Die Stadsaal – Nature’s Cathedral

17 Saturday May 2014

Posted by Brigid Jackson in Eco Tourism, ecology

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Cederberg, eco tourism, environment, Nationalist Party, nature, sandstone rocks, Stadsaal Cave

Welcome to Stadsaal

Deep in thought

Venster (Window) Rocks

Spectacular rock formations

Caves everywhere

The area is breathtakingly beautiful as a result of the incredibly eroded rock formations in vibrant reds and browns.

Caves run off in different directions

inside the expansive main cave

Stadsaal Caves are composed of a series of interconnected caverns enfolded by rich, earthen-coloured rock formations, textured from smooth to furrowed to jagged. The trail through the caves eventually leads to vantage points from where the grandeur of this rock-strewn space with its diverse vegetation, seamed by the mountains, can be observed.

Another mystical figure

In caves and overhangs throughout the area, San rock art can be found, evidence of the earliest human inhabitants. The famous Khoisan Elephant paintings can be found here.

It is also of great historical interest because of the graffiti which dates back to the 1800’s. It is rumoured that the Nationalist Party members met here to plan their 1948 victory which heralded the start of legislated apartheid. In support of this theory the names of some of the Nationalist Party members of the time are evident as graffiti on the walls, notably the name of Dr D. F. Malan, the then leader of the party and the first Nationalist Prime Minister of South Africa.

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