Rock engravings provide glimpse of Stone Age San

I stood in the middle of a San art gallery on the top of a koppie, looking straight ahead at the distinctive profile of the 2.3-billion year old Magaliesberg mountains, its gentle grassy upwards slope topped with a rock lip at the crest.

Scattered at my feet are a dozen or more rock engravings, or petroglyphs — fine line drawings of an elegant eland, a zebra, a giraffe, a fearsome rhino, rock after rock — within a space of about 12m2. I had walked up the hill with Mark Tennant, my guide at the African Hills Safari Lodge & Spa in the Plumari Private Reserve, an hour’s drive from Johannesburg. We were accompanied by another guide, Dumisani Dingani, who will be on the lookout for the Cape buffaloes that can charge unprovoked.

It is a moment for silence and contemplation. Then we turn around and 30m from us are two curious giraffes staring intently at us through the trees. Is this how the San artist drew the perfect form on the rock, with the subject standing still for him?

“I like silences,” says Tennant. The silences allow him to listen to the life of the bush and in particular the calls and flapping of the wings of the large gaggle of guinea fowl that hang around outside his house.

Vincent Carruthers, who has lived in the Magaliesberg most of his life and written several authoritative books on the area, estimates that these rock engravings are probably 1,000 to 3,000 years old, drawn by late Stone Age San. “These were drawn in a single stroke, and are as good as the rock paintings of the Drakensberg,” he says. It is impossible to date them precisely, and the fact that they are grouped together suggests they were a gathering place for ceremonial and ritualistic purposes. Several images have a line drawn through them, which, says Carruthers, may indicate a rain-making ceremony.

He writes in his recent book, The Heritage Collection, that “the etchings were almost certainly of spiritual significance and were probably used by shamans in a state of trance to summon supernatural powers during ritual ceremonies”.

He bemoans the fact that some stones, small enough to be lifted, have been taken away by farmers as souvenirs, or vandalised. He is sure the biggest collection is here at the lodge. Tennant points to a beautiful depiction of an eland that has a clean break down the middle — it has been retrieved from the backyard of one of the farms that are now part of the reserve. Decades ago, rocks were removed to protect them. The Origins Centre on the Wits University campus has 12 rocks, one of which is on display.

Rock engravings in the rest of the country are usually pecked images, where chips are pecked out the rock with a pointed rock, whereas the ones in the Magaliesberg are all fine line engravings.

“This engraving technique is seldom found elsewhere and makes the Magaliesberg artwork exceptional,” writes Carruthers. “The skill of those who executed these etchings is astonishing. With few exceptions, the morphology of the subject is shown with such accuracy that not only the species, but even the sex of the animal is clearly evident.”

Tennant points to a rhino engraving, saying it is clearly a black rhino. Carruthers explains: “Details such as the hook lip of a black rhino can be distinguished from the wide lip of a white rhino and the graceful curve of the horns of a sable antelope differentiate it from the roan. Most remarkable of all is that this precision was achieved by single, precise strokes, each cut unerringly into the rock face to expose the grey inner rock below.”

The petroglyph walk allows visitors to draw their own animals on rocks on the top of the koppie, the challenge being to draw the shape in a single stroke, like the San.

The lodge consists of 6,800ha, abundant in game wherever you turn — wildebeest, eland, kudu, waterbuck, impala, giraffe, nyala, zebra, Cape buffalo, ostrich and more.

Tennant takes me on a game drive to imbibe the bush and get up close to some large mammals. We collect a bag of lucerne to feed the two rhinos, the only remainders of 12. Every 18 months they are dehorned, the only way to keep them alive today.

“The grasses in winter don’t provide them with enough protein, so we give them this protein-rich lucerne,” says Tennant. As we drive up to them in an open stretch of veld they turn expectantly, and start moving towards the vehicle. He spreads the lucerne, and we stand against the vehicle.

“Don’t make any quick movements,” he cautions, as these giants move within 4m of us. I have never been so close to a rhino — we eye one another nervously. Without their fearsome horns they seem a little more friendly somehow. A nearby herd of wildebeest are alerted, and come over to eat the leftovers as we move off.

We drive past one of numerous dams to spot three plump hippos lounging on the bank. Tennant says they have lost several babies for no apparent reason. Across the water are two elephants. They spend most of their day eating, consuming up to 150kg of food daily.

Before pastoralists moved into the area and eradicated the game, the area would have been grassland, with the natural migration of animals back and forth, allowing the grasses to recover. The elephants and rhinos would have been vital in controlling the growth of acacia trees in the area, but when they were hunted out the trees took hold, inhibiting the growth of the grasses.

In an effort to maintain a balance between the trees and the remaining grasslands, large fields of grass are mowed, a process that might take three weeks. Once done, a herd of cows is brought in to graze and leave dung behind. The cows are encouraged to trample the dung into the soil to fertilise it, before being taken to their own section, away from the game. “We are trying to mimic migrations where the grass would be allowed to regenerate when the animals move westwards. The trees have encroached over the past 50 years with bad land management by the farmers,” explains Tennant.

As we drive further he points with delight at three shelducks flying overhead. The exotic water-thirsty trees in the reserve have been removed so the river now flows all year round, and are now breeding in the reserve. He will place nesting logs in trees for the oxpeckers, which we spot on the neck and back of a giraffe. “We want to encourage them to breed here, they are natural pesticides of the bush.” He points to the highest point of the Magaliesberg. “There are 260 pairs of Cape vultures on that cliff.”

A little later we drive halfway up the mountain, then hike through an indigenous forest to the top and the start of the Tonquani Gorge down the other side. The hike is just one of the attractions of the lodge. Another is a drive up to the Nooitgedacht battlefield on the highest point, where one of six battles of the SA War took place in the Magaliesberg in 1900. The tour, led by local historian Rob Milne, takes in the battle highlights, with a walk around small fortifications and a heliograph station.

Other attractions include a chance to get close to the two elephants, in a touch-and-feed experience with them; the elephants are free to walk away at any time.

A lot of time and thought has gone into the Plumari Heritage Museum, with numerous gleaming oxwagons, carts and carriages, local history story boards, displays of farm tools and implements, and a collection of rocks.

A big part of the lodge’s activities revolve on corporate conferences and team building. There is the bush challenge that involves a scavenger hunt and making a bow and arrow; and a bush skills challenge.

There are two chapels on site, one located in the bush; the lodge can arrange for an elephant to deliver a proposal to a prospective bride, says Karen Atherstone, marketing manager at the lodge.

I find it hard to leave. On my way out I stop at four kudus browsing next to the road. I wind down the windows, and enjoy their company for half an hour. They eventually disappear into the bush. I start the engine and move slowly towards the gate but then stop again to gasp at a stately sable antelope right at the side of the road. He is old and has been rejected by the herd, and will probably die in the coming year, says Tennant.

Perhaps it is right that Carruthers should have the last word: “The rock etchings allow us, the people of the 21st century, powered by politics and technology, to find and touch another world that is totally different from our own, a world of interdependence with nature and a people empowered by the supernatural.” 

African Hills Safari Lodge & Spa

The lodge is an hour from Johannesburg and Pretoria. It has five conference rooms, 48 rooms, a fine dining restaurant and a spa. Day visitors are welcome. https://www.africanhillslodge.co.za/