South Africa's Limpopo Province Unveiled: Echoes of Ancient Civilisations

South Africa's northern province is an ancient land where those who have gone before have left their indelible mark. Shrouded in the mists of time is Makapansgat, a maze of interleading limestone caves where the bones of early ape man have been cradled for more than three and a half million years and where the fossils of animals long since extinct lie buried. By some good luck, blasting by miners looking for the limestone, Travertine has exposed a treasure trove of fossils on the roof of one of the caves, a roof that is really the floor of an ancient cavity lying above. This is a section of the spinal column of an antelope. The bones are still lying in their natural position, they're semi-articulated and this can tell us that the animal fell into the cave as a complete creature and was then washed or perhaps it even roamed right down here to the bottom of the cave where it fossilised more or less in one piece. How old do you estimate the fossil to be, Julie? This is the lowest part of the cave so it's probably approaching three million years and living contemporaneous with this creature would have been the saber-toothed cats. World famous in archaeological circles is what is known as the cave of hearths, which has a record of human occupation right from the early stone age, over 200,000 years ago, through the middle and later stone age as well as iron age horizons at the top. The whitened bone fragments at one of the hearths lies embedded in the rock like the leftovers of an ancient barbecue. Deep in the spectacular Waterberg mountains, the mark of another early resident, the stone age sand, is etched on the inner wall of a sandstone cave. Large cracks in this mountain shelter give a false sense of imminent catastrophe, while huge boulders bear testimony to ancient rock falls but looks as if they happened but yesterday. Early explorers to this legendary place could be forgiven for believing themselves lost in some mythological kingdom surrounded by a maze of red-tinged mountains that look like huge castles with stone wall ramparts. Following in the wake of these first people came ancestral tribes from dark Africa and from the southern tip of Africa, the Voortrekkers. During territorial turbulence the first to suffer were the sand people who were forced to make way for the stronger tribes from the north. Maritskop was the scene of many battles but there was one in particular that has gone down in history. The Baperdi used to use that mountain as a fortress and the Swazis were trying to invade them and they were climbing up the side of the mountain but there was a great mist on top so the Swazis couldn't see where they were going. The Baperdi knew this and took great big rocks and rolled them down over the Swazis and the sound that that made was Maholoholo, Maholoholo and the battle is known as the battle of Maholoholo. The ones that managed to escape ran down here to the Blaida river and they were massacred in the water here. Certain times of day the rocks shine a red tinge there and people believe it's the blood of the slain Swazi warriors. The arrival of early settlers met with strong resistance from the local people. Fort Endrina is one of three forts built in 1880 to protect the burghers during skirmishes with the vendor. It was also used in the Anglo-Boer war. One chief who gained legendary significance for his brave stand at the time of the early settlers was Makuba. Refusing to leave the graves of his ancestors to foreigners he evaded his pursuers by taking refuge in a thick mist forest. When Swazi mercenaries were employed to hunt him down he disguised himself as one of them by using one of their identifying headbands. He was eventually caught and decapitated. This simple stone monument is a reminder of the brutal massacre of 33 poor trekker men, women and children by the Ndebele followers of Makapan some years earlier. A Boer commander was sent to punish Makapan who took refuge with about 1,000 of his people in one of the three large chambers of the Makapan's hut caves where they were barricaded in by their pursuers. And then they tried to get them out by firing on them with their cannon and rolling in burning logs but they wouldn't come out. So eventually most of them starved to death they had no water no food. But legend has it that Makapan himself in fact did escape being strapped to the belly of an ox he got out that way. The resilience and pioneering spirit of the Voortrekkers can be seen in a recreated village at the Schoeman style museum. It's built on the site of the first small town a settlement used primarily as a hunting base. Local resident and historian Chris Oliver has a rich knowledge of the Voortrekker past. When the Afrikaner pioneers arrived in this area they settled here in order to build structures like this to have a bit of luxury while they were developing Schoeman style. The Voortrekkers have become synonymous with ox wagons which carried them thousands of miles across rivers and mountains. Can you imagine a modern day family going on holiday or moving their belongings on a wagon like this. But how do they get them down from a mountainside for instance? You can take this apart in small pieces basically the size of a wheel and carry it and assemble it. You can disassemble this if you know what you're doing in under an hour and you can assemble it in the same duration of time as well. The hunting expeditions carried out by the Boers adventurers fortune seekers and traders escalated at an alarming rate taking its toll on the wildlife particularly elephants who were killed in their thousands for ivory. The diary of Joseph Churchill records the estimated number of elephants supposed to be shot this year in the district is about 1,000 fearful slaughter. Today elephants are afforded protection in the legendary piece of African splendor known as the Kruger National Park. This wildlife Eden is home to over 8,000 elephants. Declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1898 by Paul Kruger it covers an area of almost 2 million hectares and is today one of the largest and most famous wildlife parks in Africa. Elephants are also protected in the large trans-frontier peace park initiative that allows them to cross from South Africa through to Botswana and Zimbabwe at the confluence of the Sashay and Limpopo rivers. This romance with every facet of this province's textured past continues to live on in its people, cultures, myths and legends.