LESOTHO ROCK ARTSURVEY 2000 Final Report

Text: Simon Aitken

Photography: Quintin Lake

Cover Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Introduction + Aims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Choosing the Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Chosen Route – Senqunyane/Lesobeng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Account of the Expedition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Rock Art Sites Found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Lesob 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Lesob 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Lesob 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Lesob 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Lesob 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Lesob 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Lesob 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Lesob 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Lesob 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Lesob 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Lesob 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Lesob 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Lesob 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Academic Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Hindsight Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Photographic Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Contact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Photography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Nick’s Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38(cont’d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Nick’s Diary + Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

2

Contents

Our expedition was intended to be small-scale: there were only three of us from England, and one (confirmed on ourarrival) from Lesotho, and we planned a short, exploratory survey of a previously unsurveyed area. We would photo-graph, describe and produce accurate location descriptions of all rock art sites we came across. We would then presenta copy of the relevant photographs to be preserved in the most viable place: the Rock Art Research Centre in theUniversity of the Witwatersrand. These aims suited our severe time and financial restraints (much of the trip ended upself-funded), and above all were designed to be achievable.

Having received no academic funding, however, our expedition could not afford to be narrowly academic. Our kindsponsors had a geographic emphasis. This combined with our low resources meant that we could not hire a car for theduration of the expedition, or trace all our finds. We intended a high-quality high-speed study of the valley, recordingnot just the art but the landscape, wildlife and people, and how they interacted with each other, and with us. Thereforewe intended to immerse ourselves in village life as much as was feasible during the trip,and to pool our academicknowledge of Bushman rock art with the villagers’ own experience.

More than this was unrealistic. We had some criticism for not having a greater number of Basotho formally enrolledon the trip, and for having no specific education sessions planned. These are valid criticisms of a large-scale trip withthe time and money to meet such sensible and ethical criteria: but our aims were different. If this expedition is judgeda success, as we felt it was, then any future expeditions may attract the extra support needed to fulfil such importantcriteria.

We were fortunate that our guide was an affable high school student, Mohalenyane Moshoeshoe. He had told us of hisinterest via email and was recommended by some of Simon’s contacts in Maseru. He was a slight gamble, as thoughhe had done some walking before, he had done none in the mountains. His relative inexperience led to some minorhiccups, but he was impressive – a polite and diligent translator, a good artist, and a stoic walker. Carrying a heavyload across difficult terrain for longer than he’d done before, and in borrowed boots: it was rather a blistering baptismfor him, but he endured the discomforts with minimal complaint and a sense of humour.

EXPEDITION MEMBERS

S imon Aitken - archaeology, writing. He grew up in Lesotho and still had contacts there, which proved useful.

Quintin Lake - photographer, graphics and IT.

Nick Mil ls - GPS/navigation.

Mohalenyane Moshoeshoe - translation/illustration.

3

Introduction and Aims

In our original application, we offered three alternative survey areas. Our original aim was to walk down theMakhaleng valley, much of which has not been photographed. However, in a preliminary survey of the area, in a car,we visited the valley at two different places, and decided it was more suited to a 4x4 expedition. The valley is up to akilometre wide and is broken by many wide side valleys; the potential sites were scattered and disparate; and a trackruns along the riverbank.

A walking expedition would be possible but a vehicle would save a lot of time. We could not afford a vehicle.Therefore we decided to inspect our second option, the more remote, narrower Senqunyane valley. This could only benavigated on foot. We decided to walk this valley from Marakabei.

Whilst surveying at the village we met a remarkably helpful policeman, Lereng, and the chief. They suggested we askthe old man of the village for advice. In our first brief meeting he seemed to imply that he had seen cave paintingsnear the village, a little downstream.

This was enough to persuade us. As the valley widened downstream and eventually reached the sandstone belt, we feltthe omens were good. The first few days would take us through a basalt landscape, in which either the Bushmenpainted less or paint erodes faster: the vast majority of paintings are found in sandstone areas. If the old man knew ofsome this far upstream, what would there be further down?

Unfortunately, we had misunderstood him, or he us. After waiting half the next morning for him, he told us withgreat pride of a wonderful cave he knew – “with paintings?” “Ah, no, but a wonderful view”. He had heard of paint-ings, somewhere down the valley, but he wasn’t sure where. We would have to ask as we went along.

4

Choosing the route

N

5

Chosen route - Senqunyane/Lesobeng

A detailed description of the sites is in the following section. This section culls from the main diary to give a briefflavour of the expedition experience.

Days Minus Four to Zero Thursday to Monday

We left Heathrow on Thursday, visited Dr Ben Smith at the Rock Art Research Centre, University of theWitwatersrand, on Friday, by Saturday were in Maseru, and on Sunday and Monday surveyed our possible routes, metour Mosotho colleague, bought the relevant maps and expedition foods, and gained permission for our expedition fromMme Khitsane, an efficient and likeable official of the Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Culture (and strangely remi-niscent of Mo Mowlam).

By Monday evening we were ready, if breathless. The encounter with Lereng and the old man at Marakabei had per-suaded us: we arranged to meet him the following day and camp by the police station.

Day One Tuesday

Leaving early, we caught a minibus from the Maseru bus station to Marakabei. Lereng duly welcomed us, shared acouple of beers in the dim candlelit bar, and impressed us with his sharp, thoughtful conversation. He seems destinedfor greater things.

Day Two Wednesday

We met the chief and an old man of the village to ask about local rock paintings. Old men and chiefs don’t like to behurried, and our prolonged wait required most of the morning. The old man then revealed that he didn’t know aboutany art, but there was a nice cave nearby with a good view. This wasn’t quite what we were looking for. Eventually,we left Marakabei, via the lodge, at lunchtime.

On reaching Lehlakeng village around sunset, having found no sites, we were treated to a long and emotional welcomespeech by the chief. An impromptu party soon began, prompted by generous amounts of homebrew - maize beer.It’s an acquired taste, almost as challenging as the Bolivian version, but out there it’s pink and appears to be mas-querading as a cocktail, whereas in Lesotho it’s an honest, unappetising brown colour. The chief and his advisers hadclearly had several hours’ head start and soon, out came some rural instruments – one a single-stringed blend of harpand violin, played with a stick, one a guitar made from a plastic bottle, and a cowhide drum. After his touching ifslurred speech – “I believe there is no white in this world” – by which he denigrated colour discrimination, his daugh-ter taught us the intricacies of the snake dance (lots of hissing and hip-wagging) late into the night. We were thenhonoured with the chief’s hut for the night, and were guarded by one of his sons.

Day Three Thursday

Despite a slightly grumpy morning, we walked and scouted all day, camping overnight by river, where Mohalenyanerealised he’d forgotten to pack his tent cover (which we later realised was partly our fault). This left us with one two-man tent and a highly porous inner sheet with no poles. Quintin revealed unexpected depths of inventiveness in rig-ging up a makeshift tent, including half a tree in his ad hoc construction. Three of us squeezed into the good tent,whilst he grew an ice beard in the other. It was a frosty night.

Day Four Friday

Wonderful potential sites abounded. Caves were numerous and we even followed a long straight canyon with plenty of6

Account of the Expedition

rock shelters and wide beach. No sites were found. If there hadn’t been the promise of sandstone and perhaps, histori-cally, more game downstream, the frequent false dawns might have snapped our patience. A pleasant lady from thevillage squatting on the rim of the bottleneck told us there were many caves but no pictures.

The uncomfortable campsite had little drinking water. We were cautious with the river, because we had seen a largenumber of dead and dying fish, and a man herding his cows told us of rapid changes in water colour and sickeningcows, and perhaps unjustifiably suspected the negative influence of the dam construction sites upstream. Fish oftendie at this time of year and there may be other environmental reasons for water colour changes. We, however, playedsafe and ended up leaning against a slimy rockface in the dark, the river bubbling loudly in our ears as we collecteddroplets of water trickling through moss in a sidestream.

Day Five Saturday

Walking all the way down to Ha Nchemane via the Braipala Valley, we met an entertaining group of herdboysintrigued by our presence in what was the most remote and poorest part of the valley. Keen to be photographed, theyprovided us with a few excellent poses, largely thanks to Mohalenyane’s friendliness. At Ha Nchemane we metLesoma Mokoma, an ex-teacher and chief of the village, who was lucky enough to have a son who worked in the airforce. This contact and the new bridge under the village had meant a lot of building equipment had been helicopteredinto the area, allowing some new tin roofs and a fast if expensive way of getting to Maseru, the capital. He told usnot to expect any art before the Lesobeng valley, a side-valley of ours a good day’s walk away. There, he knew, therewere several sites, including a “snake site”.

Day Six Sunday

We yomped from Ha Nchemane to Ha Motenalapi, just before the Lesobeng. The strenuous pace was offset by won-derful views, easier walking as the valley opened out slightly and begrudged enough riverbank to spare us having tocross the river at every twist. Unwilling to rely entirely on the chief’s word, we inspected various promising-lookingcaves, but no art – and no artefacts either. Despite the ongoing promise of sites, by this stage we were beginning toget a little depressed.Although arriving just before sunset, much to our embarrassment the lady in charge of this subvillage cleared her hutfor our use and moved next door. Her sons provided music on their home-made guitars, conjured from plastic oil cans,wire and corn cobs, as she plied us with mielie meal and beer bread. The chief lived on the other side of the valley,and this semi-independent hamlet of 6 huts had only one cow and a handful of goats.

Day Seven Monday

Led by our guide Thabang all the way to Lesob 10, we expended a lot of sweat with little return, owing to a commu-nication problem. Presuming we were going on a short walk down to the mouth of the Lesobeng, we hadn’t packedmuch. He took us, however, on a gruelling 150-minute hike upstream to within sight of a beautiful sandstone arch.Just before it was the best site he knew. It turned out he didn’t know the area just by his village as they didn’t ownenough livestock: he sold his labour to a nearby village, whose lands extended much further upstream, so his worktook him far away from home. We took few records of this site, as our photographic paraphernalia were lying in ourhut.

Day Eight Tuesday

Thabang’s enthusiasm for vast distances was kept in check by another herdboy, Lekhotsa, who had decided that hewould rather chat with Mohalenyane and catch up on city gossip than follow goats around for another day. He knewthe area just under the village, and showed us three sites. We searched a lot more of the valley, but it has to be said

7

Account of the Expedition (cont)

that there will be very few sites that some herdboy has not seen.

A lady washing her clothes by the river told us of an amazing site in the next valley south, a day’s walk away. “Iwant to take our school children there,” she said, “as it’s so beautiful”. Encouraging, exciting, but sadly unfeasible onthis trip.

We recorded Lesob 1, 2, and 3.

