The People of the Eland

Everytime we drive anywhere in this area, we see baboons. A whole troop seems to reside just outside the hotel. I'm usually not quick enough with my camera. On our excursion yesterday, I managed to snap a few shots of them.

Yesterday we learned a little history about the Drakensberg area, specifically about the San people, or the people of the Eland. We went to the Didima Centre, a museum about the San.
The San were the first people to live in this area and were here thousands of years ago. They were called the bushmen. They did not build structures, but lived in caves or under trees. They ate plants and roots and hunted game for food. The Eland was a main source of food for them, but was also a big part of their lives in other ways. Clothing, spiritualism and tools all derived from the eland.

This sculpture of a San hunter is in the lobby of our hotel.

Sculpture of an eland outside the centre

In those flowers by the sculpture was the most beautiful little bird. No idea what it is called, but we got a few pictures.

Inside the Didima Centre a history of the San people was outlined using their rock paintings. There were also a few items like weapons and cooking utensils on display. Finally, there was an excellent multimedia presentation about the people of the Eland. It was very well done.

San hunters used poison tipped arrows. This set of weapons was found in cave by a farmer about 100 years ago.

The San people are no longer in South Africa. Their culture was wiped out by the introduction of other African peoples as well as white people. Some migrated north to other African countries, some intermixed with other Africans. However, they have left behind thousands of rock paintings in the Drakensberg mountains. We hiked to one rock painting site yesterday.

Our guide, Moses

The site of the paintings. It was a steep climb.

The paintings were very faint and difficult to see. Unfortunately our pictures are not too clear either. This one is of a pregnant San woman, however, she is partly cut off in the picture.

Looking at the paintings, and imagining a San person thousands of years being in this very spot, mixing ochre, blood and plant juices to make a paint, brings to mind the whole timelessness of this space. Imagining San families, men, women, children roaming these very same mountains, perhaps eating trout from the same river as we are makes one seem small. We're a part of the same long long story that started millions of years ago in a garden and is moving towards the great moment when this earth shall be made new again. We're just a speck in time compared to the timelessness of these mountains, and they are just a speck in the eternity of our God. It's a humbling experience.

View from the rock painting site.