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Drakensberg World Heritage Site

The spectacular Drakensberg Mountains took their place on the international stage with the proclaiming of the 243 000 hectare Drakensberg Park in December 2002 as a World Heritage Site, significantly meeting the criteria for both cultural and natural properties. This makes it one of 22 sites in the entire world – a truly great achievement. The Amphitheatre is the icon of this achievement.

International recognition was granted in acknowledgement of the areas unique richness of biological diversity, its endemic and endangered species, its natural beauty and its masterpieces of human creative genius in the form of Bushman rock paintings – the Worlds greatest collection of rock art.

The area is home to a total of 2153 species of plants and 298 species of birds with a large number being endemic. There are 48 species of mammals to be found.

The predecessors of the Bushman were here over one million years ago, but it is not much more than 100 years since the last Bushman was seen in the region. They left behind a legacy as precious as any of the great collections of the famous art galleries.

Little is known of these Stone Age people. Archaeological evidence suggests that the region has been densely populated, since around 5000BC by the predecessors of the Bushman living in caves and shelters. Many years later the discovery of the bow and arrow facilitated their hunting way of life and most probably it was at this time that they started creating their art galleries as well as developing their unique cultural and spiritual beliefs. Some time after the eleventh century AD, the influx of African people from the North heralded the introduction of the Iron Age to the region.

In time the Bushman people moved out of the plains and settled in the lower reaches of the Drakensberg. However, in the early 1800s there was a series of invasions by powerful leaders, Matiwane, Shaka and Dingane, followed by occupation of the land by white settlers. This created pressure on resources and the Bushman people began hunting farmed livestock, leading inevitably to their being eradicated from the region.

Until their demise the Bushman people of the Drakensberg continued to live in caves and overhangs. The men hunted with bone or stone tipped poison arrows, while the women collected wild fruits and roots. Using earth colours and primitive tools, they adorned the walls of their caves with scenes that included trance dancing, ceremonies, hunts, animals such as lion, eland and leopard, tribal wars and battles and supernatural creatures. A classic battle between two Bushman tribes can be seen at the Lone Rock on the Cavern nature reserve.

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATION SCIENTIFIC AND
CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF THE
WORLD CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE

NOMINATION PROPOSAL

for

THE DRAKENSBERG PARK ALTERNATIVELY KNOWN AS uKHAHLAMBA PARK

to be

LISTED AS A WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Prepared by:

KWAZULU-NATAL NATURE CONSERVATION SERVICE
AMAFA aKWAZULU NATALI - HERITAGE KWAZULU NATAL
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
1999

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The nomination document was prepared by the Planning Division of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service and the principle author was Roger Porter. The following contributed directly to the compilation of information used in the nomination Trevor Sandwith, Peter Thomson, Mark Astrup, Mark Brassell, Robert Scott-Shaw, Dr David Johnson, Dr Adrian Armstrong, Dr Antony Bowland, Stephen Roberts and Mike Coke, as well as past staff members namely Dr Orty Bourquin and Dr David Rowe-Rowe.

Contributors from outside organizations provided valuable information and comment. These included Dr David Lewis-Williams of the Rock Art Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Dr Greg Botha of the Geo Science Council, Valerie Ward formerly of the Natal Museum, Beth Wahl of Heritage KwaZulu-Natal (Amafa aKwaZulu-Natali), Dr Braam van Wyk of the Department of Botany, University of Pretoria, Dr Clive Quickelberg of the Natural History Museum in Durban, Dr Aron Mazel of the South African Cultural History Museum, Dr Brian Stuckenberg former Director of the Natal Museum and Dr Janette Deacon of the National Monuments Council.

In addition secretarial services in preparing the manuscript were provided by the following KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service staff: Lauren Janneker, Helen Sutter, Carol Scheepers, Cheryl Assy, Brenda Weideman. Heidi Snyman drew the figures. They are all thanked for their support.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

CONTENTS ii

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROPERTY

1.1 Country
1.2 Province
1.3 Name of Property
1.4 Location
1.5 Maps of the area proposed for inscription
1.6 Area of property and zonation

2. JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION

2.1 Statement of Significance
2.2 Comparative analysis
2.3 Integrity
2.4 Criteria under which inscription is proposed including justification

2.4.1 Justification for the Drakensberg Park to be a Natural Property

• 2.4.1.1 Natural Property Criterion 1
• 2.4.1.2 Natural Property Criterion 2
• 2.4.1.3 Natural Property Criterion 3
• 2.4.1.4 Natural Property Criterion 4

