Quathlamba
“A
mass of Spears. Named thus by the Zulu warriors before the white man came.
Today called the Drakensberg, Mountains of the Dragon, a name given by the
Voortrekkers. Evocative names, both equally applicable to South Africa’s
mightiest mountain range with its spear-like peaks – reminiscent of the
saw-toothed spine of a gigantic dragon.”
Panorama April 1966
This blog is all about the Drakensberg Mountains and its Wilderness area, South Africa. I have lost my heart and soul to this area and every single time I hike these mountains, I stand in awe all over again at this magnificent beauty.
“Listen to the streams as they gurgle from their cradles and you will hear the story of the mountains. You will hear fascinating tales if only you listen! Lie next to a stream and listen to the song of the mountains. The smiling faces of the flowers, dancing in the wind. Venture into the remote valleys or stand on a peak at sunrise or sunset, after snow has fallen, and you will hear a song that you will never forget - the Song of the High Mountain". (DA Dodds)
Hiking adventures, hiking gear reviews, day walks, accommodation, books, articles and photos, all related to these magnificent mountains will feature here.
Should you want to accompany me on a hike, or need some information or advice, please make contact with me. I hope you enjoy the articles.
Please visit the archive for some more interesting stories, photos and reviews.
Please note that all photos on this blog are copyright protected. If you would like to obtain
Photos please make contact with the author, Willem Pelser.
“What have these lonely mountains worth revealing?
More glory and more grief than I can tell;
The earth that wakes one human heart to healing
Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell”
Can centre both the worlds of Heaven and Hell”
DRAKENSBERG
FIRST THE BUSHMEN…..
In Southern Africa the
Bushmen roamed the country long before the black people and Europeans arrived
on the scene. Once it was thought that the Bushmen migrated from the North
ahead of the hordes of black people, but the discovery of Namibian rock
paintings more than 14000 years old by Dr. W E Wendt, a German archaeologist, in
a rock shelter which he called Apollo II, could suggest that art had its origin
in Southern Africa and not Europe, and that The Bushmen did not migrate from
the North but evolved in Southern Africa.
These Bushmen roamed the
plains of the Southern parts of the continent, undisturbed, leading the life of
nomads, hunting wild animals and collecting wild fruits, berries and bulbs.
They seemed able to adapt themselves to almost any environment.
Physically they were wiry and short
of stature, about 1.5 meters high, deep-chested with small hands and feet
compared to the rest of the body. Their faces were tri-angular in shape with
prominent high cheek bones, the eyes wide apart and a flat nose with a broad
ridge. The color of the skin was yellow-brown. They had a Mongolian appearance
and, like Mongolians, the men were beardless. The females displayed a
peculiarity called steatopygia, which was a grotesque
over-development of the buttocks for fat storage, similar to the hump of a
camel.
The men wore
very little clothing. In summer, and on hot days, a tri-angular lion cloth made
from animal skin was their only garment, but when the snow lay thick on the
mountains, they covered themselves with a cloak. The women also wore an apron,
but in addition covered their buttocks with a back skirt. On cold days both men
and women wore a cloak. The seemed to favor a cloak made from Dassie (Hyrax
capensis) fur.
Their hair, which was of the “peppercorn”
type, was usually left uncovered or, according to 19th century
ethnologist, GW Stow, was sometimes shaved leaving a tuft which was anointed
with an aromatic preparation.
These Stone Age hunters loved
to decorate their bodies with ochre or clay. On their arms and legs they wore
bracelets and anklets of beads made from ostrich eggshell and wood. The soles
of their feet were protected by sandals constructed from animal hides. These
highly specialized hunters lived and hunted in this mountain paradise where the
vast grasslands supported large herds of antelope as well as other forms of
wild life.
Their homes were the rock
shelters found at the base of the sandstone cliffs. The family unit consisted
of one or two related families, probably depending on the size of the shelter
available and the number that the hunters in the group could feed.
The men were the hunters and
their weapons were bows and arrows. Arrows were made from reeds with agate,
stone or bone tips. Later, when the Bushmen contacted the black tribes, iron
replaced the bone or agate arrowheads. Some of the arrowheads had barbs. In
about 1925, a farmer, Anton Lombard, found a Bushman’s hunting equipment on a
ledge in the “Eland Cave” near the Mhlwazini River.
