Day Tours - San Rock Art Paintings, West Coast
The San (Bushman) rock paintings in the Cederberg Nardouwsberg, Koue Bokkeveld and Olifants River Valley north of Cape Town are amongst the most accessible in South Africa. There are about 3 000 shallow caves or rock shelters with paintings in the region between South Africa’s West Coast and the mountains east of the Cederberg. The sites on this route together have about 25 rock shelters with hundreds of individual paintings.
Some paintings are within two hours’ drive of Cape Town, but many of the better preserved examples need three to four hours’ drive and an hour or more of hiking. The best times of year are in the spring and autumn.
The Baths - Citrusdal
The rock paintings may only be visited with a guide. There are two sites open to the public and both can be reached on foot within 5-10 minutes. The one has paintings of elephant and human figures in trance postures. The other has mostly human figures, including a shaman with a 'ghost-like' head.
Contact: Tel: +27 22 921 8026
Oudrif - Clanwilliam
Rock paintings in the vicinity of the cottages include scores of handprints, delicate antelope and human figures apparently falling down a cliff face and shamanic figures. If you wish, several more sites with excellent rock paintings can be visited on neighbouring farms.
Brakfontein Kloof provides a wonderful walk that includes several painted sites with a wide variety of styles and subject matter. The walk ends in a magnificent overhanging cave that contains numerous well-preserved rock paintings and unusual wind eroded rocks. Contact
Tel: +27 27 482 2397
Wupperthal - Clanwilliam
There are several rock painting sites in the vicinity of Wupperthal and at the information centre in the village a guide is available for visitors on request. You will need a 4x4 vehicle to drive within reach of some of the sites, but it is also possible to visit others with an ordinary car. There are paintings of elephant, human figures in trance postures and a unique zebra-headed therianthrope – a human body with a zebra head. Apart from the charming villages, the scenery around Wupperthal is spectacular.
Contact
Tel: + 27 27 492 3410
The Sevilla San Rock Trail, Cederberg
The 4km trail winds along the Brandewyn river and visits nine sites of rock art paintings left behind by the San people, who inhabited the area for thousands of years.The trail takes you through cliffs to 9 different rock art sites where the paintings are between 6,000 - 500,000 years old! As you wander through these beautiful cliffs and hills you come across these amazingly beautiful cave paintings, each one more beautiful than the next.
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