Quathlamba
“A
mass of Spears. Named thus by the Zulu warriors before the white man came.
Today called the Drakensberg, Mountains of the Dragon. 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.”
“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".
DRAKENSBERG WILDERNESS PHOTOS ©
WILLEM PELSER
“FOR WHAT IS THERE IN ALL THE WORLD FOR ME
BUT WHAT I
KNOW AND SEE?
AND WHAT
REMAINS OF ALL I SEE AND KNOW
IF I LET GO?”
GW Young
THE BIRTH OF THE DRAKENSBERG
THE ANCIENT ROCKS
The High Berg is a continuous escarpment, wild and
rugged, varying in height and broken only in places where mountain passes and
deep cutbacks break the line of the vertical face. An interesting feature, and one
that enhances the beauty of the range, is the major spurs which extends at
right angles to the escarpment.
From the base of the sheer faces of the High Berg, steep grass-covered
slopes and fingerlike minor spurs lead down to a terrace known as the Little
Berg. These spurs also tend to run at right angles to the Main Berg, ending
abruptly as sandstone cliffs which overlook the deep river valleys.
Looking up towards the summits from the valleys below one can see a cross
-section of a geological history going back 190 million years.
The story of how the mightiest mountain wall in South Africa was formed
belongs to an era when the foundation, or basalt layer, of the Berg was part of
a vast continent called Gondwanaland. This super-continent included Africa,
Australia, New Zealand, South America, as well as Antarctica.
The basal layers of the Drakensberg which are mostly covered and only
exposed in deep river valleys and road cuttings were part of a vast
water-filled basin which extended from the Southern Transvaal and included
Natal and a large part of Southern Africa. For countless millions of years sand
and mud were washed into this vast depression from surrounding, uplifted areas
until eventually it was transformed into a shallow swamp – a place where the
Dinosaurs lived and died, having struggled to survive among huge ferns, cycads
and conifers. These Dinosaurs originally evolved from the Thecodont reptiles
and they ranged from the birdlike forms to the huge monsters which have been estimated
to weigh as much as 35 tonnes. As these creatures died, so their heavy bodies
sank deep into the mud and their bones were entombed in layers of mud and sand.
Only the winds that still blow over the mountains
can tell us how long it took for the immense marshes to dry out, preserving the
bones of the prehistoric creatures. Relentlessly the wind blew and blew,
depositing sand across the Gondwana surface, filling the depression that was
once a lake and then a swamp. All that remained of this marshy paradise was
windswept desert as layer upon layer of sand filled the vast depression.
Somewhere between the middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous age, volcanic
eruptions occurred and the earth shook as great fissures opened and boiling
fiery lava poured out over the interior of the Gondwana continent, until this
volcanic crust was about 1400 meters thick. Once this crust has cooled, a major
global upheaval caused the entire Gondwana continent to fracture, breaking up
the Mother continent into smaller continents as we recognize them today.
So Africa was born and when this break-up took
place over 100 million years ago, South Africa retained the sediments capped
with a volcanic crust. But still there was no Drakensberg. The Drakensberg was
then a dark, arid, desolate undulating mass of basaltic lava overlying layers
of sandstone and shale. Towards the Natal coast the undulating landscape dipped
into the newly-formed Indian Ocean.
Clouds appeared on the horizon and lightning, water,
and wind eroded the surface of this basaltic mass. Rivulets became rivers which
bit into the surface like ravenous animals.
Soon valleys and ridges appeared and as the
basaltic surface was carved it retreated in a westerly direction and so the
Drakensberg was formed, first cutting through the lavas and then exposing the
deeper sedimentary layers.
All that now remains is Lesotho and the Drakensberg which proudly stands as
a noble monument to that long forgotten Gondwana continent.
Visitors to the Berg can easily distinguish the various
geological strata by looking up towards the heights from the deep river valleys
below.
The basal layers of the range belong to the upper
Beaufort Beds of the Beaufort Series. Overlying them, in almost parallel
layers, are the various beds of the Stormberg series.