The equipment consisted of a bow, leather bow case and a quiver made from wood
with leather covers at both ends, containing 22 arrows, two hunting knives and
a small bag containing a resinous substance.
On occasions the arrows
were worn on a headband in a fan-shaped pattern, probably for ready access. The
arrow heads were smeared with a deadly poison, prepared from extracts of
various plants, the venom of snakes, spiders and scorpions. Opinions regarding
the exact ingredients vary but, according to Stow, Amaryllis
disticta, Acokanthera venenata and the milky secretion of the Euphorbia were
the plants commonly used. The rock art author, H Pager, who surveyed the
ecology of the region, is of the opinion that in the Drakensberg it is possible
the genus Urginea, of which there are 3 species, could have
been used. The extract is a potent poison and is used by the Nyika tribe
in Tanzania. Euphorbia clavarioides is
also fairly common in the mountains and would have provided a perfect additive
for the poison. In the event of accidental injury, a readily available
antidote, namely wood ash, which counteracts the Urginea poison,
might have been used, as it is used in the medical practices of the
above-mentioned Nyika tribe.
The Bushmen had a profound
knowledge of the habits of all animals and were experts when it came to
recognizing the tracks of their prey. Having spotted their quarry they
stealthily stalked the animal until they were sufficiently near to enable them
to shoot the deadly, poisonous arrow into the animal. Then they followed it
until it dropped.
Many ingenious methods of
hunting were also used. One of the 19th century ethnologists
reports that the hunters approached a herd of antelope wearing the head, horns
and skin of a buck, and when close enough the hunter would pull the bowstring
and send the poison arrow into one of them.
A method of capture used
by the Bushmen was to dig deep pits in which sharpened stakes were placed on
the floor and the opening carefully covered with branches, grass and leaves.
These pits were dug close to waterholes or on game trails. Game fences were constructed
from wooden stakes which were erected to direct the animals which were chased
towards the pits. Any creature falling into one of these traps was impaled
immediately.
The women were the food
gatherers and spend their days searching far and wide for the vegetable part of
Bushmen diet. Bulbs, berries, fruit, roots and plants were collected and
carried in bags made from animal skin. Bulbs and roots were dug out of the
ground by means of a digging stick which was a hardwood stick jammed into a bored
stone giving it impulses. The digging stick was also used as a weapon.
Bushmen were
particularly fond of meat cooked over the open embers of a wood fire and in
particular they favored the meat of the Eland. Another delicacy was the
chrysalis of ants roasted in animal fat. This is called “Bushmen Rice”
by other tribes. Locusts and flying ants were relished but when food was
scarce, frogs, lizards and even snakes were eaten.
Honey was a great favorite and
bee’s nests were regularly raided. Ropes of plaited grass or animal hides were
made to enable the hunters to lower a companion to a nest on vertical rock
faces. According to MW How, who has written a book on the Lesotho Bushmen,
wooden wedges were driven into fissures or cracks in a cliff face in Lesotho to
enable the raider to climb, step-ladder fashion, to the honey. The nests were
marked by the finders and heaven help anyone found stealing the honey! Honey
was also used to prepare potent, intoxicating drink.
A friend of the hunter was
the honey guide, Indicator indicator, a bird which has a
particular liking for beeswax. The Bushmen followed these birds which would
lead them to the nests and in return the bird was given its share of the find.
In their rock shelters the
Bushmen danced and played their musical instruments. Dancing was an important
part of their lives. In the glow of the fires at night, dressed in animal
skins, they mimed the antics of various animals with amazing accuracy. Their
musical instruments were simple. The bow was used as a string instrument and a
sound box was attached as a resonator. The music was produced by tapping the
string with a stick. Flutes of different lengths were included in the orchestra
and the time was kept by drums made from hollow tree trunks over which animal
skins were stretched. Handclapping accompanied the beating of the drums which
echoed through the valleys late into the night.
THE ROCKS SPEAKS……….
The Stone Age artists decorated
their rock shelters with intriguing art – one of South Africa’s greatest
heritages. From these paintings one can learn a tremendous amount about the
artists – how they lived, hunted, their believes and mythology, the clothes
they wore, their weapons, even historical events such as the appearance of the
black man and the European.
