The Drakensberg is a vast mountain range rising from deep gorges and rivers that stretches more than 950 kilometers along the border of South Africa and Lesotho. This week, CNN’s “Inside Africa” program explores and discovers the history, art and activities of the region and meets some of those who make their living here.
The beautiful landscape is home to the San people, who have lived in the area for thousands of years. Sibusiso Dlamini, a Drakensberg mountain guide, tells “Inside Africa:” “The San people are the first people around the Drakensberg… The San people were gatherers and hunters, so they used this place.”
Taking shelter in the steep cliffs and pinnacles of rock of The Drakensberg, the area is rich with the San people’s legacy: tens of thousands of their rock paintings in hundreds of caves and shelters. This is a natural, cultural jewel of southern Africa. Among the paintings are animals like the Eland, an antelope that held huge importance for the San: both their prime source of food and seen as a link to the spiritual world. Some date as far back as 2,000 years.
In modern times, the mountains are a peaceful haven for hikers and birds. Usually closed to aircraft, “Inside Africa” gets a special aerial view of the region from the sky.
Pilot Greg Strydom, who grew up around The Drakensberg, tells “Inside Africa” what the attraction of flying in the area is: “The sheer beauty, and kind of how insignificant you feel once you're in the mountains… Just to see the beauty up close and to be able to work in this place is special.”
While The Drakensberg is breathtaking from the air, it only reveals a part of what makes this area so unique. To understand the region and those who’ve called it home for centuries “Inside Africa” hits the trails of the Champagne Valley which runs through the heart of the dramatic landscape.
The walls of the caves that overhang the Champagne Valley, home to the San people, are covered with clues of how they lived. Tour guide Sibusiso Dlamini explains to the program: “Only the shaman could do the paintings. The shaman is someone who had the power to see beyond the curtain, or to see the future. The shaman was responsible for rain making, healing, if there was one who was sick among the family, and also, to tell the stories for the future.”
With Dlamini as guide, “Inside Africa” explores the abundance of natural resources in the Champagne Valley, which includes streams and waterfalls everywhere. Dlamini tells the program: “The Gorge Nandi Falls is a very popular hike to a waterfall… people like to stand here, to have a view of the waterfall. You can feel the breeze.”
The journey continues, as ‘Inside Africa’ visits The Royal Natal National Park, located at the northernmost stretch of The Drakensberg mountain range. Conservation manager Stephen Richert shows “Inside Africa” some of the iconic features including the Tugela River, which has a mighty amphitheatre as a its backdrop. He tells the program: “All of this rock has come out of this catchment of thousands of years; it’s a spectacular place.”
Inscribed as a World Heritage Site in November 2000 because of its outstanding scenic beauty, huge biological diversity and its cultural importance, Richert holds the region close to his heart.
He concludes the program by confessing to “Inside Africa:” “I love being in The Drakensberg, because of the solitude and the beautiful opportunities for recreational use of the area, and it's just such a scenically beautiful area with snow during the winter and warm summers. It just has a real diversity to it that I just never get bored with. I love it.”
“Inside Africa,” Friday, September 11, at 1830 on CNN International.
The show also airs at the following times:
Saturday, September 12 at 1230 and at 1930
Sunday, September 13 at 0530
Tuesday, September 15 at 1030
Thursday, September 17 at 0530
Each week, Inside Africa highlights the true diversity of the continent as seen through the prism of different cultures and religions and the mediums of art, music, travel and literature.
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