Page 84 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

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ART AND CULTURE Rock Art of the

Drakensberg

ABOVE Tourists cluster in the shade around the entrance to
the Lascaux cave complex
vs the Cave Paintings of Lascaux FORGET LASCAUX?

The breathtaking mountain wilderness of Southern Africa’s Drakensberg offers ancient THE BUILD-UP Dubbed the “Sistine Chapel
of Prehistory,” Lascaux is the most famous of
art on a grand scale, dwarfing the skilful artifice at France’s Lascaux 25 painted caves in France’s Vézère Valley,
containing around 1,800 individual figures –
horses, stags, bulls, and other animals – whose
At Giant’s Castle, the prosaically named Main Cave rich color and lifelike detail belie their
NEED TO KNOW
hosts 500 human and animal figures, ranging from antiquity, estimated at 15–35,000 years old.
LOCATION South Africa’s the ubiquitous eland to big cats and snakes. Here,
uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park THE LETDOWN Opened to the public in
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skirts the border of Lesotho, a life-size replica of the so-called “bushmen” serves
200 miles (325 km) south to introduce the artists responsible for this ancient 1948, Lascaux had to close 15 years later when
/".*#*"
of Johannesburg +PIBOOFTCVSH it was noted that changes to the subterranean
tradition. While the oldest paintings in the
DATING FROM microclimate associated with human traffic
1,000 BC to 1880s 6,)")-".#" Drakensberg may be 3,000 years old, the most and artificial lighting would soon destroy the
%3",&/4#&3(
DAYTIME %VSCBO recent are only about 150 – they depict the first ox- paintings. The original cave has never re-
TEMPERATURES 4065) "'3*$" wagons to roll across the escarpment, carrying the opened to the public, and the replica “faux-
Jan: 79°F (26°C); Apr: 72°F (22°C);
Jul: 64°F (18°C); Oct: 75°F (24°C) $BQF 5PXO 1PSU &MJ[BCFUI European settlers who took possession of the land, Lascaux” a short walk away can feel touristy.
shooting the local “bushmen” population on sight.
UKhahlamba-Drakensberg ranks among the GOING ANYWAY? Touristy it may be, but
The Zulu call it uKhahlamba: “Barrier of Spears.” elite group of 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites to faux-Lascaux is devoutly faithful to the
Dutch settlers, encountering its formidable reptilian be inscribed on both cultural and natural grounds. original. The two finest galleries – the
Chamber of Bulls and Central Corridor – have
spine in the 1830s, named it the Drakensberg, or Boasting spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife,
been reproduced down to the last contour and
“Dragon’s Mountain.” By either name, the jagged its wild beauty is a world away from the landscaped
brushstroke using identical natural pigments
series of peaks over 11,000 ft (3,400 m) rising within walkways of Lascaux. You can ramble through lush
such as ochre, charcoal, and iron oxide.
uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park – Africa’s largest green foothills, brave a hike up to the escarpment,
tract of protected mountain wilderness – is an or snake your way by jeep up the sole pass that
immense and imposing sight, beside which the breaches the Barrier of Spears’ otherwise impregnable
replica caves at Lascaux cannot help but seem border with Lesotho. Far from being stage-managed,
contrived in comparison. the Drakensberg still hosts a profusion of the elands
Below these wild craggy peaks stands a giant so beloved of the bushmen, while quarrelsome
open-air gallery of prehistoric rock art – a full 500 baboons bark shrilly from the cliffs, vying to be
individual painted shelters and caves, remarkable heard above the calls of 300 species of birds.
both for the fine quality of their workmanship and
for their excellent state of preservation. The most
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
complex panels are simply giddying, depicting a
mysterious dreamscape populated by naturalistic
Getting There and Around head to the award-winning
or distended people, a menagerie of wild animals, Fly to Johannesburg or Durban. Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse
and surreal antelope-headed human figures From the airport, rent a car, set (www.cleomountain.com).
known as therianthropes. up a customized tour, or catch Where to Stay
Among the sites that stand out for quality and the inexpensive Baz Bus (www. The Orion Mont-Aux-Sources
bazbus.com) to one of the
accessibility is Game Pass Shelter, which features a (www.oriongroup.co.za) is the
backpacker hostels that organize
beautifully executed main frieze of a herd of elands hiking trips from the foothills. most scenic hotel, but Cathedral
(Africa’s largest antelope) interspersed with various Peak (www.cathedralpeak.co.za)
When to Go beats it for rock art access. For
human figures. Dubbed the “Rosetta Stone” of the October–March is hot and wet; good value, try one of the
uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, it was here that the June–August drier and colder.
national park’s rest camps.
scholar David Lewis-Williams “cracked the code” Where to Eat Budget per Day for Two
of religious symbolism that underlies the area’s All hotels, backpacker hostels, Up to US$150.
rock art, revealing it to depict figures in a state and resorts serve adequate to
good meals, mostly at very Website
of shamanic trance, and hunters absorbing the
reasonable prices. To splash out, www.kznwildlife.com
qualities of the animals they killed.

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