Today’s hike was one of the more beautiful as well as educational, to find the stone age Khoi bushmen caves that date back thousands of years, according to archaeological findings.
Here on the south coast of Africa, a unique human race inhabited this coastline thousands of years ago already, while the Nguni African tribes from further north only arrived here a few hundred years ago, making up today’s Zulu and Xhosa local population groups, among others.
These original primitive stone age nomads and cattle herders are called the Cape Khoi, although they popularly became known as the multi diverse Bushmen tribes of southern Africa, stretching all the way up to Namibia and Botswana.
Well, here at the very southernmost shoreline of Africa there was also a unique Bushman tribe and the cave I visited today was one of their home bases and dwellings on this shoreline, up to tens of thousands of years ago. And even up to the time of the arrival of the first European settlers in 1652.
The Dutch sailors encountered the small pygmy-like almost naked beach dwellers. They had little conception of land ownership or borders or in fact any sort of ownership. They roamed along the coastline with hardly any possessions and lived a semi-nomadic life, migrating with the seasons perhaps.
They were later known to herd large flock of cattle which were hardy and survived the drier conditions. They were presumably herded to diverse grazing fields along the coastline. The Dutch settlers may have bartered with them for cattle and livestock initially.
My hike to the cave and archaeological site was more inspiring than the cave itself which was quite unassuming. Fortunately the setting was just beautiful and the hike took place over the Robberg peninsula marine protected reserve in Plettenberg Bay on the south coast of Africa.
I hiked to the centre of the peninsula, where we find a dip in the terrain called The Gap. From there we crossed over to the western side of the peninsula itself and walked along the pathway beside the crashing waves to reach the cave itself.
The climb along the edge of the peninsula was awesome, and you’ll really love the setting if you are a nature lover and outdoor explorer. It will, of course, be busier along this trail during the peak tourist season, which is coming up now in summer.
I was able to do the hike barefoot as the terrain is so gentle and healthy. I guess it comes with being a local and born in Africa. A great immune system and hardy constitution comes from living a lot of our childhood outdoors and in nature.
These cave sites are called “middens” and comprise of sedimentary layers of shells coming from the sea food that they tribal cave dwellers ate here. We weren’t allowed to actually walk around in the cave as it is a sensitive site but we got to see it from a distance.
It was well worth the hike as the surroundings are just epic and really inspiring. You will love this adventure hike so be sure to look up the town of Plettenberg Bay and the Robberg peninsula marine reserve. There are Khoi bushmen caves dotted all along these shores and this is one of the better known sites.
(photos my own)