Although the Upper Beaufort Beds are seldom exposed,
except in deep river beds or in road cuttings, they can be recognized by bands
of red and maroon as well as blue and green mudstones with fine-grained sandstone.
Fossils of Lystrosaurus have been found in these beds particularly in the
Bergville and Loskop areas. These beds form the crest of the Drakensberg at Van
Reenen’s Pass as well as neighboring peaks, and were laid down about 190
million years ago when mosses, ferns, and conifers grew in the vast swamp where
reptiles thrived in a warmer, drier climate. The climate gradually changed and
there seems to have been a sudden disappearance of the reptiles, although plant
fossils are common.
Lying directly on top of these beds are the Molteno
Beds, the oldest of the Stormberg Series, which can be recognized by the blue
and grey color of the shales with sparkling grained sandstone. They were laid
down about 180 million years ago. Vertebrate fossils are rarely found in these
beds. The Molteno Beds are responsible for the terracing so commonly seen below
the cave sandstone. Bushmen used the even surfaces of these beds to display
their primitive art. Later farmers used the dressed sandstone to build their
houses, which can still be seen today.
Lying immediately above the Molteno Beds are the Red Beds, derived from the
red and purple mudstone and occasional beds of sandstone. It is in these layers
that the enormous silicified tree trunks of the Dadoxylon are to be found as
well as the fossils of those giants of the swamps, the Dinosaurs. Fossil
remains as well as footprints have been found in several places on the Lesotho
side of the range. Plant fossils can also be found in these beds.
Towards the end of period when the Red Beds were laid
down, a long era of desiccation followed, converting the one time swamp into a
desert as winds piled up the sand particles blown from other areas, to the
height of the sandstone cliffs that we see along the whole length of the
Drakensberg today.
It is difficult to differentiate where the Red
Beds and The Cave Sandstone begins. The Cave Sandstone was laid down about 160
million years ago and consists of a series of bedding planes of fine-grained
sand particles. These massive, generally white to cream colored cliffs are the
most spectacular aspect of the Little Berg, and can reach a height of 200
meters. In places erosion has carved the sandstone cliffs into weird and
amazing sculptures that sometimes assume familiar shapes. Typical examples are
the Mushroom Rock and the Baboon Rock in the Cathedral Peak area, The
Policeman’s Helmet, the Frog, the Tortoise, and the Crocodile at Royal Natal
National Park in the Mount-aux –Sources area.
Over the years the forces of erosion created rock-shelters at the base of
these massive cliffs. These eventually became the homes of the Bushmen, the
smooth walls proving an ideal surface for them to display their art.
Towering above the Little Berg is the gigantic wall of
basalt which was laid down 150 million years ago as molten lava poured out of
fissures in successive eruptions from 1 meter to 50 meters thick, with a time
lapse between each eruption. As the flow cooled so gas bubbles rose towards the
surface. A close look at a large piece of basalt reveals pipelike vesicles
filled with amygdales. Common amygdales found along the contour paths on the
top of the Little Berg are agates, quartz crystals, chalcedony, and zeolites.
After the snow has fallen, the layers of basalt become more obvious. Dolerite
is similar to basalt in its chemical composition but is cooled under pressure.
Many dolerite dykes were the feeder fissures through which the molten lava
flowed. Two examples of dolerite dykes are the Crack in the Royal Natal Park
where the dolerite has weathered much faster than the sandstone, creating the
crack, and another example is the dolerite dyke in the Bannerman’s Pass which
follows the line of the pass.
And so from its marshy grave the Drakensberg was
born, lashed by the winds of time, scorched and smothered by the fiery lavas,
then carved by the wrath of erosion, leaving a mountain paradise supporting
vast herds of game feeding off the grasslands which covered the scars of
erosion.
Then suddenly out of the mists appeared the little yellow hunters who found
peace and happiness in the mountain fastness – the Bushmen.
The End.
Safe Hiking.
References and Acknowledgements
From the book – “A
Cradle of Rivers, The Natal Drakensberg – DA Dodds.”
Photos: ©Willem Pelser
Compiled by Willem
Pelser