Day Nine Wednesday

By this stage, our expedition food was nearly exhausted. The local shop, an hour away, had a bizarre stock: pencils,shoe polish, steel wool, hair extensions, plastic bowls and a handful of biscuits, most of them eaten in front of us bythe shopkeeper’s friend. And a crowd of children watching our every move and admiring our beards. Resisting theculinary possibilities of pencil and shoe polish, we asked if they had any food. A bin was opened to reveal maizemeal. So the next few days would have to revolve round maize meal.

Of all the carbohydrate staples in the world, mielie pap – boiled maize meal – has to be the least palatable. It doesn’tjust have no flavour: it has negative flavour. That evening we added so much curry powder that the white pap turnedbrown, and yet it still tasted the same.

Finishing off Lesob 3, we also found and recorded Lesob 4.

Day Ten Thursday

Tidying up Lesob 4, we then found and recorded 5 and 6. Thabang and Lekhotsa popped by to inspect our progress,and to have a couple of our fast-dwindling cigarette supply. These are highly prized as tobacco rarely reaches theshops and when it does is a rough type, rolled in newspaper.

Day Eleven Friday

Food today consisted of some mielie pap enlivened by a jar of honey.

This day was rather a rush. Buses are not that frequent in these areas and tend to leave early. As we had to hike to HaSalemone, just visible in the distance a few hundred metres above us, time was short, but we managed to cover Lesob7, 8, and 9. These sites were close to each other, and with such a density of rock art and similar territory for the manykilometres upstream to Lesob 10, we are sure there will be more sites. An unnamed herdboy said he had heard ofother paintings further up the valley, and up another nearby valley called the Maletsunyane.

Leaving the shelter of the valleys and camping on the hilltops provided excellent sunset views but night-time tempera-tures dropped significantly. The village bar, annoyingly, was shut.

Day Twelve Saturday

A frosty dawn start ensured we caught the bus from Ha Salemone to Semonkong, a small town with a lodge, showers,and shops. The driver, by utter coincidence, knew Mohalenyane - he used to work in Maseru.

Pausing at Semonkong, we gave ourselves long enough to tend blisters, visit the waterfalls and treat ourselves.We found ten sites, all of them up a tributary valley of the Senqunyane called the Lesobeng. We therefore labelled the

8

Account of the Expedition (cont)

sites Lesob 1 to Lesob 10, with Lesob 1 at the mouth of the valley, and the numbers increasing as we went upstream.

We have been asked not to give the precise location of each site, and to provide these on request in a separate appen-dix. This request was made by the National University of Lesotho, and similar advice was given by the University ofthe Witwatersrand.

9

1

23

4

5

6

7

8 9

10

N

Rock Art Sites Found

Aspect: E

Brief site descriptionThis site is 0.65km upstream from the Senqunyane/Lesobeng junction, on the west side, and 50m above the river,which turns due east just upstream. At the top of a steep slope, the shelter shows clear signs of landslip and watererosion, largely thanks to a minor waterfall over the northern edge of the shelter. There is less than 0.2m of crumblygrey deposit, with no artefacts, and the first 0.6m of the wall is also a crumbling grey layer. Above this runs a nar-row layer of yellowish stained sandstone with paintings scattered along the shelter.

PaintingsThese were scattered along a thin band of sandstone that was less eroded than the rest but still flaking and stained.Most were monochrome red or black figures. They are grouped into four separate clusters (moving from right to left).The third and fourth groups are higher than the others.1. Black dancing figures (3m gap)2. Red dancing figures / (70cm to left) red elands(above + overlapping eland)3. Red dancing figures4. Two figures, one red with ochre, one ochre with red.

ArtefactsNone.

10

Lesob 1 Melutung site

Aspect: ESE

Brief site descriptionOn the west side of the river, 2km upstream from Lesob 1, this site is under an imposing overhang opposite impos-ing stained cliffs split by the narrow stream that leads up to the Ha Motsiba shop. Another 20m upstream is a steepgully with a path, the path back to the Ha Motenalapi that we made our base. The overhang is 40m in width, and10m high at its tallest. The paintings are under this tallest part of the overhang, about 1m above the river, and on ablistered friable sandstone surface.

PaintingsThe paintings, or what was left of them, consisted of several animals of varying sizes and visibility. Furthest to theleft was a shapeless red mark; then 0.4m above and 0.05m to the right was a group of six animals, probably eland, ina better state of preservation, and together in a group. Furthest to the left was a white animal, then two larger elands,both ochre/white, then three smaller white animals rising diagonally up the surface (like three 1950s ornamental ducksup a wall).No artefacts were found. The paintings are surprisingly exposed, and the path is popular with herdboys and their ani-mals.

ArtefactsNone.

11

Lesob 2 Maloebe site

Aspect: SSW

Brief site descriptionDirectly opposite Lesob 2, on the N side of the side valley leading up to Ha Motsiba, the site was a 6m deep cave,17m wide, and 7m high at its tallest. At the confluence with the Lesobeng, the valley is several metres wide, but bythe cave narrows into a sandstone ravine.The site is raised on 3m of grey fluvial sand, sloping gently from a high point within the cave and then sharplyfalling into the river. Some bones and LSA artefacts were found; the deposit depth is roughly 1m followed by 2m ofbarren sand. The site was chilly and damp, only the afternoon sun reluctantly probing its interior, and the sandstonewas blackened, stained, and heavily blistered. Smoke fires have caused some of the damage. On the few remainingscattered patches of crusted surface sandstone, some remarkably detailed painting remained. Most of this was towardsthe W end of the shelter in the deepest area, on a near-vertical stratum.

PaintingsThe most intricate and detailed artwork of any site we discovered. Fragments were scattered across the shelter ceilingand sides, implying that once a large proportion of the surface was covered in paint. We were moved to describe it asthe Sistine Chapel of the valley. Eleven fragmented groups were deciphered, some simply red ochre patches, but thehighlights werre in one main group.

1. a flying therianthrope with erect hairs and dots all over the body as well as the arms, painted in ochre and white;2. a therianthrope, arms stretched in dancing, with a line streaming from its head, antelope ears (a cap?) and erect hairson the arms;3. a red/white eland with lines smeared across its face from its muzzle and red dots along its shoulder, following theleft side of its dewlap;4. a red/white eland with white dots along its neck and dewlap.These were executed in precise detail. It is no coincidence that these were the highlights as they were the most com-plete. If only this site had been recorded fifty, twenty, perhaps even ten years ago…

ArtefactsThree found - stone tools and some bone. Disturbed context but likely to have been inhabitable (and inhabited).

12

Lesob 3 Ha Mokati site

13

Lesob 3 Ha Mokati site (cont)

14

Lesob 3 Ha Mokati site (cont)

Eland (antelope)

Therianthrope(Half animal, half human)

Hairs oftenstand on endduring trance.

Shamans said the spirit leav-ing the body felt like a fishhook being dragged along thescalp.

Dots can representa tingling on theskin felt in trance.

Shamans often becameeland while trancing, oras here, half-eland.

Swoopingshaman figure.

Many shamans experiencednose bleeds in trance andsmeared their cheeks.

The dots may be “entoptic phenomena”:a response to trance where dots can beseen even when the eyes are closed.

Suggested interpretationNote that the reconstruction has been done with reference to Images of Power and other seminalworks but remains tentative - above all the top left figure.

Aspect: W

Brief site descriptionA kilometre upstream from Lesob 2 + 3, 30m up a steep slope, this is a vast shelter, 37m wide, 22m deep, and 20mhigh at its tallest, sloping downwards sharply and then flattening towards the back, and ending in a brackish pool fedby dripping mossy walls. It is large enough for an orchestra and a large audience, and remains popular with herdboys,who have built a stone wall on the north side of the cave, complete with straw bedding and smoky fires. Only theedges are now safe, however, owing to extensive rockfall from the ceiling, and the threat of more: the centre of thecave is an assault course of broken slabs. Catching sun in the evening, it remains warm until late, and having a poolin the lowest recesses and a thin waterfall running over the central part of the shelter meant water was not a problem.Much of the rock is clean - owing to the collapse, which has taken, one suspects, most of the art along with the rock.

Paintings1. a red ochre antelope on the damp south side of the cave, near the entrance2. three faded red eland and a black monochrome frieze of 30+ figures in various postures, including running and stand-ing with a stick. These are at the north side of the cave, the eland near the entrance, the black figures largely withinthe daga. The black figures continue down under the current surface, as in this area is an accumulation of straw anddung. They also continue behind the walling of the daga, and many are heavily damaged by smoke and by the erosiveeffect of animals.3. scattered red eland of various stages of preservation, outside, above and to the north of the main cave in a shelteredledge. The rock here is not damp (nor is it in the northern corner of the main cave) but here the rock is exposed tosun, wind and some rain.

ArtefactsA remarkable site. The surface scatter was abundant, with artefacts (100+) dating from the Middle Stone Age onwards,but owing to the disturbed context its value as an excavation site, despite its wealth of finds, is uncertain. Among thesurface finds were part of a digging stick weight, a finely honed bone point, a spokeshave and a large number of finemicrolithic tools, above all scrapers.

15

Lesob 4 Ntoloana ea Baroa site

Aspect: N

Brief site descriptionOn the west side of the Lesobeng, overlooking a sharp meander in the river to the east round a prominent sandstoneheadland and 50m up a steep slope, this crescent-shaped shelter contained the “snake pictures” described by MorenaMokoma of Ha Nchemane. The shelter was certainly well-sheltered owing to its two-sided nature, curving from a Nto an E aspect, and to the shading of a large tree that grew in the middle of the site. The north-facing side of the shel-ter contained all the art; the east-facing side contained a cave but also intense erosion: the surface was so crumbled andpitted that no traces of art remained. A seasonal streamlet clearly ran through the centre of the crescent; a small gullycontaining many artefacts revealed both former occupation and the loss of its context.

PaintingsThe art was found in three main groups:1. two large deep red smudges, near the eastern entrance to the shelter2. a few faded figures, mainly black but 2 larger red ones, all heavily damaged, on a boulder lying under the mainfrieze (see below). The boulder was also heavily scratched, perhaps linked to the painting.3. a wide frieze with a central thread of two snake-like figures (one of which is, I think, not a snake), the left-hand onerunning diagonally upwards for 0.61m, the second, which follows on from the first, for 0.65m, ending (not coinciden-tally?) where the dark yellow rock is blackened with water stains. The frieze is painted on an area with 0.6m of yel-low sandstone bracketed by blackened sandstone. A rough description is as follows (further study is needed), copiedverbatim from the notebook:“A snake (?) pointing rightwards of 2 red lines (not coloured in) going for c.65cm and various oblong ochre shapes,swirling from the snake. Snake has line with ?feathers coming from its back. Under snake = dancing figures in vari-ous postures; flywhisks, bending down, running, leaping, sticks, ?music bows. Emanating from snale 2 = lots ofthin lines in groups. Towards head of 2nd snake are 2 larger slightly cruder figures, both ochre, facing to left; figuresseem to be hanging on lines coming from snake’s underside”. There are other dark figures with headbands and feath-ers, but no discernible therianthropes or erect hairs. One of the snakes is more likely to be a roughly parallel pair oflines with some other purpose.

