Relationships between the values that supported the inscription with other significant cultural and natural values

similar sized rock shelters.

Overall, attempting to summarise this second part of the methodological approach used to understand the complexity of the interconnections of the main values of the property, we suggest the following diagram:

Clear interconnection

Potential interconnection supported by some research Potential interconnection where further research is needed

(direction of the arrow shows direction of connection)

Figure 3.3 – Visual representation of the interconnections between the natural and cultural values that supported the inscription of the property on the World Heritage List

The content and meaning of the rock art, which reflects the cultural value with which the San hunter- gatherers engaged with and drew inspiration from the natural environment, and the physical setting of the rock art within the landscape itself, exemplify the intimate relationship of cultural and natural values supporting the inscription. In essence, this relationship is evident during the primary stages reflected in the production of rock art: acquisition of imagery, manufacture of paint, making of rock paintings, and the use of rock paintings (Lewis-Williams 2002).

3.3. Relationships between the values that supported the inscription with other significant

altitude sandstone regions and higher altitude basalt outcrops. Substantial climatological contrasts play an important role in establishing site-specific geomorphologic processes. Areas above ca. 2800 m host landscape components that are typical to ‘alpine’ or ‘periglacial’

environments, where cold temperatures, ice and snow are important controlling factors. The steep slopes and deep valleys to the east of the Great Escarpment, combined with a high annual precipitation, produce substantial hydraulic gradients along fluvial channels and on slopes, thus providing for a diverse landscape which hosts a wide assortment of erosional and depositional features. Some features that are no longer actively forming are referred to as “fossil-”, “relict-”

or “palaeo-” landforms. Such landforms may have developed under a different climate than that of today, reflecting a constantly adjusting landscape. The Park has landforms that are both Holocene (last 10 000 years) and Pleistocene (last 2 million years) in age (Ezemvelo 2013).

This statement points to interconnections between the property’s geomorphology and hydrology. The Maloti Drakensberg mountain range, of which the property is part of, constitutes the principal water production area in southern Africa. The Drakensberg catchment area contributes significantly to the flow of the uThukela, uMkhomazi and uMzimkhulu Rivers, the three largest catchments in KwaZulu- Natal (Ezemvelo 2013). Generally speaking, the topography of the Drakensberg mountains does not favour the development of large wetlands, however, a wide diversity of pristine wetland vegetation types are represented in the property due to the range of physical conditions under which the wetlands developed. On the basis of a study to compile an inventory and classification of the wetlands in the Natal Drakensberg Park, Kotze et al. (1994) describe eleven wetland vegetation types, which characterize the wetlands of the Park.

What is then the relationship between the geomorphology and hydrology of the property with the values that supported the inscription of the property on the World Heritage List? In the previous section, we discussed the potential interconnections between the San’s beliefs, the rock art and the landscape. These interconnections were related to particular natural features of the landscape, which are related to the geomorphology of the property. The Maloti-Drakensberg includes prominent sandstone cliffs ranging in height from 1900m above sea level in the northern areas to over 2200 m above sea level in the southern areas (Ezemvelo 2013). The landforms derived from the geological processes provided an abundance of natural rock shelters for the San to have inhabited and in which to have painted. Deacon (1988) has also noted that hills or promontories are significant features because they offer vantage points to the surrounding landscape; as mentioned earlier, the strategic positioning of Junction Shelter at the confluence of Didima Gorge and Mhlwazini River may have contributed directly to the particular assemblage of rock paintings at this site, which differs from others in the vicinity. In addition, according to Mapote a Sotho man who learnt to paint with the San, the high basaltic mountains are a source of special ochre pigment that ‘glistened and sparkled’ and had supernatural powers (How 1962). Mapote indicated that the pigment was made by women at full moon who warmed it until it was red-hot and then crushed it into a fine powder before mixing it with the blood of a freshly killed eland. Certain crevices in rock shelters and pools of water were also considered to be portals between this world and the supernatural world (Lewis-Williams 2002; Lewis-Williams and Dowson 1990).

Deacon also explains that:

In several cases, in hunter-gatherer, herder, and agriculturist traditions, there is ethnographic evidence that rock art has been used to enhance the power and significance of particular places in the landscape. The paintings or engravings were placed there because it was a rainmaking or initiation site (Deacon 2002).

Paintings of rainmaking scenes reflect a strong connection between the San and the environment. The scenes, which are to be found only in the southern uKhahlamba Drakensberg, are likely to have been

(Mazel 1982). In the rock paintings, rainmaking scenes are often characterised by large hippopotamus- like creatures and images of rain. According to Whitelaw there is extensive evidence indicating that San rainmakers worked for southern Nguni chiefs. He notes that rainmaking ‘is not an isolated event, but is part of the annual cycle of agricultural activities (Whitelaw 2009). Rainmakers have work to do during the course of the cycle’s turning, and are an integral part of farming society. This would have been done in exchange for guns and horses and co-operation in cattle raiding.

