Champagne Valley Walking Club - Drakensville Painted Caves

Apologies for not being on Blogger this whole week. I'm back now and hope to be posting and visiting regularly again.

Last week we had the most interesting hike since we've joined the CWC. At a pre-arranged meeting point, eight of us hikers hopped into two cars and motored to our destination about 50km from home. We were off to see the Painted Caves starting at Drakensville Holiday Resort .

I, as a South African, have seen many Bushman paintings in my life. I find them fascinating but won't go out of my way to view any more. However,  these paintings were in a cave which was at the top of a grueling hike and also not open to the public. On this hike we also had a Park Ranger guide who would tell us all about the paintings. 

 The palm trees in the resort have ferns growing up the stems

 Waiting to start the hike 

 And we're off 

The steady incline - challenging to most of us

A flat part of the hike which lulls you into a false sense of security! 

The views as we gained elevation

The hike takes place on private property so the cows shared their space with us as we passed

Kwa-Zulu Natal at its autumnal best! 

Walking up and up the track to the top

The first four and half kilometers was on a wide path and although not too difficult, kept on going up and up. I found the uphill pull quite challenging and with a few other hikers, stopped several times to catch my breath.  

The steep and rocky descent to the cave

Fellow hiker, Trish negotiating the tricky bits on the downward path

Lynette caught the other two ladies in the group clambering down the steep rocky path

The cave overhang on the left with a crevice into the bush below on the right

Then the last 200 meters as the guide had warned us, was a steep path descending onto a wide ledge with a crevice on our left and the cave overhang on our right. 

Lynette, the other hiker who takes photos, asked me and Trish to stand right there...

...which is what we did! 

Because we're always behind the camera, I normally take a photo of Lynette with her Smartphone and then she takes one of me with my Canon camera (note the steep crevice on my right!) 

While waiting for Johan, the guide to start his lecture, I took photos of the view below

Johan about to start explaining the Bushman Paintings to us

I swung around again and photographed the waterfall cascading over the cliff above

Johan, who's been in this camp for 17 years, proved to be a dedicated conservationist and most knowledgeable about his subject

Please click here for an interesting and in-depth explanation of Bushman art and culture. Do read up about it to better understand the captions under my photos. 

Hunters with arrows following the shaman (holy man) 

The shaman has various accouterments of his trade attached to his person: feathers, bones, pieces of horns, animal hides etc

The San people dancing

A group of men fishing

A shallow cave which boggles the mind as to how people lived in there

Another dwelling cave/cave dwelling 

An overview of the group by Lynette 

The view below framed by the rocky overhang

Moi, Grant and Trish 

Then the talk was over and it was time climb out and have tea above the caves.

I turned around and managed to photograph Grant climbing up the steep, narrow path to the top

Grant relaxing before we enjoy our coffee and sandwiches 

Ant holding court

The way down

Our group of hikers last Tuesday

Another great day was had by all! 

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYBODY.