Jay T

3.00 USA - 22-Jan-25 -

It took me until my second visit to Mossel Bay, but I was finally able to visit Pinnacle Point, one of the three components of The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa, last week. The Pinnacle Point Complex consists of a number of caves along the Indian Ocean coast that scientists believe were occupied for over 125,000 years. Of these caves, 13B is accessible to the public via a cave tour which can be booked through the Point of Human Origins website.

The first time I visited Mossel Bay, I spent a good part of the morning on a hike along the incredibly scenic St. Blaize trail along the Indian Ocean coast. I'm very happy I did the hike, but it came at the cost of arranging a visit to Pinnacle Point, since I had limited time in town. When I booked a trip to South Africa that included another visit to Mossel Bay this month, I made sure to contact the site in advance to schedule a tour. Originally I was the only person booked for the tour, but after talking with friends I'd made on a trivia team while traveling, they expressed interest in coming along too, and it turned out to be a wonderful day out.

The Pinnacle Point Complex sits midway down sea cliffs along the Indian Ocean, and below a posh country club housing development. We met Christopher, our guide, in front of the clubhouse, and proceeded to walk through a tunnel under the golf course to reach the trail to the caves. Christopher gave a short history about the archaeological work being done at this site before we walked down the stairs to Cave 13B. The hike in itself took about 15-20 minutes, with spectacular views of a bright blue ocean crashing against the rocks below. 

Over the thousands of years of occupation at Pinnacle Point, the ocean was for a time a few miles away from the current cliff, so that the cave looked out on plains likely used for hunting. Nowadays the cave looks out on a beautiful ocean view which serves as a reminder of a more recent period in the cave's history, in which sea levels were higher, causing erosion at the front of the cave. Accordingly part of the historical remains of Cave 13B are no longer extant. What does remain, though, is evidence of early human tools: microliths (small blades) are embedded in the layers of the cave exposed along the wall. Additionally, ochre deposits have also been found in the cave, and archaeologists speculate these may have been used as body paint. While it's a bit disappointing that many artifacts have likely been lost to time, it was neat to see this evidence of modern human behavior.

The group I traveled with found the tour of Pinnacle Point to be a highlight of our time in South Africa, and I would absolutely recommend a visit to the site if traveling near Mossel Bay (which is situated along South Africa's Garden Route). Christopher was an excellent guide, and I think the Point of Human Origins management is doing a great job explaining the long history of Pinnacle Point. This made for a very satisfying component of the World Heritage Site to experience.

As for the other components, I'm sorry to hear from Szucs' review that the visit years ago to Sidubu Cave, near Durban, didn't seem to be particularly impressive; looking online, I'm not seeing any current tourism infrastructure that seems to be in place. Sibudu also has examples of early tools (arrows) as well as evidence of ancient bedding material, so I'd hope that they develop some means for interpreting this site for the general public. In contrast, Diepkloof Rock Shelter, north of Cape Town, is managed by the Elands Bay Museum, and seems like it would be as good of an experience as Pinnacle Point. Diepkloof has some artifacts in particular that I think would be absolutely fascinating to see in person: fragments of engraved ostrich shells that were likely used for storage and transport. The rock shelter is on private property, and tours can be arranged by the museum. Next time I find myself in Cape Town, I may have to see if I can carve out time for a visit.

Logistics: The Pinnacle Point Complex is on private property accessed through a country club in Mossel Bay. After arranging a tour with Point of Human Origins, the tour guide will provide logistics information for how to meet up. Private transportation is necessary, and if taking a taxi, be sure the taxi driver takes you all the way to the meeting point, and not just to the entrance to the country club (as we learned the hard way). The Pinnacle Point country club can also be accessed by the wonderful coastal St. Blaize trail, which starts by the Cape St. Blaize lighthouse, but be advised that hiking this coastal route will take at least a couple of hours.

Little Lauren Travels

3.00 USA - 18-Jan-25 -

I visited one of the three inscribed sites, Pinnacle Point, near Mossel Bay. It was the only one of the inscribed sites that had readily available online information about how to visit, and it’s an easy stop when driving the Garden Route. 

Tours are arranged in advance, via WhatsApp, and occur daily at 9, 11, 1, and 3. They arranged a special tour for us at an extra fee, which was so kind, to accommodate other activities in the area.  The actual site is a series of caves under the golf course in a gated community. Although locals knew of the caves for some time, the archaeological assessment in connection with building the golf course led to further study.  The golf course went ahead, but the caves are preserved and recently opened for visits.

The tour itself lasted around 90 minutes and was one of our highlights of the Garden Route.  The guide explained that these caves were important in understanding that humans were more sophisticated than previously thought around 100,000 years ago.  Different floor layers from different periods in history have been preserved, showing things like dyes used for decorative paint, much earlier than previously thought  

The tour does involve around 200 steps down to the caves and back up.  As a bonus, the views of the Indian Ocean and surrounding coast as incredible.

Szucs Tamas

0.50 Hungary - 28-Jul-24 -

I've just recently realized that one of the oddest episodes of my 2002 South Africa trip became a WH site.  That time somebody from ZA convinced some Central European tour operators, that Durban could be an ideal holiday destination for the middle class of New Europe, who are much less safety sensitive - and much more price sensitive - than the Westerners. A Slovak charter airline - with the least creative name ever: Travel Service - launched a weekly service from Budapest to Durban - with Boeing737s, absolutely incapable of long-haul trips.  We had two interim stops - in Aswan and Zanzibar - to refill the plane, during the 12-hour flight in seats designed for the Spanish Inquisition.

For the inauguration flight, a group of Central Europan journalists, tour operators and other experts was invited by the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Board for a two-week field trip. The first week was ok - we visited the must-see destinations of KZN from  St Lucia Wetland Park to Drakensberg.  Most of the group flew back after this week - only some of us remained. That week we were introduced to tier-two sites, that had - according to our partners - "great potential".  Some of these - like Hluhluwe - were really interesting, but some were rather disappointing like sidubu cave, that's now on the list We just stopped once at a place that was said to be sacred for the Zulu people and - we were told - that important archaeological excavations were held there, with great findings.

It was not far away from a tar road, and our local partner enthusiastically talked about the sanctity of the place. Otherwise, it was utterly uninteresting. A rock outcrop in the woods. We did not even go very close - I do not remember exactly why, I think I simply did not think it worth climbing there. Our partners from KZN then were eagerly asking us whether the tourists would like such places and were somewhat disappointed when I told them, that even if it is so sacred without some kind of show, it would not sell. We were told that a visitor centre is planned - as far as I know, it is still under construction. The Budapest-Durban flight did not last long, was discontinued after some months.