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What is Drakensberg famous for?
Drakensberg is famous for its hiking routes, with trails for all abilities. In Southern and Central Drakensberg there are spectacular ancient rock art sites reflecting the beliefs of the indigenous San people. The mountains are also home to many nature reserves with waterfalls and abundant wildlife.
Why is uKhahlamba important?
The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park has outstanding natural beauty, Africa’s highest mountain range south of Kilimanjaro, and the largest and most concentrated series of rock art paintings in Africa – making it a World Heritage site of both natural and cultural significance.
What makes uKhahlamba Drakensberg special?
The Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park has exceptional natural beauty in its soaring basaltic buttresses, incisive dramatic cutbacks, and golden sandstone ramparts. Rolling high altitude grasslands, the pristine steep sided river valleys and rocky gorges also contribute to the beauty of this world heritage site.
What is the history of Drakensberg?
Approximately 180 million years ago, a mantle plume under the Southern Gondwana caused bulging of the continental crust – this later became South Africa. 20 million years passed before rift valleys formed on either side of this bulge – the steep valleys’ that formed here shaped escarpments.
Why is Drakensberg a World Heritage Site?
uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park is one of two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in South Africa with a mixed classification – due to its natural and cultural components. Giant’s Castle Peak, Drakensberg. The natural elements include the Afro montane and Afro-alpine biological zones and, of course, the grand scenery.
Why is it called Drakensberg?
Etymology. The Afrikaans name Drakensberge comes from the name the earliest Dutch settlers gave to the escarpment, namely Drakensbergen, or Dragons’ Mountains. The highest portion of the Great Escarpment is known in Zulu as uKhahlamba and as Maluti in Sotho (“Barrier of up-pointed spears”).
Why the uKhahlamba Park is a World Heritage Site?
Why is khomani cultural landscape a World Heritage Site?
The Khomani San descend directly from an ancient population that lived in Southern Africa 150 000 years ago. This same group of people are believed to be among the ancestors of human beings. They have played a huge role in getting their area inscribed as a World Heritage Site.
What are the facilities of uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park?
For diverse facilities to suit all budgets, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park offers scenic rest camps and fully equipped Drakensberg accommodation. This Drakensberg accommodation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, offers luxury lodges, fully-equipped cottages and chalets and overnight caves.
When was Drakensberg established?
approximately 182 million years ago
The Drakensberg Group was formed approximately 182 million years ago during the early Jurassic period. Rifting tectonics in response to the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana are believed to have been the cause for the formation of the Drakensberg Group.
When was the Drakensberg Park declared?
UNESCO declared the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in KwaZulu Natal a World Heritage Site in 2000. The park is 240 000 hectares large and is filled with beautiful rivers, wetlands, indigenous forests, grasslands, valleys and cliffs. Many endangered animal and plant species live there.
How would you describe the Drakensberg?
Drakensberg, the main mountain range of Southern Africa. The Drakensberg rises to more than 11,400 feet (3,475 metres) and extends roughly northeast to southwest for 700 miles (1,125 km) parallel to the southeastern coast of South Africa. Rock and cave art several thousands of years old has been found in the range.
What does uKhahlamba mean in English?
barrier of spears
In Zulu the range is known as uKhahlamba, meaning ‘barrier of spears’, which does justice to its dramatic basalt buttresses.
When was khomani cultural landscape declared a World Heritage Site?
02-12 July 2017
At its 41st session taking place in Krakow, Poland from 02-12 July 2017, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee has inscribed on its prestigious world heritage list, the ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape.
Why is uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park a World Heritage Site?
What process led to the formation of the Drakensberg?
The Drakensberg Group was formed approximately 182 million years ago during the early Jurassic period. Rifting tectonics in response to the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana are believed to have been the cause for the formation of the Drakensberg Group.
Why is it called uKhahlamba?
In Zulu the range is known as uKhahlamba, meaning ‘barrier of spears’, which does justice to its dramatic basalt buttresses. Early settlers called it the Drakensberge, because they believed it resembled a dragon’s back.
What is the Drakensberg known as?
A World Heritage site known to the Zulu people as uKhahlamba, meaning “Barrier of Spears”, the Drakensberg forms a majestic semi-circular border between KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and the inland mountain kingdom of Lesotho.
What is the Drakensberg escarpment?
The Drakensberg escarpment stretches for more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Eastern Cape Province in the South, then successively forms, in order from south to north, the border between Lesotho and the Eastern Cape and the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal Province.
What is Drakensberg experience Tourism Association?
An error occurred while retrieving sharing information. Please try again later. The Drakensberg Experience Tourism Association promotes and markets accommodation and tourism-related activities in the Drakensberg mountains, a region world-renowned for its stunning vistas and beautiful sunny skies.
Why is the Drakensberg so hard?
This hardness is related to weathering and is variable even within a single landform. The Drakensberg area is “home to 299 recorded bird species”‘ making up “37% of all non-marine avian species in southern Africa”.