The Cederberg
Sandstone Eroded Into Arches, Cracks And Free Standing Pillars Across A Wilderness Area Two Hundred Kilometres North Of Cape Town, With The Wolfberg Arch And The Maltese Cross As The Set Pieces, San Rock Paintings In Overhangs Across The Range, Rooibos Growing Nowhere Else On Earth, And Clear Skies Over 4x4 Tracks And Self Catering Cottages · Clanwilliam, Western Cape
Two hundred kilometres north of Cape Town the mountains turn to sandstone and the sandstone has been eroded into shapes that look deliberate. The Wolfberg Arch stands on a ridge at nineteen hundred metres, the Maltese Cross is a thirty-metre pillar in open veld, and the Wolfberg Cracks are fissures you climb up through in the dark, squeezing between walls, to get onto the plateau. Across the range there are San rock paintings in hundreds of overhangs, some of them thousands of years old and many on private farms where you ask before you go. This is also where rooibos grows - the only place on earth it does commercially - and where Cape Town goes to be cold, quiet and off the grid in self-catering cottages with no signal. It is a wilderness area with 4x4 tracks rather than a park with a gate, and the skies at night are among the very best anywhere in South Africa, which is a second reason to come.
In the mountains 200 km north of Cape Town behind Clanwilliam, with the Wolfberg Arch and the Maltese Cross on the high ground, Clanwilliam, Western Cape, South Africa
A wilderness area rather than a single site. The CapeNature Cederberg Wilderness is entered by permit for hiking and overnight trails, bought through CapeNature or at Algeria and Kromrivier, and WILDERNESS PERMITS ARE NEEDED FOR SOME AREAS AND SHOULD BE ARRANGED AHEAD rather than at a gate. The Wolfberg Arch and Cracks are reached from Sanddrif and are not casual walks - the Cracks involve scrambling and squeezing in the dark. The Maltese Cross is a shorter route from Dwarsrivier. SAN ROCK ART SITES ARE OFTEN ON PRIVATE FARMS and access is by arrangement; Bushmans Kloof and Sevilla trail are the usual arranged options. Accommodation is self-catering cottages and campsites, booked ahead for South African holidays. Clanwilliam is the service town; it is about three hours from Cape Town and MALARIA-FREE.