2.4.2 Justification for the Drakensberg Park to be a Cultural Property

• 2.4.2.1 Uniqueness of the Drakensberg as an art region
  
• 2.4.2.2 Uniqueness of the Drakensberg rock art images
  
• 2.4.2.3 The events, traditions and beliefs of the San people as depicted in the Drakensberg rock art
• 2.4.2.4 The value and importance of the Drakensberg rock art

2.4.3 Justification for the Drakensberg Park to be a Cultural Landscape Property

3. DESCRIPTION

3.1 Description of the property

3.1.1 Physical formations and groups of outstanding universal value

(i) Climate
(ii) Geological formations
(iii) Geomorphology of the Drakensberg

3.1.2 Biological formations and groups of outstanding universal value

3.1.2.1 Biogeographic importance of the region
3.1.2.2 Flora
3.1.2.3 Fauna
3.1.2.4 Species of global conservation importance

3.1.3 Description and inventory of the Cultural Heritage of outstanding universal value
3.1.4 The San rock art of the Drakensberg

3.2 History and Development

3.2.1 History of the region
3.2.2 History of preservation/conservation

3.3 Form and date of most recent records of property
3.4 Present state of conservation
3.5 Policies and programmes: representation and promotion of the property

4. MANAGEMENT

4.1 Ownership
4.2 Legal status
4.3 Protective measures and means of implementing them

4.3.1 The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Management Act No. 9 of 1997 as amended
4.3.2 The National Forest Act No.84 of 1998
4.3.3 The Water Act No.36 of 1998
4.3.4 The Environment Conservation Act No.73 pf 1989 as amended
4.3.5 The National Monuments Act No.28 of 1969
4.3.6 The KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act No.10 of 1997
4.3.7 National Environmental Management Act No.107 of 1998
4.3.8 White Paper on a National Environmental Policy for South Africa
4.3.9 White Paper on the conservation and sustainable use of South Africa’s biodiversity
4.3.10 Wetlands Bill
4.3.11 Policies for nature conservation in KwaZulu-Natal

4.4 Agency with management authority
4.5 Level at which management is exercised
4.6 Agreed plans related to the property

4.6.1 Regional planning initiatives
4.6.2 Drakensberg Special Case Area
4.6.3 The Drakensberg-Maloti Transfrontier Conservation and Development Area
4.6.4 Extended community conservation programme
4.6.5 Programmes for the rehabilitation of areas infested by alien plants

4.7 Sources and levels of financing
4.8 Sources of expertise and training
4.9 Visitor facilities and statistics
4.10 Property management plan and statement of objectives
4.11 Staffing levels

5. FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROPERTY

5.1 Development pressures
5.2 Environmental pressures
5.3 Natural disasters and preparedness
5.4 Visitor/tourism pressures
5.5 Number of inhabitants within the property and buffer zone
5.6 Other

6. MONITORING

6.1 Key indicators for measuring state of conservation
6.2 Administrative arrangements for monitoring the property
6.3 Results of previous reporting exercises

7. DOCUMENTATION

7.1 Photographs
7.2 Management plans
7.3 Bibliography
7.4 Address where inventories and records are held

REFERENCES

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Location of the Drakensberg Park/uKhahlamba Park
Figure 2. Zonation of Drakensberg Park/uKhahlamba Park
Figure 3. Component protected areas which comprise the Drakensberg Park/uKhahlamba Park
Figure 4. Location of place names referred to in the text of this nomination proposal.
Figure 5. Tourism land-use zonation of the Drakensberg Park.
Figure 6. Schematic representation of the upper Karoo sequence exposed in the Drakensberg escarpment
Figure 7. Profile of the Drakensberg and its plant communities.
Figure 8. San rock art sites in the central and southern Drakensberg.

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Component protected areas of the Drakensberg Park.
Table 2. Proclaimed Wilderness areas falling within the Drakensberg Park
Table 3. Known species richness in selected taxonomic groups.
Table 4. Number of species of international and national conservation importance.
Table 5. Number of endemic species for selected taxonomic groups.
Table 6. A comparison of the flora of the Drakensberg Park with surrounding regions.
Table 7. The ten largest families and genera and their percentage composition of the flora of the southern Drakensberg.
Table 8. Genera with five or more endemic plant species.
Table 9. Characteristics of the Drakensberg Alpine Region in relation to other southern African “hot spot” areas.
Table 10. The palaeogenic insects recorded for the Drakensberg Park
Table 11. Estimated population sizes of selected species of mammals found in the Drakensberg Park.