ArtefactsAt least 50 finds show that this was once a popular site. Many Late Stone Age scrapers and adzes were seen, alongwith bone, some burned. Unfortunately, much of this was found in the water channel in the middle of the site.

16

Lesob 5 La Koetsa site

17

Lesob 5 La Koetsa site (cont)

Aspect: N

Brief site descriptionAround the sharp meander from Lesob 5, about 1km upstream, on the south side of the river, just beyond a large deepcave at river level (now scoured of all evidence of habitation/art), is an imposing 25m tall, 40m wide overhang. Thesite is about 8m above the river bed, and all the art is in the 25m to the west of the dripline near the middle of theoverhang. There is a heron’s nest just above the site, which is sadly rather heavily scarred by graffiti andhuman/animal occupation. The art is partially hidden by bushes.

PaintingsThe paintings could be divided into two main groups but these could then be subdivided, in all, into eighteen sub-groups. Extensive flaking has deprived us of much of what appears once to have been a continous frieze. The high-lights are a much-damaged herd of eland, of which three survive relatively intact, a group of damaged dancing figuresto the left, and a probable feline to the right of the site.

ArtefactsNone.

18

Lesob 6 Ha Phuti site

Aspect: S

Brief site descriptionUnder an overhang on the north side of the river, just before a slight meander in the river to the north, the site is easi-ly discernible (the art less so) from Lesob 6. A large apse-like depression in the overhang, of fairly clean and brightyellow sandstone, and bordered upstream by a black rock slope that plunges straight into the river, it is well protectedif a little damp. The overhang is 30m wide – the art is 5m from the upstream end, within/under the apse, and 2mabove the surface. There is a 0.5m deposit, showing signs of water erosion.

PaintingsWithin close proximity to each other are three elands of varying sizes and a running male figure, all painted mono-chrome in fading red ochre.

ArtefactsTwo Late Stone Age stone artefacts found.

19

Lesob 7 Ha Maboea site

Aspect: N

Brief site descriptionOpposite to and slightly upstream from Lesob 7, in another overhang, 10m wide, 2m deep and 15m high. The shal-low site is marked at its downstream end by a rockfall. The site is 2m above the river and is partially obscured byvegetation, although the art is discernible from Lesob 7. The overhang is exposed, but in a more sheltered dip in therock is a disconnected, damaged frieze, perhaps 3 separate pictures.

PaintingsThree disconnected groups remain, all highly faded red ochre. The downstream picture is the most striking and bestpreserved, a painting of a domesticated cow so accurate that it could almost have been drawn with a stencil. Upstreamthere is the rear half of an animal with a small tail, and finally a group of two eland. The cow is the most interestingas it is also of use in dating the picture - domestic cows were first introduced to Lesotho by the Bantu (of whom theBasotho form a part).

ArtefactsNone.

20

Lesob 8 Ha Patsoanyana site

Aspect: NW

Brief site descriptionThe site is 10m from the valley bottom on the second level of sandstone under a shallow overhang that extendsupwards for another 10m. It is about 100m upstream from Lesob 8. It perches on a narrow ledge at the top of asteep slope little visited even by goats.

PaintingsOne large faded red ochre mark is 0.7m wide, and underneath are two faded figures, both probably human.

ArtefactsNone.

21

Lesob 9 Bahatla Uli site

Aspect: SE

Brief site descriptionA 150-minute hike from Ha Motenalapi, with an imposing sandstone arch visible just upstream, this site was the firstwe saw. A deep overhang, a good 30m wide, much of its floor is covered by rockfall, some chunks the size of cars.It has been severely eroded by the river but a raised section remains uneroded.

PaintingsThe paintings are mainly of eland, with the occasional cow and numerous black stickmen. Thabang said they wereold, but what is “old” to a 14-year-old? The animals are boxy and crude, and some of the colours were unusual – abright yellow, a cherry red. Our suspicion is that these are Basotho copies of Bushman art. There are some faded,damaged paintings such as a red/black leopard(?) which are closer in style to the Bushman paintings downstream.Therefore our presumption is that Basotho superimposed their pictures on the original art.

ArtefactsNone.

CommentThe involvement of Basotho and other Bantu in rock art is an interesting issue in itself, and one that deserves separatestudy. There is historical evidence of Bushman artists accepting Basotho trainees, which is hardly surprising when oneconsiders the amount of intermarriage between the two groups, and the important shamanistic role of Bushmen insome villages.

22

Lesob 10 Ha Mpama site

1. Although Lesotho has been fairly extensively surveyed by some dedicated academics, the difficult nature of the ter-rain and the low funding has prevented their surveying from being exhaustive.

2. The expedition shows that there is still a lot of rock art left to be discovered. After several unsuccessful days inwhat later turned out to be geologically unsuitable areas (unsuitable, at least, for the survival of rock art, and perhapsfor its very creation), we found nine sites within two hours’ walk of each other – and another one much furtherupstream. The middle area remains unsurveyed and is likely to provide more sites. One villager confidently pointedfurther upstream when asked of other sites. A lady washing her clothes in the Lesobeng told us also of a moreimpressive site in the next valley down, the Kuebung.

3. The expedition also shows that some of this rock art is impressive, and may well provide a large number ofimportant clues in the ongoing attempts to decipher the hidden meanings of Bushman rock art.

4. The expedition has also confirmed the terrible condition of much of the remaining art. The relatively rapid declineof the paint and the surface is well-documented, but Lesob 5 in particular brought home quite how great the loss canbe. Time is certainly of the essence.Note: It is unfortunate that the first visitors to the rock art sites of Lesotho placed such little importance in the art orthe artists: the French missionary Thomas Arbousset (who quotes the old Bechuana nickname for the Bushmen –“human scorpion” – and says that Bushmen offer “the most hideous caricature of the human race”) talks of theBushman’s “imperfect art”, with drawings that are “thin, elongated, badly put together, worse than caricatures”. Hedoes show a degree of sympathy, adding later “what touching interest and poetry there is in the innocent pastimes ofunfortunate people!” (Majoe-a-Matso, 1840.) The Basotho relationship with the last Bushmen was far less conde-scending, partly owing to their liminal status: many Bushmen were employed as witchdoctors, and their art was gener-ally left alone. Some Basotho, indeed, even emulated the art, as we suspect in Lesob 10, and although the traditionhas not survived, a general respect for the art has.

5. Local knowledge is of paramount importance. Without local help, it is inordinately time-consuming to inspectevery potential site, even when, with experience, the laws of probability can rule out many tempting overhangs. Withlocal help, one can be led to almost every site.

6. A more specific academic point relates to the contrast between possible Bushman interpretations of the landscapeand our own. Much of the surveying undertaken has been in wide valleys, partly owing to the logistical advantages,and partly to the greater numbers of animals that would have lived in these valleys. However, the Lesobeng, a narrowvalley, a tributary of the Senqunyane, itself a tributary of the Senqu, provided not only more rock art but also moreartefacts than anything on the Senqunyane. The fact that sandstone is the surface rock in the Lesobeng is a major fac-tor, but why were clearly suitable sites ignored on the Senqunyane? When we survey and define our surveys by val-leys, as is only logical, we miss what may be the fundamental Bushman viewpoint, one shared by the Basotho now,that communication and travel is far easier on the concave hilltops than in the steep valleys. The valleys are visited,but the width or otherwise of a particular valley is not of dominant importance. This may seem obvious but whatone can conclude is that even the apparently minor valleys that remain unsurveyed are still worth surveying, as for allwe know what they lacked in game numbers they may have compensated for in other ways that were as important tothe Bushmen. The best sites in Lesotho may not yet have been discovered.

7. Specific, detailed interpretations of the art we photographed will require more months of study and a separate, pure-ly academic paper.

23

Academic conclusions

In addition to the points above, some slightly more specific issues may be raised. It is not our aim to discuss theseissues in any great detail here, but perhaps in a follow-up article.

From a historical point of view, the cow painted in Lesob 8 is of great interest as it provides a terminus post quem – itwas most likely painted when cows had reached the valley or nearby. This corresponds with historical evidence ofcattle-rearing Basotho sharing the landscape with the remaining San, some of whom resorted to cattle-rustling.

From an interpretive point of view, those with greatest interest are the two best-preserved friezes. Both merit rein-spection and tracing.

The art of Lesob 3 includes highly detailed eland and shamans, quite possibly therianthropic, and a ‘non-real’ line(hard to discern) connecting four of these figures, as remarked upon in another example in Lewis-Williams’Discovering Southern African Rock Art, p67. There are signs of superpositioning, of paintings covering previousones, and the two almost intact eland appear stylistically rather dissimilar.

The art of Lesob 5, although monochrome red or black and less fine, includes many examples of dancing activity –clapping, figures with springbok caps and fly-whisks – and has the two double lines running across the scene that haveearned the site the “Snake Cave” sobriquet. One of these appears almost certainly to be a snake, but the other is lesscertain, as it does not end in a discernible head.

Finally, Lesob 4, the large cave, has a remarkable number of impressive lithics and bone remnants. It is a rare pleas-ure to come across a spokeshave, digging stick weight, fine bone point, and high quality adzes and scrapers from theMSA and LSA in one place; it is unfortunate that they are all on the surface and therefore devoid of any context.Hidden in the corner is a frieze of small two-inch high monochrome black figures, some with splashes of ochre.Much of this is hidden behind a recent stone wall and under straw bedding, so remains to be fully recorded.

24

Academic conclusions (cont)

The trip went surprisingly smoothly, mainly thanks to Quintin, the most organised and experienced of our group.

Bureaucracy/diplomacyBoth the Lesotho High Commission in London and the Government Ministries in Lesotho proved helpful, informal,informative, and keen to avoid wrapping us in red tape. Permits can be sought in advance via the Lesotho HighCommission, although they will encourage you to contact the Department of Sports Tourism and Culture in Maseru.The permits are rapidly granted, especially if you are not proposing to take any of the archaeological finds out of thecountry. Surveys will produce reams of film rather than boxes of finds.The British High Commission likes you to register on arrival and will advise on any current security and healthissues. They can be contacted on the internet via the FCO website.

