Before Cape Town we want to explore an impressive petroglyph site close to Clanwilliam. However on the way as we pass through the mountains we stop at the grave of a well known South African poet C. Louis Leipoldt who wrote in Afrikaans. The grave is nicely and quietly placed in an alcove in the mountains and it is a nice place to stop for a few minutes.
The views are nice along the highway as we pass carefully through the mountains with red boulders lining the highway and the mountains surrounding us.
We arrive at our goal, the Traveller’s Rest Farm, where we pay the entrance fee for the Sevilla Rock Art Trail, our goal. This is a self guided trail that goes to a series of well known petroglyphs in the Clanwilliam area. But first we have to go back on the paved main road from the parking area and cross the fast flowing river to get to the trail entrance.
The trail entrance is well marked and we even have a pamphlet provided by the farm showing the location of the pictographs and a brief explanation for each of them.
The start of the trail is beautiful through meadows full of flowers and then across a flat rock area full of small holes filled with water.
Close to the beginning we meet the only other 2 people that we met across our hike of about 8 km (5 mi) which was great but surprising given the publicity for the trail and the number of tourists eating breakfast at the nearby farm.
The rocks create pools and caverns near the trail which look interesting and we explore them as we hike towards the pictographs. It is quiet and a bit hot but we enjoy both the flora and the fauna of the area as well as the beautiful sights.
The trail is well marked and even has interpretative descriptions of the different plants on the trail.
The mix of flowers changes from the yellow at the beginning of the trail to purple with beautiful meadows especially near the river.
Lizards are everywhere some of them larger but most of them small always hiding in the rock crevices near the trail.
The first petroglyphs are about 1 km into the trail and there are 2 panels close by. The most interesting in our opinion is the one showing some dinosaurs/monsters, proof positive that the San people lived with dinosaurs if you want to believe that😊. The method of drawing is different from what we have seen to date in Europe and USA with a lot more focus on people.
That doesn’t mean that there are no animals depicted but the majority including the unusual black pictograph are focused on people or groups of people.
As we continue along the trail we see multiple other panels depicting humans hunting as well as dancing, they are quite interesting really.
The one that stands out as different from all the others is the one where two elephants are depicted in faded yellow color. But still most of the pictographs are focused on hunting as you would expect.
The other dominant feature on the panels especially of the ones toward the end of the trail are the depiction of hands besides weird animals.
There are both childrens and adults hands and they are most common for the pictographs drawn right onto an alcove which seems to have been lived in for quite some time.
The last panel of the trail, before we have to return as the river is uncrossable further on due to flooding, is quite interesting. It seems that some birds are overnighting above the panel and are eroding the pictographs with their droppings. Multiple things were tried but in the end they just placed an absorbent surface so it doesn’t splash onto the paintings and it seems to work reasonably well.
The pictographs themselves are well defined and interesting and we explore them for a while before it is time to return to the trailhead and our car.
On our return hike we do not have to focus on finding the petroglyphs so we can enjoy the yellow meadows all around us. There are lots of birds and bugs but no mosquitoes fortunately.
It is yellow, yellow everywhere and quite beautiful and special. The trail is surprisingly beautiful especially as we expected just the pictographs and nothing that spectacular trail wise.
The flora is varied and also the landscape is changing at a moment’s notice from wide expanses to small canyons with plants clinging to walls and rocky areas.
We also find a few birds including a beautiful Karoo Scrub-Robin, a first for us and quite tame.
The mix of flowers changes seemingly at every step with yellow giving way to purple and red it almost looks like a crazy gardener has arranged the flower mix so you cannot get bored with the flower colors surrounding you.
There are many different species, some we can identify and some we can’t but all are beautiful and enjoyable.
The red takes over for a short while with nice views across the meadows. The trail takes us up and down and we enjoy following it through the rocky areas.
But then it is back to yellow with a vengeance, there is yellow everywhere with small patches of red and violet.
Just before exiting the trail we make an involuntary side trip to the riverside as we miss a turn on the trail, lucky we did so as it is a beautiful area.
As we return to the trail we also see a few dassies checking us out, they look unhappy but non aggressive. And then it is back in the car and time to drive to Cape Town.