Along the whole length of the
Drakensberg Mountains, and hidden in the deep river valleys, hundreds of rock
shelters are to be found. In many of these shelters, galleries of some of the
finest Stone Age art are to be seen. Huge boulders were also used if a
favorable, protected, dry surface provided a suitable canvas such as the Xeni
Rock at the confluence of the Xeni and Umlambonja rivers in the Cathedral Peak
area.
The paints were prepared
from iron oxides, charcoal and gypsum, depending on the color required. These
minerals were ground to a fine powder and mixed with blood and serum. The
brushes were constructed from the tail hairs of certain antelopes and attached
to reeds. Feathers were also used to apply the paint.
A most valuable
contribution to archaeology was made by rock author Harold Pager, who, with his
wife, spent over 2 years living and working in the rock shelters of Cathedral
Peak and Cathkin Forestry Reserves. His book, Ndedema, is
the result of this painstaking work and has become a classic in the field. He
chose a research area of 196 square kilometers which lies between the
Umlambonja valley in the west, the High Berg in the south and the outer krans
of the Little Berg in the east. In this area Pager recorded 12 762 rock
paintings and this number gives some idea of how many may be found in the whole
Drakensberg range.
The greatest concentration
of rock art was encountered in the Ndedema Valley in which 17 painted shelters
were recorded and in all 3909 individual paintings were described in 17
shelters.
The little yellow painters
seem to have favored human beings as their main subjects and males are more
popularly displayed than females. With pictures beautifully painted on
carefully selected sandstone faces the artists managed to produce an
interesting animated effect. Looking at these galleries one can see Bushmen in
the act of hunting, running, shooting, fighting, dancing and raiding. The women
are painted with their collecting bags and digging sticks. They can be
recognized by their pendulous breasts or by the babies carried on their backs.
After human beings, the
antelope was the next most popular subject painted by the nimble hands of the
hunter artists. They loved to paint the Eland, their favorite antelope. But one
can also find almost any animal which roamed the area depicted on the sandstone
faces.
Many visitors to painted
sites have been intrigued by certain large antelope-headed human figures which
have hooves instead of feet. Fine examples of these strange figures can be seen
in the Main Caves at Giant’s Castle, the Sebaaieni Cave at the head of the
Ndedema Gorge, and in Mushroom Hill Shelter near the Cathedral Peak Hotel as
well as in many other sites.
As early as 1928 a German
expedition led by Pro. Leo Frobenius visited the Sebaaieni Cave and its members
were fascinated by these buck-headed men. Later the Abbe’ Breuil, the great
rock art authority of his day, after seeing the work of Frobenius, described
the figures as foreigners from the Mediterranean region, and not as Bushmen or
Negroid. Neil Lee and Bert Woodhouse, co-authors of the book, Art on
the Rocks of Southern Africa, interpret the antelope heads of the
creatures as being hunting disguises or items of fashionable clothing and
reject the idea that mythical creatures might have been depicted. Harald Pager,
however, calls these extraordinary figures “mythical antelope men”
and points out that they are unusually large and elaborately dressed and
decorated. He says that their hooves could have been neither a useful hunting
disguise nor comfortable footwear. It is more likely, he argues, that they are
figures which have undergone some form of magical transformation.
Many other bizarre
mythological creatures are to be found in the mountains. Some female figures
have long, pointed headgear, winglike arms and hooved feet like the antelope
men. Wilcox, in his book, Rock Paintings of the Drakensberg, surmises
that they perhaps represent the Mantis of Bushmen mythology in one of its
guises.
Neil Lee and Bert
Woodhouse first investigated and described another mythical creature, a winged
antelope which they called the “flying buck”. Harold Pager calls
the same figures “alites” which simply means “flying
creatures”, and this day they all are since all have some form of
wings, or, when depicted in humanoid form, hold their arms in wing-like
posture.
All 3 rock art authors come
to the conclusion that these “alites” represent the spirits of
the dead. Some of them are indeed depicted in scenes of death and one gains the
impression that here the spirits leaving the body will now travel to the stars,
which the Bushmen regarded as the glowing embers in the heavenly campfires of
the departed.