MapsThere is a map room in the Lands and Surveys Department in Maseru. Thanks to extensive, impressive survey work,there is a wide selection of maps. The most useful are as follows:1. Overview: 1:125000 overview map2. High detail: 1:50000 maps of the entire country3. Orthophotography: the whole country has also been photographed. Most are at a scale of around 1:64000, buturbanised areas can go up to 1:10000, even 1:2500.

And in the Department of Mines, there is another map available that would have saved us several days’ walking:4. 1:125000 Geological Map.

Most maps cost M10 – 20 (£1-2).

LandscapeThe geological map would have been of use simply because the vast majority of rock art survives on sandstone. Wespent several days walking through a surface basalt landscape, and inspected a large number of suitable sites. No rockart was found. As soon as we reached the surface sandstone, we found ten sites. This is not a coincidence.

Buying foodA supermarket called Shoprite (or, to many people, OK, as it used to be called) is a well-stocked shop where webought almost everything we needed. Staples such as mielie pap (ground maize) cost a fraction of English prices;most food is roughly two-thirds English prices; lightweight foods are about the same cost.

For our expedition, where food had to be carried and weight was a primary concern, Maseru stocks a surprisingamount of dried food. We stocked up on lightweight foods like instant pasta meals, soya mince, noodles, porridge,rusks, high-energy snack bars, chocolate, honey, peanuts, cheese, tinned fish and dried fruit rolls. Biltong – driedstrips of meat – can also be bought, although supplies are more reliable just across the border in Ladybrand. We alsobought some emergency supplies of mielie pap, gravy and spices.

For those with four-wheeled or four-legged transport, weight will be less of an issue and the cost of food can bereduced. The same foods are available as in a large South African supermarket, although supplies are less reliable.

Our food was enough for seven days. Our packs weighed 28kg so carrying more food would have been problematic.

Village shopsThere was a village shop in the valley where we planned to stock up. Supplies are highly intermittent, as noted inthe diary. When we arrived there was little other than hair extensions, pencils and mielie pap. Fortunately, a diet ofmielie pap is fine, if unsatisfying, for many days.

25

Hindsight lessons

VillagesThe villagers are also very helpful. Part of their hospitality is to provide food: even when we hadn’t run out of food,we were given bowls of mielie pap and porridge.

Transport

Horses/donkeysWe did not use these but they can be hired, and in hindsight they would have been very useful. Other expeditions haveused them, which has allowed greater amounts of food to be carried. The river valleys have plenty of grass and water.

Four wheelsIn our preliminary survey we used a two-wheel drive car, as we stayed on the main roads. Most of our driving was ontarmac, but we did notice a degree of slip on the dirt roads. There are many dirt tracks running along the ridges of themountains, as the landscape is rounded, with many convex summits running together. A bus regularly reaches HaSalemone, a village overlooking our valley. However, most mountain roads are intermittently impassable, and thevalleys themselves are particularly problematic, as they are frequently steep and narrow and crossed by many streams.

Some valleys are suitable for cars, though once off the tarmac, four-wheel drive is essential. Our original route, theMakhaleng valley, is wide and has a track running along it. The route we chose, however, was entirely unsuitable fora car of any sort.

Careful consideration of routes and maps is recommended, as if we continue our survey of the Lesobeng we will use a4WD vehicle. This is because the unexplored parts of both the Lesobeng and the Senqunyane are overlooked by roads.The valley itself will still need to be explored on foot. Finance is a consideration: 4WD vehicles are very expensiveto hire. On our budget, they were not an option.

Public transportLesotho has a reliable and far-reaching public transport system. The hub in Maseru is near the cathedral, and those ona budget can reach surprisingly obscure places without their own transport. Journeys can be rather slow.

GuidesA Sesotho-speaking guide is obligatory. You are exploring areas where English is not spoken, walking through vil-lages and exploring sites well-known to herdboys. It is firstly a matter of politeness to be able to explain fully whatyour intentions and reasons are, and to be able to add to local knowledge about the sites you survey; it is secondly avital way of learning from them, too, and being more fully accepted. The mountain Basotho are hospitable, helpfulpeople and the arrival of visitors into the wilder areas tends to cause a stir. Sign language alone, however, doesn’tmake for good understanding. Better by far to take someone from Maseru – ideally someone from the Lesotho-Durham Link, as they are the main organisers of outdoor pursuits in Lesotho and help with the Prince Mohato Trust,the Basotho equivalent of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.Trying to book specific guides before entering the valleys is well nigh impossible. Herdboys roam almost every inchof ground in Lesotho, and there are few sites they will not know, but there isn’t really a central database of knowledge– it’s more localised than that, with the old man of each village, or the chief, usually the collator of knowledge. Theonly way to pre-book the herdboys, the only ones with both the knowledge and the physical fitness to take us to thesites, would be to walk down the valley and find them – in essence, walk the route twice – which with a large survey-ing group may be sensible but is otherwise a waste of time. The best approach is to be patient and ask around –most herdboys have their own patch, which isn’t necessarily the land nearest their village. It depends on where theiranimals are sent to graze – in one case, three hours’ walk away from the home village.The small amount of patience required to acquire appropriate guides is far greater than that needed to scramble up anddown valleys to hunt out every vaguely suitable site. The financial benefit to the village and the pleasure the herd-boys have in showing their knowledge to something more than a goat make the employment of guides not only use-

26

Hindsight lessons (cont)

ful but gratifying for both sides.

StoragePhotographing sites in Lesotho and exporting the photographs to be stored in a university in South Africa may seemlike a misplacement of intellectual property belonging to Lesotho but it is the only viable option. There is noNational Museum; there are no suitable storage or viewing facilities in Lesotho; there is an archaeologist, but he iscurrently employed full-time by the Highland Dams Water Project and is not a rock art specialist. There is a rock artsection at the Museum in Bloemfontein, still in South Africa but much closer to Maseru and at least in a majoritySotho-speaking area, but the best facilities are undoubtedly in Johannesburg.If and when Lesotho develops a suitable storage area, it will have a strong case for reclaiming the records, but untilthen it would cause Lesotho’s Ministry of Sports, Culture and Tourism more of a headache to accept the records thanto see them safely stored in South Africa.

EducationClearly, our ad hoc education of the villagers we met, above all the herdboys, will have had some useful grass-rootsinfluence, but in a larger trip a more formal system will be required, with local schools shown round the most impor-tant sites and taught some of the meaning of the art, its relevance to modern Basotho, and the importance of preserv-ing it as far as possible. The difficulty, of course, in surveying rock art is that one is continually moving and onedoes not know until one has surveyed the valley what sites (if indeed there are any) will be of note. Often the schoolchildren will know more about the sites’ locations than the surveyors!Grassroots education should focus on the need to preserve the sites, or at least not to graffiti them. There is a generalfeeling of respect for the art – most damage is natural degradation or fire smoke rather than deliberate vandalism – butas in any society there are some who wilfully damage things. There is also a habit of scratching one’s name alongsideor even across sites. This practise is ancient, stretching at least as far back as Herodotus’ Greek mercenaries in AbuSimbel, and European travellers are among the worst offenders, but some Basotho VIPs have been known to indulge.This should certainly be discouraged. A description of the Bushman occupation of the area, their use of trances andtrance-dances, and some of the myths surrounding the animals depicted would be of great interest to the schoolpupils.Such visits are already planned – as seen with the lady from the Kuebung valley planning to take schoolkids to a site.We would also recommend a presentation at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) in Roma. There are severalstudents there interested in archaeology, or rather in all aspects of the (pre)history of Lesotho, though there is noarchaeology professor. Most of the archaeological work in Lesotho has been done by visiting professors from SouthAfrica, Holland (Lukas Smits) and England. David Ambrose has put in an impressive amount of time considering heis a Maths professor by trade. Greater integration with the NUL would earn good will and hopefully encourage somestudents to get involved in archaeology.

FinanceIn a country with only a slowly growing archaeological infrastructure (new tourist sites with a focus on rock art arebeing developed), and severe financial constraints including a net import of staple foods, the money required to com-plete the surveying, let alone construct and maintain such education initiatives, will have to come from abroad. Thetwo external bodies most centrally concerned with the rock art in Lesotho are the Rock Art Research Centre in theUniversity of the Witwatersrand, and the Trust for African Rock Art in Nairobi, both of which have a pan-Africanistperspective on rock art. Both, gratifyingly, responded positively to our expedition, both ante and post eventum.

FundingWe received justified criticism from some potential funders for our limited involvement of Basotho, but some seemedto miss the point of our expedition: if we were confident of reasonable levels of funding we would certainly employmore, but we had always intended a relatively low-budget expedition, although not as low-budget as it was forced tobecome. Some refused us support for this reason alone, which forced us eventually to spend a lot of our own moneyto ensure the expedition continued.In an ideal situation we would meet such criteria but what is overlooked is the stark necessity of rapid recording of theart, owing to its rapid rate of decay.

Advice on Lesotho can be sought via the Lesotho High Commission:

27

Hindsight lessons (cont)

Photographic Equipment used was a compromisebetween the following conflicting demands:

•Limited budget. £500 for film and special gear.•Lightweight. We had to carry the gear on foot for 2weeks in addition to food, clothes and shelter.•Give crisp exposure using natural and artificial light insites that were often naturally very dark.•It is possible that the pictures taken will be the onlyrecord before their demise. So clarity was important.

The result was the following list of which every piecewas essential:

Camera body : Canon EOS 600/1000N (35mm SLR)

Camera l ens : 50mm (1.8), 28-80mm (3.5-5.6)The fast 50mm lens was the standard lens used forphotographing the paintings.

Tripod: Benbo TrekkerThe only option for steady shots very near theground or on uneven ground.

Fi lm: Fujichrome Velvia (50ASAslide film)For detailed work this is the finest grained film.

Ring fl ash: Centon MR20Proved to be essential though a more expensivemodel would be recommended.

Refl ecto r: Laserlite Medium silveredAlso essential, makes one or two ƒ stops lightereven in a dim cave. If reflecting direct sunlight canmake a dramatic difference.

Case: Pelicase 1300Dust, frost and moisture was a big problem thatcan be forgotten when gear is stored in a pelicase.

DIGITAL IMAGING

After developing, the key slides were scanned to 60Mb Tiffiles. These could then be enhanced for contrast, saturationand exposure in addition to sharpening. This made manypaintings clearer than the originals.

DISTRIBUTION

After scanning and enhancing, the digital files could bedistributed to interested bodies on CD-ROM at very littleexpense.

28

Photographic Notes

The Lesotho High Commission, 7 Chesham Place, London SW1.Tel.: 0207 2355686Fax: 0207 2355023Email: lesotholondonhighcom@compuserve.com

Within Lesotho, the two Ministries that will need contacting are:The Ministry of HomeAffairs – Tel.: +266 311746The Ministry of Tourism Sports and Culture – Tel.: +266 313034.