Natural features such as pools might not therefore have been simply treated as sources of water by the San; some may have been avoided by all but trained medicine people. This suggests that the distribution of rock pools in the landscape cannot be understood simply as an inventory of water resources alone as some may well have had a primarily “religious” or “sacred” value. Fixed points such as water sources are more easily accounted for than mobile resources such as migrating antelope moving into the mountains as pasture conditions change with the seasons.

A further example showing the interaction of human agency and natural conditions may involve a measure of curation and resource conservation as well as ritual significance. According to Lewis- Williams, ‘The close association between bees, honey, potency and trance dancing is indisputable’

(Lewis-Williams 2010). It is also believed that San men could own beehives and mark it as their property (ibid). Bees were an important and highly valued component of the natural environment, as a source of honey, which was used in medicine, in food, and as a trade commodity with neighbouring communities. Bee’s nests were therefore protected and when honey was removed the nest entrance was repaired, so ensuring a sustainable harvest.

At the same time, bees were considered to possess a powerful form of supernatural potency, similar to that which trained medicine people could only gain access to in ritual trance dances. The sound of swarming bees, for example, resembles some of the aural effects of trance. Swarming tends to occur in early to mid-spring, sometimes through to summer (Hollmann pers. comm., 2017), which is likely to coincide with heightened ritual activity. One reason for swarming is when the present hive gets too big, then the bees 'hive off' and make another one. There are also with occasional afterswarms, when smaller groups of bees will leave a nest (Hollmann pers. comm., 2017). The bee therefore exemplifies the importance of a particular resource where cultural value is also manifested in conservation practices that help to maintain swarms that could otherwise be threatened.

Likewise, we also highlighted in the previous section that the high plant biodiversity of the property bring also a high diversity of medicinal plants. This high diversity of medicinal plants is confirmed by research findings that approximately 450 plant species are sold in markets in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and the amount of plant material traded in the same area (i.e. KZN) is estimated at 500 tons per year, whereby most of this material is traded in informal street markets (Ndawonde 2006). According to KZN Wildlife, the value of the medicinal plant trade alone is conservatively estimated at 62 million rand per annum and is rising as the demand increases (ibid). During the first visit to the property, in July 2016, we met Dr. Elliot Ndlovu, a successful medicinal plant farmer and traditional healer. Dr.

Ndlovu benefited from a grant under the Community Levy (discussed under section 5.1) to start a business to commercialize cosmetics products created from plants used in traditional medicine.

Resuming this third part of the methodological approach for assessing the relationships between the values that supported the inscription and other significant values of the property, we add to the diagram presented in section 3.2:

Clear interconnection

Potential interconnection supported by some research Potential interconnection where further research is needed

(direction of the arrow shows direction of connection)

Figure 3.4 – Visual representation of the interconnections between the natural and cultural values that supported the inscription of the property on the World Heritage List and other significant values of the property (1/2) (Interconnections between the values that supported the inscription are presented in black, interconnections between the values that supported the inscription and other important values are presented in blue.

Differences in colour do not imply any ranking between the different values).

This leads us to finally consider the economic values of the property. This category of values is often considered separately because it is conceptualised in a fundamentally different way; it is usually measured by economic analyses and often expressed in terms of price. We previously referred to the value of the medicinal plant trade however at present, no plant gathering is currently allowed inside the park except in relation to removal of invasive species. The main economic values of the property are related to water supply, carbon sequestration, rock art and tourism, according to an Economic Valuation of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, developed in 2012 (see Table 3.1).

In ZAR (South African Rand)

Service Minimum value Maximum value

Water (asset value) 47,522,800 4,158,154,956

Water supply regulation (per annum) 22,980,000 113,250,000

Carbon (NPV) 68,888,976 103,320,041

Rock art (monetary value per annum) 9,839,726 13,427,000

Rock art (existence value per annum) 514,492,000

Tourism (direct spend per annum) 208,000,000

Table 3.1 - Summary of some economic values (water, carbon, rock art and tourism) for the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site (Rushworth 2012)

All these relationships between different categories of values and their different levels of significance, based on our methodological approach is summarised in the following diagram:

i

x

vii iii

Quality and diversity of the rock art

Testimony of the way of life and beliefs of the

San people

Natural beauty

Biodiversity and endemic species

Hydrology Geomorphology

Ecosystems

Clear interconnection

Potential or indirect interconnection supported by some research Potential or indirect interconnection where further research is needed

(direction of the arrow shows direction of connection)

Figure 3.5 – Visual representation of the interconnections between the natural and cultural values that supported the inscription of the property on the World Heritage List and other significant values of the property (2/2) (interconnections between the values that supported the inscription are presented in black, interconnections between the values that supported the inscription and other important values are presented in blue, interconnections related to the economic value of the property are represented in violet. Differences in colour do not imply any ranking between the different values).

While this section does not provide a comprehensive description of all values of the property (for instance, we did not discuss educational values), it does illustrate through several examples how different natural and cultural values are interconnected. It also demonstrates the complexity of some of those interconnections and the challenges to describe it and present it in a structured way.