago still clearly existed. The roof of the cave was charred black from fires that burned thousands of years ago. Incredibly, the artwork of the San remained intact on the rocks of the cliff side. Red and orange shaped that resembled humans and animals stood out sharply on the dull gray rocks. It was hard to believe how paintings made from completely natural materials could survive that long. The hunter-gatherer San of thousands of years ago have left their mark on the history of South Africa.

As we descended the cliff side toward the river we were ahead of schedule, so we decided it was a good time to test out the swim-a-bility of the stream. My experience with mountain streams taught me to expect a freezing cold rush of whitewater and a pretty miserable soaking. The stream in Giant's Castle however, was much warmer than a Rocky Mountain river, and was perfect for swimming. The sun was out in full force, so it was a perfect time to go swimming, and a perfect ending to a South African summer day.