Much controversy has arisen
regarding the age of these paintings. The oldest are usually monochromes and
bio-chromes. Later polychromes as well as shaded polychromes appeared until
their height of perfection was achieved when the artists changed from the
lateral view of their subjects to the foreshortened perspective, giving another
dimension to the composition. The age of certain paintings which depict blacks,
domestic animals or Europeans in military uniforms firing guns, are fairly
obvious since it is well known when these people arrived in the Drakensberg and
the kind of livestock the possessed. Samples of paint collected by Pager and
dated by the paper chromatography method revealed that the oldest paintings in
the area dated back to A.D. 970-1370 and the most
recent A.D. 1720-1820.
The life of these Stone Age
men and women must have been one of peace and happiness in a beautiful land
where food and water were plentiful. Their needs were few but their pleasures
were many. In their rock shelters they played their musical instruments while
some of them mimed the antics of the animals painted on the walls of the
shelter and as they danced so their gigantic shadows moved across the faces of
the rocks.
But far away black men,
almost as big as the shadows cast on the wall, were approaching. Following
them, the first white men, called Voortrekkers and Settlers.
(Then modern man arrived and promptly started vandalizing the paintings!) Little did the Bushmen realize that it would not
be long before they would have to disappear – back into the mists whence they
had come. Also, that the white people would treat them as vermin and wipe the
Bushmen off the face of the earth.
THE FIRST WHITE MAN………
Still living in their mountain
paradise, where herds of antelope grazed on the vast grasslands of the Little
Berg and the crystal-clear streams and rivers raced down the gorges and the
river valleys on their torturous way to the sea, the Bushmen roamed the
foothills, quite unaware of an event which later led to their complete
extermination, the arrival of the black people and the Europeans.
The first intrepid explorer
to venture into the vastness of the Drakensberg was Captain Allen Francis Gardiner,
a retired officer of the Royal Navy, who after the death of his wife decided to
dedicate his life to missionary work.
The arrival of the
Voortrekkers in then Natal, and the fact that many of them settled in the
foothills of the Drakensberg, Must have seemed to the Bushmen an act of war.
The Voortrekkers and Settlers shot an poached in areas that the Bushmen had for
years regarded as their preserve. So they retaliated by stealing cattle and
horses. Whether this was, in fact, a means of getting their own back or simply
a means feeding their people as the game gradually became scarce, is not really
known. It is a fact that the Voortrekkers and Settlers was not discriminate
hunters and shot everything on site, whether they need it or not. They would
kill a Giraffe for the tail and leave the rest of the animal to rot. Between
them they annihilated the Drakensberg wildlife and a race of Bushmen.
Bushmen were no longer people
still living in the Stone Age. They had learnt to ride horses, and iron
arrowheads had replaced the less effective weapons of bone and stone. Because
of the early depredations the Bushmen were regarded as as robbers and thieves
and were shot on sight as if they were animals. Surprise was the greatest asset
of the little hunters who would choose a moonlit night or even an overcast day
when visibility was limited, and swoop down from the mountains, taking away
whatever cattle or horses they could find. Stealthily they herded the animals,
using their intimate knowledge of the valleys and passes. When the terrain
became very steep they smeared cattle dung ahead of the animals, which would
persuade the captive animals that other cattle had passed that way before them.
By the time that the farmer had realized his loss the raiders
had a day’s start.
Irate farmers immediately
formed commandos and followed the spoor, ready to shoot these robbers. A common
practice of the Bushmen was to kill the cattle by stabbing when the pursuers
were too close, in the hope that this would deter them, but this only made the
farmers more determined than ever to exterminate the Bushmen.
The Bushmen were
eventually exterminated like vermin. No mercy was given to man, women or child,
whether robber or not, and they were normally shot on sight.
So the Bushmen disappeared…………
The End.
Safe Hiking.
References and Acknowledgements
1 Extract from the book - “A
Cradle of Rivers, The Natal Drakensberg” –
David Dodds
2 Black & White Photos - “A Cradle of
Rivers, The Natal Drakensberg” -
David Dodds
Colored Photos – Bushmen
Paintings – Willem Pelser
Compiled by W Pelser
