Drakensberg Rock Art

The Drakensberg is the high basalt wall along the western edge of KwaZulu-Natal, and its caves and overhangs hold one of the great collections of rock art in Africa, which is half the reason the park is a World Heritage Site. The San painted here for a very long time. Giant’s Castle, named for the peak that stands over it like a fortress, is where you go to see it with someone who can read it.

You leave Durban before dawn, and the reason is the drive: up through the sugar cane and the green hills of the Midlands, into the foothills, with the peaks growing ahead of you all the way. On a clear morning the whole escarpment is lit up by the time you arrive.

The walk follows the river valley up to the caves, a few kilometres there and back on a proper mountain path with some climbing. It is not hard for anyone used to walking, but it is not a stroll either, and you want good shoes. The reserve was set aside more than a century ago to protect eland, so keep an eye on the slopes as you go.

At the caves a local guide takes you through the paintings: eland above all, the animal that mattered most to the San, and human figures running, hunting and dancing. Some of what you see is ritual rather than record, and the guide explains how the trance dance is now understood, and the figures that are part human and part animal. Later paintings show horses and men with guns: the San recording the arrival of the people who would end their way of life in these mountains.

Lunch follows, with the peaks in front of you. On the way back the road passes the place near Howick where Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962, marked now by a sculpture of steel columns that, from the right spot, becomes his face. The Midlands day gives it more time, if you want it.

Good to know

• Moderate fitness for the walk. Good shoes, water and a hat.
• A very early start and a long day. Plan an easy morning after it.
• Summer afternoons bring storms to the mountains; winter mornings are cold. Layers either way.
• Never touch the paintings or wet them for a photograph. They are fragile and cannot be replaced.
• Reserve entry and cave access are set by the park. We confirm yours in writing.