Giant's Castle Nature Reserve: Main Caves Bushmen Museum temporarily closed! [update]

update (04 October 2024): We got information from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife that the Main Caves Bushmen Museum in the Giant's Castle Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal remain closed at this time. However, discussions with experts are ongoing to expedite the process which may allow for a partial re-opening soon. We'll keep you posted!

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the governmental organisation responsible for maintaining wildlife conservation areas and biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal, has informed the public that the world-renowned Main Caves Bushmen Museum in the Giant's Castle Nature Reserve is temporarily closed and guided tours are suspended until further notice. This is due to the recent fires that have affected the Nature Reserve.

Important Update!

Main Cave/Bushmen Art Museum Temporary Closure pic.twitter.com/4BO44leenz

— EZEMVELO KZNWildlife (@EZEMVELOKZNWild) August 26, 2024

The Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve is situated in the central part of the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, a transnational property composed of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg National Park in South Africa and the Sehlathebe National Park in Lesotho.
The Main Caves Bushmen Museum is an easy half hour's walk from the Giant's Castle camp. Main Caves is one of South Africa's premier rock art site that is open to the public. The site, which features some 500 rock paintings, some of which are 800 years old, has been turned into an outdoor museum showing the San's (Bushman’s) way of life.

South African rock art joins the Google Art Project

The Rock Art Research Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg is now collaborating with the Google Art Project to make South Africa's rockart available online. The Art Project currently includes more than 30,000 high-resolution artworks from around the world, with Street View images for over 46 museums.

The selection of the artworks from South Africa includes rock art images from five different community-run tourism sites in South Africa, including those in Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve and Kamberg Nature Reserve, as well as over 50 works from the South African National Gallery collection (Cape Town). The South African National Gallery collection also includes photographs of cultural artefacts such as beaded aprons, headrests, and engraved cattle horns, some of which date to the 19th century.

Rock art sites in the Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve (video)

The family-run Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve, situated at the foothills of the Cederberg Mountains only 270 km from Cape Town, is offering various outdoor activities including nature drives, walking and hiking trails, mountain biking, fishing, canoeing, and swimming in clear rock pools. Bushmans Kloof is home to over 130 rock art sites which date back some 10,000 years, creating one of the world's largest open-air art galleries. Trained guides conduct daily rock-art walks to rock art sites.

One of Bushmans Kloof's most famous rock art sites is a site called "Fallen Rock Shelter".It houses one of the largest collections of well-preserved and diverse rock art images known in the region, as well as the largest painting of a San cave dwelling group known in the Western Cape. Kudos outdoor & travel magazine "Go!" for the video!