Just returned from a fantastic outing on the horses to see ancient Bushman cave paintings. We rode through expansive fields of mostly corn until we reached a viewpoint overlooking an impressive gorge. From here it was on foot down a very steep rocky trail to the first of the caves – called “echo cave”. It was obvious why this cave took its name after we shouted ourselves hoarse, practicing our new found Lesotho words including “dumella” – a greeting. This word came bouncing back at us from across the canyon.
The real highlight of this outing were the cave paintings. The first cave featured paintings that archeologists have dated back thousands of years – these types of paintings go back 27,000 years ago but the ones we saw were much younger. Amazing. Blood and other dies were used and today still showed bright red. Unfortunately the paintings within reach had faded fast as the guides loved to touch them. The ones out of reach were still very red.
We brought litchi fruits with us – our guides spoke a few words of English but we determined they had never enjoyed these fruits before. We had to show them how to peel off the outside and eat the fruit. “Mmmms” indicated their enjoyment followed by “where can buy this?”!
On the return I had visions of myself and my horse arriving at the lodge – rearing up high pawing the air announcing our arrival. Alas this wasn’t to be – my horse was not young and I had a hard time even getting it into a slow trot. It seemed more interested in eating grass then walking.
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