If the saying – the older you get, the more stories you tell – holds true, then the Cederberg Mountains could write a storybook the size of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Pushing nearly five hundred million years old, these rocky majesties have seen the beginning of life and its slow and steady transformation into what we know of the world today. But no one goes to the Cederberg Mountains to get some perspective on the stories of today; no, they come here to see what has been written in the past from grandfather cultures on the ancient cave walls at Bushmans Kloof, home to one of the world’s oldest recorded cultural sites… even older than the pyramids.

This area of the Cederberg, South Africa was originally inhabited by the San, the aboriginal people of Southern Africa. Their distinct hunter-gatherer culture stretches back over 20,000 years, while their true genetics have roots over one million years old. Today, over 130 San Bushman rock art sites have been carbon dated between 2,000 and 10,000 years old, each one a window into the lives of the San people, how they lived in harmony with nature, and their spiritual connection to animals and the environment within the Cederberg Mountains.

For this reason and more, the Cederberg South Africa region is considered by many international visitors to be a “magical place”—one where fields of yellow daisies lay like a sunny carpet of welcome along the valley floor and where archaeologists lead you on daily rock art excursions into the jagged mystical mountains. Guests also enjoy a variety of intriguing sightings on game drives, mountain bike, and on foot within the Cederberg. Among a host of wildlife, including baboons, klipsprings, caracals, honey badgers, and leopard, a recent reintroduction program has seen an increase of the nearly extinct Cape Mountain Zebra, as well as the return of the magnificent Bontebok, Red Hartebeest, and Grey Rhebok.

Talk to your Ker & Downey travel expert to include the Cederberg region in your handcrafted South Africa journey for an unforgettable experience.