Cruise SA has discovered a real gem of unspoilt wilderness about 250km north of Cape Town. It is a rugged 71000 ha mountainous region called the Cederberg. The place is renowned for it bizarre rock formations that have been carved out by weathering, making for some very interesting shapes like the Maltese Cross and the Wolfberg Arch.

However, the true richness of the Cederberg lies more with its prehistory rock paintings that adorn the rock walls and caves throughout the region. From 10 000 BC the San and Khoikhoien inhabited the region among the abundant herds of elephant, giraffe and eland. The paintings are so intricate and detailed that when the first European settlers arrived in the eighteenth century they could not believe that they were painted by such "primitive" people and speculation of lost Greek or Phoenician civilazations flourishing here were rife. This lead to further speculation that large quantities of gold was mined here as the strange rock formations appear man-made. Naturally no gold-bearing rock was ever discovered and the truth and spiritual depth of the San people's artistic skills finally began to be recognized only in the 1970's. This and the fact the the Cederberg is a region containing a richness that these days is far more valuable than gold - natural heritage.

Winters in the Cederberg are cold (around freezing) and the summers hot with temperatures easily reaching 40 degrees C. The leeward side of the range is the driest place in South Africa. Some rain and snow falls on the high peaks facing west. This climate makes the vegetation in the Cederberg exceptionally unique, so much so that the area has been declared a World Heritage Site. One tree in particular, which the region has been named after, is the Clanwillian Cedar. This is an endemic gymnosperm species that is only found in these mountains and only at an altitude of 1000m above sea level. This magnificent tree has a fragrant, durable wood - a characteristic of all true cedars - but has been declared an endangered Red Data species and is rapidly facing extinction. The main reason for this is the increase of fire frequencies caused by man to create farmland and to flush out game. In
1987 Cape Nature and some clear-sighted local farmers combined to create a conservancy in order to protect the cedar from extinction.
Today juvenile seedlings are being cultivated and planted in the rocky crags in an effort to boost the numbers. Fires however are still too frequent and strict fire policies are being enforced since apart from the Clanwilliam Ceder, the Cape Leopard, the Snow Protea and the Clanwillaim Yellowfish and Red Minnows are also facing extinction and conservation efforts have kicked into overdrive to preserve them.

Thus, a visit to this remote piece of paradise is a must on the list of any visit to Cape Town. We recommend a minimum stay of two days in the Cederberg to fully appreciate the wonder of it. Accommodation ranges from the 5 star Bushmanskloof Lodge and the 3 star Kagga Kamma Lodge to very affordable and pleasant self catering cottages of Cape Nature. There is also a vineyard and winery at Dwarsrivier that makes the most excellent of wines as well as an observatory?! You don't get much closer to the heavens than this!

The 9th day of August is Women's Day in South Africa. It commemorates the 1956 march of 20 000 women on South Africa's Union Buildings - the seat of Government - in protest to the unjust Apartheid laws that were being implemented upon South Africa's people of colour. The women, both black and white, marched on to the the ground unprevented and delivered a memorandum to the then prime Minister JG Strijdom who, in the meantime, had in fright, slipped out the back door in flight. Bear in mind this was at a time when the trigger-happy police and army had often opened fire upon protesters for much less than marching on the Union Buildings. The bravery of those South African women and their subsequent and predominant resistance to the the laws of Apartheid have been commerorated by a discreet monument at the top of the Union Building stairs where that 1956 memorandum was delivered. The commissioned artist for the monument has a strong family link to Cruise SA - her name is Wilma Cruise (you go, Mom!