The FCO provide up-to-date information on their website. The best webpage can be found athttp://www.fco.gov.uk/travel/countryadvice.aspThe FCO can also answer specific questions via email: ads.fco@gtnet.gov.uk

Advice on using keen Basotho expeditioners as guides/translators can be sought from:Lesotho-Durham LINK, P.O. Box 87, Maseru 100, Lesotho.Tel.: +266 325166Fax: +266 312614Email: ldlink@adelfang.co.zaThe best person to contact is Mr Stephen Mabula, Project Manager, Youth Activity Project.

The diplomatic British presence in Lesotho is as follows:The British High Commission, P.O. Box 521, Maseru 100, Lesotho.Tel.: +266 313961Fax: +266 310120Email: hcmaseru@lesoff.co.za

Advice on Southern African rock art is best sought from:The Rock Art Research Unit,University of the Witwatersrand,Private Bag 3,WITS 2050,South Africa.Tel.: +11 7162745/7162796 (central switchboard)The director is Dr Ben Smith.

Our main reasons for first approaching the Rock Art Research Centre were that it has the most funding, supports a rescue teamwhose whole purpose is to record rapidly decaying art, and in short is the organisation most likely to help in Lesotho. Wereceived some very useful advice and support.

The department in the Bloemfontein Museum is of equally high academic standard, is nearer Lesotho andmay, by the timeanother expedition is organised, have gained more funding. They will certainly provide excellent advice.The Rock Art Department, Musiamo wa Setjhaba (National Museum), P.O.Box 266, Bloemfontein 9300.Tel.: +051 4479609Fax: +051 4476273The main contact here is Dr Sven Ouzman.

Advice on archaeological matters within Lesotho is harder to find. As mentioned earlier, the one professional archaeologistin Lesotho is employed full-time in rescue excavations linked to the dam projects and was unavailable whilst we were inLesotho. In addition, the knowledge and photographs of expatriate scholars have mainly been transferred to South Africa,with some also in Holland and England.

The main academic body is:The National University of Lesotho, Roma 180, Lesotho.However, Prof. DavidAmbrose, and although very generous with his assistance, will not have time to do more than advise.He did mention some students keen to help but their knowledge will be less than that of the herboys who live in situ.Otherwise, the best bet is to speak to Mr Stephen Gill, curator of the private Morija Museum andArchives, in Morija, a townnear Maseru.Arbousset, T., Missionary Excursion (…into the Blue Mountains being an account of King Moshoeshoe’s

29

Contacts

Expedition from Thaba Bosiu to the Sources of the Malibamatso River in the year 1840), edited and translated byAmbrose, D., and Brutsch, A., Morija Archives, 1991.

Casalis, E., My Life in Basutoland, 1889, reprinted by C. Struik (Pty.) Ltd, 1971.

Deacon, J. and Dowson, T., Voices from the Past - /Xam Bushmen and the Bleek and Lloyd Collection, WitwatersrandUniversity Press, 1996.

Dowson, T. and Lewis-Williams, D. (Eds.), Contested Images, Witwatersrand University Press, 1994.

Lewis-Williams, J.D. (Ed.), Stories that Float from Afar, David Philip, 2000.

Lewis-Williams, J.D. and Dowson, T.A., Rock Paintings of the Natal Drakensberg, Ukhahlamba Series no.5,University of Natal Press, 1992.

Lewis-Williams, J.D., Discovering Southern African Rock Art, David Phillip, 1990.

Lewis-Williams, J.D. and Dowson, T., Images of Power, Southern Book Publishers, 1989

Meiklejohn, K. I., The role of moisture in the weathering of the Clarens Formation of the Kwazulu-NatalDrakensberg: implications for the preservation of indigenous rock art. Taken from The South African GeographicalJournal (Special Issue, November 1997), 199-206.

Orpen, J.M., History of the Basutus of South Africa, 1857, reprinted by the Mazenod Book Centre, 1979.

Pearse, R.O., Barrier of Spears – Drama of the Drakensberg, 1973.

Van der Post, L.., The Lost World of the Kalahari, Penguin Books.

Van der Post, L.., Venture to the Interior, Penguin Books.

Rudgely, R., The Alchemy of Culture, British Museum Press, 1993.

Smits, L. G. A., Rock Painting Sites in the Upper Senqu Valley, Lesotho, from The South African ArchaeologicalBulletin 28: 32-28.

Vinnicombe, P., The early recording and preservation of rock art paintings in South Africa, 1966.

Websites:Several interesting sites can be found as below:http://www.wits.ac.za/science/archaeology/raru/artwindow.htm

raru/unesco.htmraru/pager.htm

30

Bibliography

31

Top: Simon, searching for sitesBottom left: Mohalenyane sketching at a siteBottom right: Nick recording GPS location

32

Top: Senqunyane valley with rock strata full of potential sitesBottom: Chief Lesoma Mokoma, of Ha Nchemane pointing out the first site, the snake cave

33

Top: Thabang, family and the hut they gave us for three days, Ha Motenalapi.Bottom: Lower Senqunyane

Nick’s diary focused less on the formal academic aspects of theexpedition and more on informal observation by someone newto Southern Africa. The entire diary has been included below togive a feeling of the people, landscape and logistics.

For the expedition itself please head for Tuesday 1 August.

Friday 28 July

Arrived in Johannesburg after a good flight. Made the most ofTV entertainment provided to all seats by Virgin. Planned tostay at Rockey St Backpackers but no bus to meet us at airport.Hassle from other lodge/accommodation touts. Failed to makecontact with Rockey St and got lift with two English blokesworking at lodge in Johannesburg – made big plans of goingout clubbing which I had no intention of keeping to. Talk most-ly about dangers (or exaggerated dangers) of living/visitingJo’burg. Visually, city a sprawl of undistinguished buildingsover a dry dusty undulating plain. So yellow and brown.

Unpacked then went to Wits University to meet Ben Smith atRock Art Institute. Campus up on hill in series of communist-style blocks with what appeared to be main road runningthrough the middle. Interesting insight into work of Unit andlook at some of the archive material. Big map on wall withpins in it to denote rock art finds – Lesotho virtually untouched.

Went for drink in Postgraduate bar on campus and met up withgroup of youngish academics/students. Some part of a ‘911’emergency rock art team that in response to calls regardingnewly-found rock art jump into 4x4 and hare off to photographthe find. All part of recording as much art as possible before itdisappears. Slightly surprised when group excused themselvesfrom dropping us back at Rockey St for fear of damage to vehi-cle/injury. Taxi driver couldn’t find the lodge (not on RockeySt, as it turned out). Crawl through a rougher area of Jo’burg ina taxi – a slightly nervewracking experience.

Saturday 29

Spent morning on temperamental phone trying to get prices forhire cars. Drop off in Maseru increased cost significantly. MetMike in gilded cage of Sandton for lunch. A very different partof town to Rockey St area. A complex of large hotels and self-contained shops and restaurants. The foreign businessmen et alneed never leave the safety and expense of such a bland haven.Nice lunch, though. We 3 already looked a sight with our back-packs + appearance but hey this is still white man’s domain.

Caught an expensive taxi and to the strains of Lucky Dubedrove downtown to Budget office to pick up car. The driver,originally from Zimbabwe, left car door open as he helped uscarry our gear across the road. Office shut for weekend.Helpful (+ v amused) lady in adjoining office phoned Budget atJan Smuts, who agreed to come to pick us up. On arrival thewhite employee seemed somewhat shaken – thought that thecall might be a set-up and that we were ‘crazy’ for being in sucha part of town – apparently quite near Hillbrow. Predictably theconversation was on the dangers of Jo’burg to the airport andhow to avoid being jumped at traffic lights / junctions when

driving. As the only decent driver I took note. How bad is thisproblem?

Picked up car and left at 4pm. Little Toyota Taz 1.3: ratheroverloaded. Drive along straight, narrow roads across predomi-nantly flat yellow arable land, uneventful. More difficult atnight since headlights, even in dipped mode, pointed to the sky.Sense of vastness of land – little traffic, good long roads, mini-mal road markings. Halfway down stopped at Bethlehem forpetrol - middle of nowhere (though sizeable on map) – and sur-prised to hear Afrikaans spoken – why is this bizarre? Seemslike Ozymandias’ voice - relic of a former empire. Crossed bor-der into Lesotho after about 4 hours. Maseru fast asleep –seemed far smaller and sleepier than I had imagined. Kingsway– main route into Lesotho – under repair and the detour sideroads an Emmenthal of potholes. Ended up at decent Lancer’sInn for the night. Went to (empty) Maseru Club for an excel-lent pizza – 2nd in 2 nights.

Sunday 30

Visited the Forrests for a late morning coffee. This couple,regarded by British visitors as an informal branch of the BritishHigh Commission, are old friends of Simon’s father. Simonhad lots to catch up on and they filled in much of the ‘word’ ofthe moment. Not offered a bed since they were already full up.The couple have lived in Lesotho for c. 30 years – still veryScottish.

Left at lunchtime to drive to Makhaleng valley. Stopped off atChicken Licken for disgusting lunch. Initially road through dryrolling landscape marked by kopjes and crags. Villages ofround stone huts with thatched roofs. Soon wound up into themountains – red/yellow sandstone crags deep-cut river valleysand rolling hillsides. Despite cool start, sun hot through carwindscreen. Found dirt track down into Makhaleng valley, pastvillages and herdboys/villagers wrapped in patterned blankets(made in England), balaclavas/woolly hats and Wellingtonboots. Most carry the short staff of the herdboy. Much wavingand passing of greeting from the car but sense that we are totaloutsiders due to car – all agree it will be better once we are onfoot. Road winding and awkward for small car and surfaceoccasionally difficult. Valley much wider than expected – fartoo massive to survey even loosely. No clear sign of rockescarpment/caves.

Drive back via Roma onto main road that crosses head ofMakhaleng/Senqunyane valleys. Passed some amazing sand-stone gorges but suspect they have already been surveyed.Light going by 5.30 so we stop at Molimo Nthusi lodge –famed for its trout – for night. Set in a fold in mountainside upway to Bushman’s pass. Not hugely impressed. No one elsestaying. Trout looked mummified but S + Q ate them. Had abath – felt like I hadn’t washed for weeks – how things wouldchange. Plan to move onto Senqunyane valley tomorrow early.Freezing outside.

