Rock Art in the Baviaanskloof

A couple of weeks ago we went up to the Baviaanskloof to interview the farmers who live there to form part of the Leopard documentary.  We had been told that there was a Bushman cave up in one of the kloofs before, but unfortunately on our previous missions to the Valley we just didn’t have enough time to go up and see it, so I knew that I had to make time to hike up there and check it out this time around. It was our second last day and the sun was slowly starting to set so I thought it would be the perfect chance to go up and see if there was any art in this cave, so I headed up with a fluey Sunel and young Shaun, bundu-bashing our way to the cave. We eventually made it and when we first arrived we thought that it had all been for nothing, but upon closer inspection, the cave started coming to life.

The paintings were quite faded but once you got your eye in they started jumping out and you and we just kept discovering more and more rock art as well as small fragments of pottery and stone tools on the cave floor. One of my favorite Bushmen painting has got to be the hand stamp. To me it’s like the Bushmen’s signature saying, “I was here.”

I can’t wait to go back to the Baviaanskloof because I’m sure there must be many more sites like this one just waiting to be explored!