In the Footsteps of the Bushmen

In The Footsteps of the Bushmen

The weather was glorious and as we set off early in the morning on Christmas Eve. There were six in our party, including the ‘happy Finns’, a young Finnish couple so nicknamed because they were always smiling. Lunch and water packed, our guide assured us that it was a relatively easy hike up the trail and wouldn’t take us more than 3 to 3 ½ hours to get to the rock art and about 3 hours to come back down. We had already spent time in this ethereal landscape when we had taken the spectacular drive up the Sani Pass into the country of Lesotho (“the roof of South Africa”) the day before. The pass is the highest in the country at 2865 meters. It was breath taking with stunning views in all directions.

We hiked slowly, enjoying the scenery and listening to our guide tell us about the history of the area. We hiked through rolling fields and grassland, skirting wooded gorges with the magnificent high basalt cliffs in the background. This is a magical and otherworldly landscape, straight out of The Lord of the Rings. When I mentioned this, our guide agreed and said it was because Tolkien was originally from South Africa. A little trivia that I had not known.

There is evidence that this area of the Drakensberg Mountains has been occupied for thousands of years. We were on our way to visit one of the numerous San rock art sites in the area. The San were the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa where they lived for 25,000 years. Those living in this area are believed to have migrated from present day Botswana. They were part of a larger diverse group of peoples who shared common linguistic connections. The name “Bushmen” comes from the early Dutch settlers and loosely translates into the word ‘bandit’ or ‘thief’.

Four hours had passed and we still had a long way to go. By now we were getting hungry and wondering why we were not there yet. Fortunately, you can drink from the streams at that altitude because there are neither domesticated animals nor humans living up there. At least water wasn’t going to be a problem.

Five hours later we finally reached our destination. There were three sites of Bushmen art, all painted on rock over hangings. The pictures were amazing, beautiful and colorful. They had been painted roughly 4,000 years ago. On one, a great hunt was depicted. Other segments showed us a glimpse into their daily life. Our guide told us that for the Bushmen, the paintings weren’t just representations of life but also held the key to the supernatural world. The shaman painted images of the animals that they held as sacred. By doing so, they also harnessed its spirit and thereby were able to enter the spirit world.

We ate our lunch under one of the overhangs. The vistas were gorgeous. No highway or buildings off in the distance to break the magic spell. It was easy to imagine a world before the intrusion of modern man. To think that a group of San Bushmen had sat where I was sitting and had looked over the same great expanse made me feel very small and insignificant.