Kamberg Rock Art  

We leave our lodge after breakfast and make our way to Kamberg Nature Reserve. Here we will first visit the Rock Art Centre were we will view two films on rock art. This will prime us for our visit to the world-renowned Game Pass Shelter, some two hours climb along a spectacular and winding track into the heart of the Drakensberg Mountains.

Along the way we may catch a glimpse of Eland Antelope, an animal once sacred to the Stone Age Bushmen Hunter Gatherers and painters of the high ‘berg. Halfway along our route we pass beneath a remarkable cave over which cascades a crystal waterfall. This is the sacred Waterfall Shelter which displays some faded paintings and fossils embedded within its roof. Today the shelter is held to be sacred by Zulu sangomas (or diviners), as well as Bushman Descendants  and members of the traditional Zionist Church. Here they continue to conduct rituals which often include waters from the waterfall which is held to be holy. If you are fortunate you may happen upon Stone Age Stone Tools which must be left in situ as they are protected by law.

From Waterfall Shelter our climb begins in earnest. Although steep and trying, this climb is achievable by people of most age groups as long as it is taken slowly. The destination is well-worth the effort as the views are breathtaking, the scenery remarkable, and the paintings in the shelter considered to be amongst the very finest prehistoric rock art in the world. What is unique about Game Pass Shelter is that visitors are still permitted to view the original rock art, whereas at Lascaux in France and Altimira in Spain casual visitors are no longer permitted anywhere near the prehistoric paintings, so protected are they.

We will spend a good hour and a half in the cave while Frans Prins elucidates the mysteries and meaning of the art. Lunch will consist of a delicious picnic lunch in the ancient shelter.

Our trip down will be somewhat easier and quicker than our upward march. The remainder of the day will be taken up with a choice of two activities:

Elliot Ndlovu Sangoma

A visit  to the homestead of well-known Zulu traditional healer Elliot Ndlovu.  Elliot is widely regarded as one of the most powerful traditional healers in KwaZulu-Natal.  Not only is he a sangoma (a person who divines through the ancestor spirits) but also a nyanga ( herbalist) and a thandazi (prophet).  Elliot is also unique in that he has a foot in both the African traditional world and a foot in the western world.   His understanding of “outsiders” preconceptions regarding traditional society and his good sense of humour makes this a memorable and unique experience.

Elliot will give a combined presentation with Frans regarding traditional healing and its role in Zulu and African society.  Frans will provide the anthropological overview and Elliot will focus on more hands-on issues and insights.   The visit will include a tour of Elliot’s indigenous medicinal herb garden where the medicinal and magical properties of indigenous herbs to African society will be explained.  For an additional fee, and depending upon the goodwill of the ancestor spirits, Elliot will throw his bones and divine the fortune and misfortune of clients.  Elliot divines by means of ventriloquism and those visitors attending this interesting session will experience the ancestral spirits “whistling” from the roof.   

Bushman Descendants of the Drakensberg

For many years researchers and writers thought that colonialism led to the extinction of the once proud prehistoric rock artists of the Drakensberg, namely the  southern Bushmen.  However, unknown to colonial administrators many Bushman groups simply changed their ethnic identities and intermarried into more sedentary African communities.  Just such an assimilated community live amongst Zulu-speaking subsistence farmers in the close vicinity of  Game Pass shelter.  Although these Bushman descendants have been living as Zulus for the last 150 years they have still maintained some of their  Bushman culture and identity.  However, for many years they have had to keep their true identity secret out of fear of being persecuted by African traditionalists who often accused them of witchcraft.

Visitors will have the opportunity to visit such a modern Bushman homestead and interact with the local family members. The Bushman descendants will show visitors how their culture and lives have changed over the last 100 years. Visitors will see how this African family live – their living area, what sort of meals they prepare, where their children play and go to school, where their cattle graze, and areas of symbolic and ritual importance to themselves.  They will also talk about the famous rock art of the Drakensberg and their recent efforts to renew ancient ceremonies at certain sacred sites.