Monday 31

Set off on cold morning on spectacular drive over Bushman’s

34

Nick’s Diary

35

Pass, over Blue Mountain Pass (2634) and down towardsSenqunyane valley. Newly tarmaced surface. Hairpin bendafter hairpin, many of which we go round in 1st gear. Many ofthe mountains, covered in dry scrub and the odd bush, dusted insnow from last week’s fall and the shadowed areas by the road-side still with clinging clumps of ice. The mountainsides in theearly light had a reddish tinge, strangely reminiscent ofScotland and its heather. Past turn off for Mohali dam (upperreaches of Senqunyane) where the tarmac road stopped – anylink, I wonder, between the two? Newly constructed ‘village’for dam workers down below road – red/ochre huts with cop-per-green roofs. Through various police checks – a policemanwith a hand-operated barrier (waves and smiles) then onto thedirt road towards Marakabei. Herdboy in blankets and sticksdriving goats and sheep above + below road. Occasional figureon a horse.

Stop at bridge over Senqunyane. Valley much steeper and nar-rower than Makhaleng with fordable, spearmint green water.Drove back up to village – wanted to ask at police station as towhether anyone knew of any rock paintings.

The police were initially reticent, but Simon’s effusive charmand wacky friendliness soon resolved this. Lereng (the police-man) agreed to take us to the chief of the village to ask forinformation. Walked up to the chief’s hut – the one for busi-ness (simple round stone hut with straw roof, earth floor, nodoor/windows) and waited along with other petitioners. Ratherthan being in tribal dress, chief was a young man in jeans andtrainers sat at desk filling in forms. Spoke passable English andseemed willing to help. Called over an old man, who seemed toknow of some sites of rock painting nearby – we used the bookon rock art to illustrate what we were looking for. Agreed tomeet tomorrow to begin walk. This was the major boost – nodoubt that Senqunyane would replace Makhaleng as the choiceof valley for walk.

Elated, we drove back to Maseru, a Mosotho ex-teacher onboard lowering our undercarriage even more. Had planned tomeet Anna Gust (working for Gap Year with Durham Link inMaseru) with a student who could act as our guide. Met atSteers. Anna was there with Mohalenyane Moshoeshoe, a veryconfident, well-spoken student – certainly in no way over-whelmed or intimidated. Equipment etc. no problem. VisitedMinistry of Sports Tourism + Culture to enquire about permit.Very helpful, entertaining woman but put in a dilemma – thepaper work could take days and we didn’t have many of them.Told to return tomorrow – a possible sticky point.

Checked into Anglican centre for the night then I took car backto Budget. Masses to do and I was still on PGCE efficencymode – you know, 20 mins to do an hour’s worth of work andnot enough time for pleasantries. Difficult in Maseru… Finallymet up about 6 with everyone. Plan to leave tomorrow forMarakabei. Met up with John, a friend of Simon’s fromOxford, out researching an archaeological dig near Mokhotlong.We 3 + John went down to the Hut, Maseru’s no.1 restaurant –for dinner. Best food yet – Maluti snails, ribs etc. and forSimon a 1kg steak for which he received an award. How did hedo it. Simon on excellent form, providing much amusement forstaff. Last decent meal for quite a while.

Maseru by night – very quiet. Minimal traffic. Slight hasslefrom a few prostitutes. Odd briar burning on edge of mainstreet with few people huddled round for warmth. Some com-pounds – NGOs, high commissions, floodlight – endless bark-ing of dogs. Cold.

Tuesday 1 August

Spent morning shopping for food + meths. I collected permitfrom Ministry impressively fast + unobstructive work. WishEnglish school red tape was as rapid as this. Permit could be asaviour if any police/chief become difficult or obstructive.Shared out provisions, spend an hour or so trying to work outbest combinations for packing all the stuff in our rucksacks,then weighed them. Over-thorough? Petty-minded “my bag’sbigger than yours” arguments can really sour walking trips. Wethree weighed in at about 28kg each.

We got away early afternoon – got a ride in the back of a pick-up (a friend of M’s) to the bus station. Bus station, like bus sta-tions all over the developing world are wonderful places. Fullof people hawking all sorts of wares, hanging about for trans-port, shopping, eating snacks. As the only whites there we pro-vided some focus of attention. People curious, friendly andhelpful. No sense of driver wanting/intending to rip us off.Found space in back of Toyota pickup. Rucksacks strapped toroof.

Arrived Marakabei early evening. Concern that old man mighthave been waiting for us all day – a message had been left toradio police at Marakabei but we were unsure as to whether ithad got through. Met up with Lereng again + his colleaguesand went to bar for beer. Suffocating fumes of coal. Smokymurk of candle light. Women behind counter reeled off astream of “sights” down the valley. I only got the tail end ofthe information overload being translated by M. Info noteddown on back of till receipt. Seemed that valley was the hauntof a large snake – and that last summer in the rainy season anunusual half-pig half-snake had been caught and killed by thevillagers. Nobody knew what it was but its skin had been madeinto a hat by one of the villagers. It also seemed that variouscaves with paintings existed.

Seemed to be a blend of fact, hearsay and folklore (amorphousanimals featuring as a rain animal in San belief). Such infoonly increased out convictions that the Senqunyane was “our”valley. Eventually managed to get a lift for the 1? km down toMarakabei lodge for some food. Protracted negotiations first,with long pauses and pee breaks. We could have walked therefaster. Returned to the police station to sleep for the night.

Wednesday 2

After a pleasantly warm night, awaited policemen who turnedup at 8am – a friendly lot of people keen to help us on our way.Went up to visit the chief again and to meet old man who couldlead us to the rock paintings. Old man was there but seemed(unlike 2 days ago) unsure about paintings but was willing toshow us some ‘scenic places’. A moment of doubt and frustra-tion. We decided to set off anyhow – felt we had enough evi-dence to walk the valley. Anyway, we were already committed.

Saddled up and wandered down to the bridge + river. Stoppedinto Marakabei lodge for final lunch, but a group from Maseruwere booked in for a braai so we had tea and ate our tinned fish(mackerel in mustard), muesli rusks and cheddar cubes – staplelunch for next week.

Headed off down river valley by 2pm. Immediate enthusiasmfor scanning rock strata. I felt overwhelmed by scale of things– no idea what an appropriate site would look like, likelihood offinding anything, process of surveying. I crossed over riverafter about 2km to check out an escarpment in a side-valley.Enthusiasm diminished fact that site was quite a way away.

Took about 40 mins. Clearly not going to be possible if wewere going to get anywhere. After much debate about whetherto camp, leave baggage etc., met up with 2 herdboys and fol-lowed them to their village – Lehlekeng. (Numerous sightingsof large riverine bird – tufted head, deep brown, 2ft span).

We had no idea what to expect. Met elfin chief who, afterseeming displeased, broke into enthusiastic welcome. Told uswe would sleep in his hut – c.6m diameter stonewalled hut withthatched roof, one window and wooden door. Went to look atconstruction of new hut – wooden frame only. Smoke filtersthrough roof – no chimney and floor + interior walls made ofmud/cowdung mix. As darkness fell so the entertainmentwarmed up. Soon afterward we were introduced to man withbasin-like fur hat. Fur was golden and short + dense (like froma bear). This was the skin of the snake-pig!! Despite usingwildlife book we failed to identify it. A mammal of some sort.

Repetitive tune struck on one single-stringed instrument. Thensomeone turned up with percussion gear and we had a party.Herds of children turned up and we – and our pathetic jerkingefforts to copy their dancing – became focus of attention. Lotsof sticking bottom out, jerking of hips, hissing and ‘shap! shap!’shouting (Sesotho slang for ‘cool’). Our hair caused fascina-tion. Pig tethered nearby snorting. Must have danced for about2 hours. Then the chief turned up, a few beers happier thanbefore, and having talked for about 20mins seemed to suggestwe called it a day and let the kids calm down.

We cooked in the hut but observed in everything we did. Thetrangias caused intense interest as did the food we were cook-ing. The chief had ordered his eldest son to “look after” us – hebasically salivated so much we gave him some of our food –difficult to refuse. Chief came back – lots of beers inside himnow, clearly – and rambled on for about 30mins about how wel-come we were. Kindly words buried in his verbal sludge –about why we were all a “brotherhood” and how there was “nosuch thing as white”. To his son’s eyebrow-raised embarrass-ment he then became confused about how we could be in our20s – rather than 100s. Then said, on parting, how we would besafe from having our throats cut while we were staying withhim. Not sure how to take that – hadn’t crossed our minds,really. Finally got to roll our mats and sleeping bags – causedfurther scrutiny – and get to sleep. And slept well.

Thursday 3

Got up early, and packed for a day of recce in the surroundingarea. Village set just above river on outside of hairpin bend inriver. Spur opposite very dramatic – like a chunk of Colorado:sheer on both side with a wall of sandstone running along thetop. Valley is really steep on both sides – dark + cold in winter.

Split into pairs to recce spur just beyond village. Looked possi-ble – spent quite a while scrambling along base of rock outcropabout 100m above river. Locals had been up here to scythegrass. Rock exposed + eroded – no sign of any paintings.Simon + I then crossed river and got up onto ridge on otherside. I still have very little idea of what a decent site will looklike – I’m tending to rush up sheer slope just to check a bit ofoverhung rock. Still, view from top was amazing – watchingriver wind its way through the gorge, odd villages on banks.Rock outcrop running down spine of spurs. A really difficultlandscape to survey thoroughly.

Walked down ridge and met up with Q + M who had scaled up.Reached end of spur then – to applause + advice from villageacross river, - descended to river. Crossed back to village by

1pm. Quickly packed up and – with surprisingly minimal fuss– left. Rucksacks felt really heavy. Chief clearly hung over.

Filled up with water from river while watching large kingfisherand more brown fishing birds. Walked through one other vil-lage, saw nothing worth scanning on way and locals deniedknowing about any caves. More villages up on top above val-ley. About 4.30, crossed over river and decided to make camp.But… M had failed to bring outer to Saunders tent – and man-aged to lose a trangia pan handle in the taxi in Maseru.(Realised after expedition that this wasn’t entirely M’s fault.) Qstuck up a jerry rig (the pole only fixes to the outer), tying tentto branch of tree with MacGyver-like efficiency. Q + M tosleep in Saunders, S + I have luxury of Quasar.

Felt rather self-conscious stuck out in bush – would we be visit-ed by an irate chief?

Friday 4

Life in the Saunders had been extremely cold – ice film crum-bled over sleeping bags, hats etc. Clearly we need to thinkabout this one. Morning very cold – thank the Lord for downjackets, woolly hats etc. We called on the sun as it crawled itsway across the earth towards us.

M went (was sent) back to Lehlakeng to look for tent. Tookwalkie-talkie and seemed rather intimidated. We set aboutwashing ourselves and clothes in river. Simon went for a fullwash – looked rather like a fishing grizzly, knee deep in freez-ing river. Hung clothes on bushes and waited for M. Did recceup river but saw no obvious sites.

