It's almost two years since we walked the Sevilla Rock Art Trail, and it's high time we revisited this extraordinary world of twisted rocks, incredible flowers, and ancient, mystical rock art.
The area "beyond the Pakhuis" (see our Cederberg map) is renowned for its rock art; the Sevilla Trail at Traveller's Rest is probably its most accessible walk.
One of the most "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) about the rock art is simply: "How old is it?" It's a surprise that in this age of science and extraordinary technology there are still no easy answers to that question.
In Namibia, a slab of rock that broke off its cave wall and became buried in the cave litter fortuitously has a painting upon it - and the depth of the cave litter indicates an age of at least 27 500 years. Similar painted flakes at Elands Bay have been measured to 4 500 years that's a few hundred years before the pyramids.
We can date paintings of ships, wagons and men on horseback fairly easily, but before those it's like peering through a swirling mist. There are other clues - dates of the last severe climatic change, the arrival of the Khoi at the Cape with sheep and cattle, and so on, and these tell us that the Sevilla paintings are anywhere between - wait for it - 8 000 years and 1 800 years old.
That's up to four times older than the entire Christian era, and twice as old as the pyramids.
The Sevilla Trail is a four- to seven-kilometre trail - the length depends upon whether or not you visit the 10th painted site.
My 80-year-old mother-in-law managed it a couple of years ago, if you need to know how tough it is. If it's springtime after good rains you're going to be distracted by the fields of brilliant flowers in all directions, but once you've reached any one of the series of 10 overhanging rock shelters the ancient paintings will surely grab your attention.
Sites Two and Three are known for their curious half-human, half-animal figures - weathering has removed much of the detail from these antiquities, so apparently headless figures are common.
But why did the ancients paint these strange figures, with human legs, eland bodies and lion tails?
That's another FAQ, and the answer seems to be, simply, that these are spiritual figures, associated with profound religious beliefs whose nature we can only guess - and wonder - at.
Site Five is the richest on the trail. It's easy to spend a couple of hours here, absorbing the endless, faded images on the rocks, or - as we once did - dozing off on the same flat ledges where many an ancient must have fallen asleep, and dreaming strange dreams of small people sitting around small fires in the shadows of the great rocks, or peering out over the bright plain below at the grazing herds of eland, zebra, hartebees.
High up at the back of the shelter is a curious little hollow, a secret place with, on its small curved walls, a few remarkable paintings.
There's a line of delicately drawn eland, almost more in the shaded style of the Drakensberg paintings than those of the Western Cape. More than that, there is a curious "crowd" of people painted in black, with multi-coloured faces.
We'll probably never know the meaning of that curious "crowd"; perhaps clearer is the most exquisitely painted archer.
This painting is all the more remarkable for the fact that the archer's bow is the arc of a perfect circle, painted perhaps eons before Euclid "discovered" the principles of geometry.
And right next to Site Five, Site Six has the most awesome painting, of a giant looming figure in black, whose purpose in life we can only wonder at
There are four more sites on this remarkable trail; it is essential hiking for anyone who wants to count themselves an aficionado of the Cape's best walks!
And truly best of all, when you've walked the trail there are some very pleasant little cottages to stay in, braai under star-filled skies, and wonder, for hours, about the paintings.
- Comments welcome, email them to [email protected]
Fact file
- Route: N7 to Clanwilliam. Fill up with petrol in the town and take the R364 to Calvinia. There is about 10km of dirt road on the Pakhuis Pass and it's not always very good, but the extraordinary rock formations and views compensate. The high pass is tarred. About 30km from Clanwilliam the road crosses the Brandewyn River drift; Traveller's Rest is just ahead on the left.
- Route maps: Cederberg - the map
- Free trail map download: Yes, at The Maps
- Distance from central Cape Town: 280km, 3 hrs, 30 minutes
- Information: Yes, Rock Art booklet or free pamphlet at Traveller's Rest
- Best website: Traveller's Rest
- Picnic site: No, but plenty of cave shelters to rest in
- Places to eat: Khoisan Kitchen open on request; Lekkerbekkie Tearoom at Wupperthal
- Places to stay: Cottages at Traveller's Rest; for other accommodation, from camping to luxury lodges, phone Clanwilliam Tourism, 027-482-2024
- Permits for trail: Obtainable at Traveller's Rest only
- Dogs allowed on trail: Not welcome - there are free-roaming sheep, springbok and a small herd of eland on the farm
- Other attractions: Spring flowers, historic buildings, nearby wine estate, astonishing night skies, extraordinary legends.
Free downloads
Download a free, full-colour map of the Sevilla Trail from The Maps. In addition, buy our Cederberg map and new supersize A1 Overberg Whale Coast map version 4.1 from the same website.