Ladybrand, Day 47-One of the little things that has added immense enjoyment to our drives across South Africa have been all the wild flowers. Even in the fall there are flowers growing wherever there is fertile ground.

After a wonderful night at Living Life Station, Ladybrand’s three major attractions were up for discussion. The Rock Art site won out as first choice. The Tandjesberg Rock Art site is located about 34 km outside Ladybrand, on the Liguori farm. A Liguori forefather discovered the cave in 1941 while out trying to find his chickens. The family has since turned the site over to the government for preservation. The site has been damaged over the years from fire, erosion, tourists and photographers. It is now in a locked enclosure and access is controlled by the Liguori family. We drove up to the present day sandstone farmhouse where we met Simon, who lent us the key, rough map and booklet on the art. Warning us about washed out roads, he turned us loose on the farm to find our way. That didn’t turn out well. We took the wrong road at the end and climbed a rock hillside searching in completely the wrong place.

After awhile we saw in the distance a tiny white (color of choice in South Africa) pickup making its way towards us. It was Simon to the rescue, saying he had business out there on the barren hillside. He pointed out the correct access road, which from on high seemed very apparent. We thanked him profusely and headed back to the junction. Things were not so clear at ground level and we mucked about a bit before finding a faint track through the tall grass. Apparently the grass grows fast here or there aren’t a lot of visitors to the site.

The road became impassable, so we got out and walked, keeping an eye out for cobras.

After finding a marker we ascended the hillside to finally find the remainder of the cave and Rock Art. The enclosure is shown in the featured photo. The heat, being lost and climbs were totally worth it!

Ghost dog attacking a human. These ghost figures are considered Apocalyptic and its theorized that they were painted by the bushmen (San) when the hunt was ending.

This is a depiction of Shamans dream dancing for rain.

Birds, with one one on the far right squawking.

Kudu with a small person, below to the left.

We returned to the Station exhausted but thrilled with our day.