M returned c.11 o’clock empty-handed. Packed up and left.Had to keep crossing river as path petered out on outside ofbends due to steepness of bank. Passed group of kids asking for“bonbons” and camped at a lovely grassy spot. Local told usabout dead fish in river and death of some cows. Also that riverchanges colour – we obviously took this rather to heart. Mbegan to nurture an article about pollution from dam. Maybeall of this totally unconnected to dam but we feel a little waryof river.

Then got stuck up on a ridge above river looking across to real-ly fine sandstone escarpment – a lot of humming an hahingabout whether we should check it. All locals denied existenceof paintings or caves but we felt really bad at ignoring such asection. Finally reached bottom, but decided not to go back –sense that we couldn’t do section and must keep going until –hopefully – someone knows something.

Found a flat spot by river for camp. Q to have Saunders alone.S + I went off to collect water – all tributaries from hillsideswere dry. So in darkness we climb up the rivulet and manage toget all bottles full by pressing moss – I have learnt somethinghere. Routine of cooking + dietary constraints was well sorted.

Saturday 5

Really cold night. Group decision to camp out of valley awayfrom river from now on. Again, waiting for patch of sun tocreep across earth – by about 9 am. All water frozen, so mak-ing tea a real chore. I puncture pelican bag by punching ice infrustration.

Walked round massive spur and stopped at junction with

36

Braipala river. Filled up bottles and talked with group ofscruffy goatherds – they just come to stare wide-eyed wrappedin blanket + with balaclava on head – each with stick. Informedabout some big caves up side-valley – I go with M to investi-gate. (I really enjoy these rapid excursions without pack.Who’ll be first to actually find anything?) Best shelter we hadyet come across – massive sandstone overhang – bigger thantwo sets explored yesterday. But like yesterday plenty of signsof recent habitation by herdboys – fires, droppings etc., but nopaintings. A beautiful side-valley with many tempting lookingsites – beginning to look more hopeful. Valley isn’t so steepbut with gentler banks. More pronounced rock outcrops. Lesshostile terrain.

Walked along straight section, high up, then descended anddecided to make for one of the villages – Ha Nchemane – sinceit was located on a side-valley, thus good for water. We had alldecided to camp (if required) outside the valley for warmth.Also realised that we had to rely on local knowledge if we wereto make any progress along valley. Herdboys seem to geteverywhere – they would know of any caves.

Preparing for our usual “end-of-day river crossing” (Q + I haveTeva sandals, S + M on bare feet. Water v cold and rocky bot-tom can be awkward. Stick extremely helpful) when we sawbridge – a green steel footbridge. Wow. Tramped over this – Qtaking necessary photos, then up to village. Real slog up tohuts for end of day.

Arrival caused some confusion. Turned out we weren’t speak-ing to chief. He was away. As always a lot of chat seemed toproduce very little certain info. Eventually shown to smart hutwith beautiful carved door depicting elephants. Whole villagehad a really well kept up air. Window frames painted carveddoor s etc. Interior was fascinating – many wooden accou-trements like clock + light in ceiling, but none working (noelectricity). As before, crockery and pots laid out on table fordisplay, but covering in thick layer of dust.

M + I went off to river for water. Decided not to use spring –why? Trying to be a gent and not muddy the shallow villagewell – and ended up having an unpleasant trip fumbling alongslippery steep track. I arrived back, in pitch darkness, in a foulmood. But, the chief had returned, and was talking to S + Q.He knew of some sites of paintings! Infectious surge of reliefburst through all of us.

Chief, Lesoma Mokoma, was an appealing old man with asmattering of English. He had been a teacher and, with contactslike a son in army in Maseru had been able to ensure some ben-efits for his village. He was precise about details of paintings,referring to one of a snake and even showing site on map –junction of the Senqunyane and Lesobeng. Owners of hutturned up, and despite our embarrassment made us feel at home– really friendly. We cooked, observed, then, to the relief of thecouple who thought we were going to take their fancy 60s stylevelvet-covered bed next door got out our mats. Even so theowner insisted on pushing our mats together and covering uswith blankets. Pillows were forced on us. People are – as wesee it – so kind. M keeps telling us to accept it and stop feelingguilty. But there is a sense that we cannot repay such hospitali-ty or ever emulate such behaviour – certainly not in Britishcities. It does seem like a very hard, selfish place from outhere. In the night, lost the benefit of the shared blanket as Mnicked all of it.

Sunday 6

Beautiful morning. From up on the ‘plain’ away from the val-ley, the feeling is of space. With springs to provide water uphere the river canyon must be merely an inconvenience. Youlook across this rift in the ground to the rolling/terraced fieldson the other side and the – now – abundant villages.

Our plan now was to walk as fast as possible to the Lesobeng.There had been talk of taxis etc. since the chief reckoned on 2days’ walk, but Q + I were adamant that this was a walking trip.After a bit of discussion, S + M agreed. Set off downvalley –rather than relative shortcut across hills. S + M really set thepace and we covered by far the best distance so far. Had anentertaining lunch when a group of cows nearly became allfrisky. After lunch walked through beautiful scenery – reallyfelt like Africa with valley rolling up into conical and flat-topped hills covered in dry scrub bushes and grass. We walkedthrough tall yellow grasses, the path only a thin slit through. Acase of following the colour glimpsed of the rucksack in front.Track dusty underfoot. Many dry rivulets crossed. Brief halt(we’re on 1hr stints) under gnarled tree, then off again.

Towards end of day – having checked out some interesting sites– spot village on left spur. Decision not to spend another nightin valley, so scramble up bank to find meagre collection of afew huts. All adult males in Maseru/SA – so deal with women.Shabby looking place with abandoned huts + cacti. Dump ourstuff in only square hut.

But it appears that they know of sites of paintings and herdboywill take us tomorrow. We’ve done really well for distance andLesobeng lies just over the col. Rumour that some canoeistshave been wandering round here but just on a day off. We’llstill be photographing new sites – the point of the trip, after all.

Village is clearly really poor and our cooking causes crowding.We are all really hungry after today’s exertions but feel obligedto share out some of our food + tea. Hard not to feel grudgingbut then it is their hut… Seeing kid licking + savouring one ofour fusilli; others licking the packing used as a plate was verysobering. But I now feel much more confident about getting onwith my own stuff – less nervy and worried about making theright impressions. In other hut a fire roars in the centre, flamesinches from straw roof through which smoke must filter.

We crash out, exhausted. Herdboys hang around to gaze, beoffered fags and strum ‘guitar’. Sleeping on hard earth floor iscausing a restless pattern of sleep. Sleep on tent in order to tryto remedy problem.

Village called Ha Motsiba – confusing as so is the village onthe other side of the river.

Monday 7

Packed up in anticipation of a great discovery. Women made uspap + porridge for breakfast. Amazing how good both arebeginning to taste. A bit of sugar… Pap and stock cubegravy… Took one rucksack anticipating a quick recce trip.

Climbed up over col and down other side past village of pinksandstone huts – Thabeng, our guide, checking in for his herd-boy job. (Fairly pureblooded Bushman old lady there.) Thentraversed along the left side of the valley, though back fromriver.

The Lesobeng valley is awesome – great slabs of wavy, mould-

37

ed yellow sandstone lining the river, and most significant, cavesthe size of nuclear bunkers. Great letterbox slits in the rock,caverns under arching beams of rock. But we pressed on, downto the river then up past a fork, for about 2 hours. Sun reallyhot. Past rock formations far more hopeful than any we hadseen. Finally stopped under a huge overhang, the mouth ofwhich was surrounded by fallen rocks and boulders. Up aboveus a perfect arch of rock, through which the river must oncehave flowed.

Mixed feelings about the first site we saw – mainly, to be hon-est, disappointment. Patches of ochre paint in crude animalform – except for some finer lions – and masses of graffiti. Thepaintings looked far more blocky than any I had seen photos of.Simon didn’t really help slightly tense situation by exclaiminghow fascinating this was since it told us much about Basothoattitudes (copying of style + graffiti) to the San. Interestingecho-effect – sounded as if river, nearby, was flowing throughcave itself. This may well have been a site, but seemed a cruelway to introduce us to rock art. Will we find anything else.

We hadn’t got the decent camera equipment with us so madebest of Canon 1000 and then trooped back. Met group ofschool kids on their way home. Most seemed very wary of thewhite fellows. Their ‘school run’ passed right past the cave,then straight up a near sheer rock face to the villages on the top.Persuaded that this was the quickest way for us too, we fol-lowed, in awe about the physical normality of the villagers.How many of these kids need ritalin or other calming, mind-altering medication? How many of the kids are too fat to playgames?

Pushed hard on return trip and made it home about 4.30. Along day’s walk. All of us very disappointed. But some othercaves remain to be looked into. On way back over col, metgroup coming up from Ha Motsiba with tree trunks on theirheads – in the lead was ‘elderly’ woman with bare feet and abig smile. Wow!

Tuesday 8

Decided to return to Senqunyane to walk remaining sectionbetween where we had left off and the junction with theLesobeng then to move up the Lesobeng. This way we would-n’t miss any obvious sites.

Senqunyane didn’t look too hopeful – S went off for a bit of arecce. Then crossed over Senqunyane and met with someyoung, reticent herdboys. Apparently they knew of some paint-ings up river. We followed, but on rounding the first cornerwere hailed from high up on the left bank by Thabang and afriend. They had found us some paintings. We eagerly scram-bled up and – to our intense pleasure – we saw a shallow caverunning along rock outcrop for about 20m. Could identifypatches along the back wall – odd dancing figures, animals(elands, rain animal etc.). This in itself seemed to make thewhole trip worthwhile.

To the fascination of the herdboys we got photographing –bracketing using ring flash, the reflector. Simon noting descrip-tion and details. GPS reading – waypoint Lesob1 – et al. Tookabout 1? hours. Then we climbed up and followed herdboys toanother site they knew. Rather than winding along the river, theroute involved climbing out of the valley, traversing slope, thendescending down steep gully. Very awkward footing due toloose scree and face-high scrub. Thabang literally flew downahead in his wellie boots – how does he do it? On reachingbottom turned briefly back downriver and right by river itself

on slightly overhung large, clean slab of rock, S found paintingsof elands. This was noted, then we followed guides across riverto large cave just up side-valley. Here, after scrambling up asandy bank, we found some extraordinary paintings – far themost detailed yet. A deep cave, arching up to about 15ft, wellprotected, in this magical side-valley with the water tricklingover large boulders just below. Very sheltered. What remainedwas obviously part of a large frieze that had arched across backof cave. What was extraordinary was the detail that had beenput into the paintings – the linear description was still notice-able where the pigment had faded. Numerous therianthropicfigures with swept back arms/wings all covered in hair.Detailed depiction of elands – head very clear. Groups of danc-ing figures – possible to make out fly whisks and even skin capon one figure. As if layers of paint had been used rather thanjust monochrome.

