For us, Christmas Eve is normally a time to get together with family and friends, go to church, have a nice dinner, give the kids their one traditional Christmas Eve present and then go to bed. The only "normal" thing about this Christmas Eve was giving the kids their traditional Christmas Eve present.
Our "giant" Zulu bead tree with the kids Christmas Eve presents~
Deb has wanted to see the Bushman (San) Cave paintings since we arrived in South Africa. So, we go a tourist map (all that we could find), asked some questions about how long the journey would take us, grabbed the camera bag and set out on our way.
What we were not prepared for was the absolutely amazing beauty of where we were going. If anyone has watched the movie "Zulu" this is the area where they shot the film. The scenery is some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen.
We headed out about mid-morning, with our rather useless tourist map-and followed the signs along the road to Royal Natal National Park. It was about a 45 minute drive from where we were staying. According to the guide that we had, the park used to be called the Natal National Park back in the early 1916's when it was first established as a national park. Then the British royal family visited the park in 1947, after they returned to Britain the name was changed to the Royal Natal National Park.
We were stunned by the beauty of what we saw while we were driving and were excited to get closer!
At the base of the natural amphitheatre, there are a lot of Zulu villages. Anyone in the US/Canada would pay a small fortune for this view!
One thing we were not prepared for was the hike to see the Bushman paintings. So we had to make a stop at the visitor's center and get hats, water, and a walking stick for Mike!
Before we headed to the paintings, we drove closer to the amphitheatre.
At the base of the amphitheatre. These pictures do not do the beauty of the area any justice!
We then got back into the car and headed to where we were told to find a guide that would take us to the paintings. No longer do they allow people to go up without a guide to see the paintings, due to vandalism. So we hired a guide from the local village to take us there.
Our trek was about 30 minutes up hill for 1.5 km.
Once again, the scenery along the way was STUNNING!!
The Bushman (San) Paintings.
The San people lived in the Drakensberg area for thousands of years before being exterminated in clashes with the Zulus and white settlers. For the San, rock paintings weren’t just representations of life; they were also repositories of it. When shamans painted an eland, they didn’t just pay homage to a sacred animal; they also harnessed its essence. They put paint to rock and opened portals to the spirit world.
A Christmas Eve, family picture. Not the usual one that is by the Christmas tree.
Stay tuned for Christmas Day and Mike's lifetime adventure....
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