DEKAT DIGITAL 2019 - 2020

In the Drakensberg some 20 000 individual rock paintings have been recorded at 500 different cave and
overhang sites between Royal Natal National Park and Bushman’s Neck. Subjects of the San paintings range
from animals (mainly eland) and therianthropes to humans, ox wagons and mounted men with rifles. In
Ndedema Gorge 3 900 paintings have been recorded at 17 sites; Sebaayeni Cave contains 1 146 paintings;
and 130 sites in the Cathedral Peak-Mdelelelo Wilderness Area feature over 8 800 individual paintings.
Additional prime sites include the Main Caves in Giant’s Castle Game Reserve, Battle Cave in the Injasuti
Valley and Game Pass Shelter in the Kamberg Nature Reserve.
Kalkoenkrans in the Aliwal North/Jamestown region is another sacred San site that is worth visiting. The
site was declared a national monument because of the high standard and huge variety of its artwork. The
paintings include over 200 works, among them the famous ‘White Lady of Kalkoenkrans’, which was discovered in
1967. They offer the visitor a pantheon of the spirit world and include images of part-bird/part-humans and other
mythical figures.
See www.nasmus.co.za/departments/rock-art/public-rock-art-sites for more information about visits to some of
South Africa’s most interesting rock paintings.
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