We took note in awe, then decided to come back tomorrow tophotograph. I briefly checked up valley for other paintings,without success. News that a shop existed in the village aboveus was irresistible. We scrambled up the hillside and found thehut run by two large, bejewelled ladies – the sort that takes nohassle from anyone. No beer, no fags – we could only buy bis-cuits – suitable for a dog – hair extensions, steel wool, pencils,sugar, and 2kg of pap. Then back to Ha Motsiba – this day hasmade to the trip – justified to us and them its value.

Wednesday 9

We set off by 10 with all our gear and, having negotiated the‘chute’ again, quickly dealt with Lesob 2 – the rock face by theriver. Then moved across river to Lesob 3 – took much longerto cover.

Simon unearthed some adzes – flint-like stones that can appar-ently be used for scraping grasses etc. This is a really magicalplace with the stream bubbling away beneath as we sat on thegrey sand floor of the cave.

Thabang and his friend serenaded us on their guitars for thewhole morning and fell into hysterics every time I did a badimpersonation of a bullfrog. Long story.

We had paid the village 30 Rands last night as token of ourappreciation of their hospitality. (We had, after all, spent 3nights with them, taking up one of their huts.) They seemedoverwhelmed with thanks – and it got us moroho (spinach,picked from wild) with our pap! That much would buy a cou-ple of burgers in Maseru, but out here… Had spent a while pon-dering how much to pay, aware that too much as damaging astoo little. A funny village – women and kids. Apparently it islinked to the village over the col and that is where the chief +men chose to stay (though note that men out in the mines fromthis part of village, according to what the lady said viaMohalenyane).

Anyway, after a miniscule lunch of one (dog)biscuit each withhoney, we moved up valley about 500m, then up the valley sideto an enormous cave – a real nuclear bunker-type overhang.Nothing immediately apparent, but on closer inspection Simonfound some figures in the section of the cave to the left where awalled enclosure of about 10ft by 6ft had been built. Then wefound further traces at ankle height outside. As before, thewhole roof had fallen in fairly recently and with it most of thepaintings were probably lost.

We climbed up on the second tier above the cave, then out ontothe top itself. The cave is set within a spur of rock that reaches

38

out into the valley like a pointing index finger. The top was flatwith circular compressions, probably the remains of bubblesfrom when volcanic.

I regressed to childhood scrambling around on this amazingrock formation. We found some more elands outside of thecave itself. We set up camp beneath the cave itself ready forthe morning.

Thursday 10

We moved up into Lesob 4 and dealt with the photography.Had a fascinating time digging in the earth and retrievinghoards of bushman tools – chips of flint-like stone, adzes,chunks of quartz and shaped pieces of bone. So much stuff andall of it must have been brought here. We even found part of adigging stick stone.

We collected the best findings together and laid them out onrocks for photography.

M had gone off to the village above to enquire about otherpaintings. Returned with news of a big site in the Kuebung val-ley, the next major side-valley down the Senqunyane. A long,long walk and a sense that time is running out. Q and I will beback in England in 7 days.

We had an entertaining photo session up in the rock face abovethe cave. Q had brought pipes for each of us and a packet ofBalkan Sobranie – we modelled ourselves as Victorian explor-ers, puffing away, with wistful gazes into the horizon, the fullweight of our facial hair on proud display. Even managed toimprovise some cravates. Our finds were laid out before us.Then we had lunch – a case of seeing how much honey couldbe fitted on a single peanut – even the (dog) biscuits have gone!

Having finished with Lesob 4, we moved over the valley to alarge cave that was visible opposite. More awkward to reachthan Lesob 4, but an amazing shelter. I walked straight in andthrough, finding nothing in my haste. Cave was formed arounda rivulet that ran through middle. Lots of trees and scrub at theentrance. Simon immediately identified paintings – he does thisso calmly! – and on inspection we realised that we had foundthe snake painting referred to by the chief back at HaNchemane. Again erosion had dealt with much of the paintingbut the snake was very visible with trance lines emanating fromit on which figures danced etc. Other paintings of eland +dancing figures found elsewhere.

The light was going so we got on with photography etc. Iclimbed a tree at the mouth of the cave in order to get a clearerGPS reading. Packed up about 4.30 and headed back across theriver to campsite. Then spent about an hour recceing upriverfrom these sites. Walked along gravel river beds, the banksreally moulded sandstone – like being in a chute. Saw thefamiliar stork-type bird (red beak and legs with black + whitebody) fly low overhead. An amazing sight. Found a cave ofthe same proportions as Lesob 4 + 5 right on the riverside, rightbank. Most probably was used as a shelter, but has been filledmany times – possibly annually – by the river. Walked on a bitfurther, then Simon again found some more paintings – a mix-and-match again – on a slightly overhung large rock face about10m above the river. One amazingly detailed image of aneland. We have more work to do tomorrow! There is a sensethat this valley is simply littered with paintings – many ofwhich we will have no time to find.

Ate pap + gravy again. Hunger has driven us to even chip the

last gunky remains from the trangia pots.

Friday 11

We couldn’t decide what to do this morning – walk to theKuebung and hope for a taxi from somewhere nearby? Spend1-2 days here at Lesobeng? Walk out to Ha Salemonetoday/tomorrow? Eventually we decided to pack up camp, takeall our stuff upriver to Lesob 6 and then walk out to HaSalemone this evening – or as far as possible.

Had a relaxed morning, each of us individually going off to doour stuff. We found 3 more sites – nothing very amazing, butproof that this valley must have been like an exhibition galleryof San painting.

After lunch we set off down the valley on the way to HaSalemone. We walked, in effect, all the Lesobeng that we havebeen focusing on. It was a relief that we didn’t see any obvioussites that we had missed. I think that we were all quite excitedto be walking out.

The walk was hard going but one of my highlights. We had towalk out of the Senqunyane valley to the west, circumnavigatea peak, then walk along a ridge to get to the collection of settle-ments of which Ha Salemone is the major one. In no way tech-nically difficult, just a big, long climb. I felt fantastically fit –this trip has obviously paid off! – and stormed out in the leadup to the top. The views were fantastic. A strong sense of adifferent existence out of the valley itself, up on the rollingmountainsides. From the valley, Ha Salemone looks like abizarre place to build a village, way up on the mountain top.Once you’re up there, the valley seems restrictive and remote –and you realise that you’re not on a peak but the edge of abroad plain.

The views were magnificent and at that time of day the shad-ows playing across the mountainside were magnificent.Reminded me very much of Tibet with the green/yellow corru-gated landscape seeming to go on forever.

We reached Ha Salemone in the dark, all our minds fixed onfinding a shop for beer (+fags). It was immediately noticeablethat these villages had bus connections – people were betterdressed, oblivious to our arrival and more nonchalant andsophisticated. We found the shop closed which was a real pain,and went off to find the chief. His dogs went nuts and therewas a slight concern that they might attack us. Chief turned upand apologised that because of a large funeral service going on,he had no spare beds. He insisted we camp outside his group ofhuts.

We were watched at every stage by the chief, his charming oldfriend and the prince. It was really cold – much more so uphere than in Ha Motsiba. We made lots of brews and I cookedpap with leftovers of soya. Then, our last night under canvas.

Saturday 12

The bus arrived at 8am. We were up at 6.30 – earlier than usual– in order to be ready. S + M nipped off to the shop before 7and came back with bread, spam, sweets and fags. Chunks ofspam between dry, sweet, crumbly bread – mmm and ? a can ofcoke.

Bus arrived on time – just like all the buses I have seen – rivet-

39

ed panels with high ground clearance, racks on roof, music blar-ing out. Bus driver knew M and was full of smiles and wel-come. Felt really good to be going out – a real sense ofachievement and satisfaction. Felt almost glamorous kitted upin out woolly hats and down jackets climbing onto the bus – jobwell done. Sat at the back, the sun hot through the window,Sotho music pumping. And off we bounced.

Arrived at Semonkong, a sprawl of shops compounds etc.Much smaller than I had imagined. Frasers store very obviouswith copper green roof. We headed off to Frasers SemonkongLodge, down by the river. A nice site made up of terraces ofhuts, some thatched. Crashed out to wait for breakfast, plan-ning to relax, watch Lesotho – v – Zimbabwe on telly, visitMaletsunyane Falls. Then the food poisoning hit. How unlucky– S + M were down with it for 2 days. Not the sort of loungingin bed and sitting down they’d intended!

Arriving back in Maseru on the Monday, they flew from Jo’burgon the Wednesday.

Nick’s Summary

Had we found no paintings, the trip would still have beenworthwhile. We would have had a thoroughly enjoyable hikedown a remote valley in a scenically and culturally fascinatingpart of Africa. We would have relied on the nature – specifical-ly birds – we had seen, the village life of the Basotho and thewonderful scenery to fall back on in our minds. As it turnedout we have all these plus the knowledge that we were (proba-bly) the first whites to record, perhaps view, paintings in amajor area of San settlement. Not only is this exciting academ-ically but it means that our trip achieved 100% of what it setout to do. We took a gamble and it paid off. We could havegone to areas with recorded paintings, or worked on an estab-lished bit, but we chose the less likely of the two valleys on ourown – rather than academic – judgement, and it worked out.That’s why, in a nutshell, the trip was so good. It all pulledtogether to complete the package. Let’s hope the photos aregood and that someone else other than us is interested in view-ing them and what we have to say about them. In hindsight Irealise that we’ve done some fairly interesting things whilst outhere. It would be nice for the work to get some recognition. Iassume S, M + Q feel the same.

40

University of Oxford University of CambridgeHIGH COMMISSION OFTHE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO

Royal Geographical Society

With many thanks to:

Our sponsors: The Royal Geographical Society, Geographical Magazine,Silva, the Cambridge University Expedition Society and the CambridgeExpeditions Fund.

Academic advisors: Dr Peter Mitchell, Dr Ben Smith, Prof Lukas Smits,Prof David Ambrose, Prof David Phillipson.

Mohalenyane Moshoeshoe, for his dedication, ability and humour.

The High Commission of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Mrs Molibeli and MrsKitsane of the PPC, Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Culture, Mr StephenMabula of Lesotho-Durham Link, Mr & Mrs Forrest, Morena LesomaMokoma of Ha Nchemane, and the many people in Lesotho without whomthe expedition would have been impossible - above all the herdboysThabang and Lekhotsa.