The Sevilla Rock Art Trail

This is a fantastic place to get a concentrated dose of San rock art while taking an easy 4 km stroll along the Brandewyn river.  The trail takes you past about 10 sites with hundreds of paintings - many of which are just Incredible!  This map of the trail is one of several Cederberg freebies available here.

This is a great time to be here as the wildflowers are really getting going & just about everything else is in bloom too.

The river's in good shape as well.

 

 

There are some thoroughly exotic looking plants out here - if only they were as identifiable as birds!

This huge skull-like formation is actually balanced on the "chin" (you can crawl through from one side to the other) & has rock art underneath...

Here's one of the sites with yellow, as well as red, ochre.

The lazy Brandewyn (Brandy in Afrikaans) - what a good name for a river...

A landscape for keeping things in perspective.

2 happy kids high up on a rock :)

One of Sevilla's most famous paintings - The Archer.  He's truly magical!

 

& the little quagga foal is adorable - the San had such a knack for capturing the essence of a creature.

Aah - the good old days when women with huge bums & heavy legs were taken seriously ;)

A "botterboom" going out of its way to get attention.

These "vygies" were so bright, we suspected they might actually glow in the dark!

Instead of driving back to Cape Town as planned, we decided to stay on out here for at least another night.  But being a long weekend during the flower season, we couldn't find accommodation in Clanwilliam so we ended up at the charming Citrusdal Country Lodge about 50 km south.  There the 3 weary adventurers were thoroughly rewarded: a steak dinner with red wine by the cozy fireplace... :)

The Biedouw Valley & Wuppertal

After a couple of days catching up in Cape Town, John & I set off yesterday to join Kev at the delightful Kloof Cottage at Traveller's Rest in the Cederberg, about 35 km eastish of Clanwilliam.  High on the list of priorities was introducing JB to our utterly treasured Hot Whiskeys: Jameson's, brown sugar (or honey), fresh lemon & hot water - soon to be followed by a deep sense of all being right with this world...

Before setting off on today's main adventure, Kev led us to the incredibly beautiful "Veg en Vlug" (fight & flight in Afrikaans) rock art site nearby.

As is so often the case, there are multiple interpretations as to what this complex scene represents - both in literal & figurative terms.  Whatever the artist intended to convey, one cannot help but be struck by the technical challenges of painting on a low ceiling in a small shelter such as this, & the deliberate use of the 3-dimensionality of the "canvas" to add to the drama.

 

Next it was off to the Biedouw Valley to see what the flowers were up to...

The yellow ones seem quicker to respond to the sun coming out. 

Most of the orange guys were still curled up snoozing!

 

We made our way down south towards the isolated little village of Wuppertal.

The scenery along the way was, of course, spectacular...

Wuppertal was set up as a mission station back in the 1830's & you get the sense that relatively little's happened here since!  The church is dated 1834.

The find of the day was the Lekker Bekkie restaurant in The Leipold House - really scrummy toasted chicken-mayo sandwiches at R14 a pop!

The view to the south from a lookout point just outside the town...

An ideal opportunity for our intrepid navigator to check his calibrations :)

Then time for some more exploring - there be Rocks out there, weird ones!

A nifty formation that ought to be called The Stegosaurus' Knee, or something like that?

These 'Markans - you just can't take them anywhere!

We drove on to a tiny but immaculate little settlement called Heuningvlei, just to see what's there.

Classic Cederberginess!

& a good spot to catch Kev blasting through the river :)

On our way back we stopped in at another rock art site & the crystal clear sky afforded me another wicked polariser fix.

Here's an unusual perspective looking up at the rock face that loomed over us...

By the time we left that site, the afternoon light was working its magic on the landscape.

& the polarisation fairies went into overdrive :)

When we got back to the valley the flowers had packed it in for the day, but the light on the land was a treat none the less.

Sutherland Winter Light

Kev & I made another quick weekend trip up to Sutherland to take some photos...  No luck with the night sky, but we were indulged with absolutely gorgeous winter light on Saturday afternoon!

On Sunday we made our way back to Cape Town via some interesting back roads, encountering quiver trees & other striking vegetation along the way.

This beautiful spot was particularly charming with its array of bizarrely eroded rock formations & this waterfall drizzling into a bright green pool below.