LIST OF SCHEDULES

Schedule 1. Checklist of plants.
Schedule 2. List of endemic plants
Schedule 3. List of threatened plants
Schedule 4. Checklist of earthworms.
Schedule 5. Checklist of millipedes.
Schedule 6. Checklist of centipedes.
Schedule 7. Checklist of Onychophora
Schedule 8. Checklist of crustaceans.
Schedule 9. Checklist of dragonflies and damselflies.
Schedule 10. Checklist of butterflies.
Schedule 11. Checklist of fruit and flower chafers.
Schedule 12. Checklist of lacewings.
Schedule 13. Checklist of net-winged midges.
Schedule 14. Checklist of crane flies.
Schedule 15. Checklist of dance flies.
Schedule 16. Checklist of hanging flies.
Schedule 17. Checklist of robber flies.
Schedule 18. Checklist of fish.
Schedule 19. Checklist of amphibians.
Schedule 20. Checklist of reptiles.
Schedule 21. Checklist of birds.
Schedule 22. List of endemic birds.
Schedule 23. Checklist of mammals.

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1. Set of maps of the nomination site.
Appendix 2. Set of maps showing the principal features of the Drakensberg Park.
Appendix 3. Description of the plant communities in the Drakensberg Park.
Appendix 4. Drakensberg Park bibliography.
Appendix 5. Management plan for the Drakensberg Park.
Appendix 6. Cultural resources management plan.
Appendix 7. The Giant’s Castle Declaration.
Appendix 8. Bushman Art of the Drakensberg: A guide to the art, mythology and culture of the Drakensberg Bushmen.
Appendix 9. The KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg pictorial souvenir and guide.

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROPERTY

1.1 Country : Republic of South Africa

1.2 Province : KwaZulu-Natal

1.3 Name of property: Drakensberg Park alternatively known as uKhahlamba Park

1.4 Location

The Drakensberg Park alternatively known as uKhahlamba Park (hereafter referred to as the "Park") is an inland mountain range in south-eastern Africa. The location of the Park within South Africa is given in Figure 1. The extreme western edge of the Park lies at 29? 45' E and extends to 28? 52' E, the northern border of the northern component area is located at 28? 38' S and extends to 28? 46' S, and the southern component area lies between 28? 55' S and 29? 55' S.

The Drakensberg Park is the nominated site and comprises a northern and much larger southern sections. The mountainous area situated between these two sections, known as the Mnweni area, is tribal land. The need to establish a conservation area in the Mweni region that would join the two sections of the Park has been recognised. This matter has been part of two planning programmes presently being undertaken (see sections 4.6.2 and 4.6.3). The programmes have also identified additional land that could become a possible future conservation area on privately owned land. If this land is acquired it would extend the Park further southward along the mountain escarpment.

1.5 Maps of the area proposed for inscription

Included with this submission (Appendix 1) is a set of 14 maps at a scale of 1:50 000 on which the boundaries of the nomination site, the Park and its core and buffer areas, have been demarcated. The Park is also indicated on a colour satellite photograph (Figure 2). The various protected areas that collectively constitute the nomination site are shown in Figure 3, principal features in Appendix 2, and place names referred to in this proposal in Figure 4.

1.6 Area of property and zonation

Table 1 lists the year of declaration and the extent of each component protected area that collectively comprise the Park. The total extent of the Park is 242 813 ha. The core and buffer areas have been demarcated on the set of 1:50 000 maps (Appendix 1), and the zonation for ecotourism use is shown in Figure 5.

Table 1. Component protected areas of the Drakensberg Park.

Area Name	Year of Proclamation	Area (ha)
Cathederal Peak State Forest	1927	32 246
Cobham State Forest	1927	30 498
Garden Castle State Forest	1951	30 766
Giant’s Castle Game Reserve	1903	34 638
Highmoor State Forest	1951	28 151
Kamberg Nature Reserve	1951	2 980
Loteni Nature Reserve	1953	3 984
Mkomazi State Forest	1951	49 156
Monk’s Cowl State Forest	1927	20 379
Royal Natal National Park	1916	8 094
Rugged Glen Nature Reserve	1950	762
Vergelegen Nature Reserve	1967	1 159

Large parts of the State Forest areas were subsequently proclaimed Wilderness Areas in terms of the Forest Act (Table 2)

Table 2. Proclaimed Wilderness Areas falling within the Drakensberg Park.

Wilderness Area	Proclamation	Area (ha)
Mdedelo	G.N. 791 of 1973	27 000
Mkhomazi	G.N. 791 of 1973 G.N. 962 of 1989	56 155
Mzimkulu	G.N. 1563 of 1979	28 340
Mlambonja	G.N. 961 of 1989	6 270

In terms of the national system of classification of protected areas (which follows that of the IUCN) the Park presently comprises both the Wilderness Areas - Category I 48,5% (117 765 ha) and 51,5% (125 048 ha) national park and equivalent reserve - Category II. Other candidate wilderness areas on the Park are presently being evaluated and will be proclaimed.

2. JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION

The justification for including the Drakensberg Park in the World Heritage List is presented as a “mixed” property that is, as a Natural Property, a Cultural Property and as a Cultural Landscape Property.

2.1 Statement of significance

The Park is the largest protected area established on the Great Escarpment of the southern African subcontinent. This escarpment formation, which includes the Drakensberg Escarpment component, is intimately linked to the geomorphic history of the subcontinent and the fragmentation of the Gondwana supercontinent. Landscapes are outstanding and the geomorphological processes by which they were formed are believed to be of universal importance, that is, the horizontal sequence of geological formations which form the exposed east face of the Drakensberg Escarpment record a ~130 Ma history in the evolution of the African continent before and after the breakup. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest and most spectacular expression in the form of the Drakensberg Mountains that lie within the Park. Also of outstanding universal importance are the mountain and wetland ecosystems with their full complement of plants and animals with many endemic and internationally recognised threatened species, and including the high altitude and unique Southern African alpine-tundra vegetation and its associated endemic palaeo-invertebrates.

In addition to these natural property values, and located within its original natural setting and ecosystems is one of the world’s greatest rock art treasures that is of outstanding cultural value. The art represents uniquely a coherent tradition that embodies the beliefs and cosmology of people whose cultural tradition is now extinct in the region. The uniqueness of the art is evidenced by the diverse subject matter, the minute detail portrayed, the art techniques, and the animation and variety of positions depicted, as well as the remarkable state of preservation.

2.2 Comparative Analysis

The Drakensberg Park contains the most outstanding expression of the escarpment mountain formation within the southern African Great Escarpment. As such it differs from other mountain systems in southern Africa, that is, the Cape Fold Mountains as well as those elsewhere in Africa such as Mount Nimba on the Guinea - Ivory Coast border or the Rwenzori Mountains on the border between Uganda and Zaire in terms of the processes by which it was formed and its composition of geological sequences. Similarly the Drakensberg differs in these respects from other mountain ranges such as the Andies, Rockies, and Himalayas. The Drakensberg can be compared to the Simen Massif in Ethiopia in that both comprise igneous basalts that have been eroded to form precipitous cliffs and deep valley systems. However there are significant differences between them in terms of their geology, geomorphology as well as their diversity of plants and animal species. The Drakensberg lies within the sub-saharan African grassland biome and at subtropical latitudes. The natural systems within the Park are considered to be unique in terms of their biological diversity given its location within one of the major hot-spot areas of plant diversity and endemism in southern Africa. Of universal importance is the inclusion of the unique high altitude alpine tundra vegetation with its associated endemic palaeo-invertebrate fauna.

There are several important areas in southern Africa that contain significant concentrations and assemblages of San rock art sites such as those that are to be found in the Cederberg in the South-western Cape province and the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe. However, no other area of comparable size to that of the Park in Africa contains such a density and possibly diversity of San rock art sites and images. In addition, the rock art of the Drakensberg region is regarded as being the best preserved when compared to any other region especially south of the Sahara.

2.3 Integrity

The Park contains its full original complement of wild plants and animals, much of which has been lost from other adjoining areas within the south-eastern escarpment mountain region of southern Africa. This natural area with its geological diversity and altitudinal range, its grasslands, wetlands and fynbos plant communities with high numbers of endemic species, is substantially unmodified by people and their effects. Having a total area of 242 813 ha, the Park is large enough to survive as a natural area, and to maintain genetic diversity even though there are outside influences. Management of the Park, particularly over the last fifty years, demonstrates that the natural environmental quality of the area has been maintained and improved.

2.4 Criteria under which inscription is proposed including justification

It is contended that the Park satisfies the criteria for both Natural Property (all four criteria) and Cultural Property [criteria (i), (iii) and (vi)] required for listing as a World Heritage Site, and is therefore better described as a Cultural Landscape Property.

2.4.1 Justification for the Drakensberg Park to be a Natural Property

CRITERIA FOR THE INCLUSION OF NATURAL PROPERTIES IN THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST

In accordance with Article 2 of the Convention, the following is considered as "natural heritage"

"natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view;

geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation;

natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty."

A natural heritage property - as defined above - which is submitted for inclusion in the World Heritage List will be considered to be of outstanding universal; value for the purposes of the Convention when the Committee finds that it meets one or more of the following criteria and fulfills the conditions of integrity set out below. Sites nominated should therefore:

(i) be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of land forms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features; or

(ii) be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals; or

(iii) contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; or

(iv) contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation;

2.4.1.1 Natural Property - Criterion 1

The most voluminous outpourings of lava on the land surface of the Earth have built imposing stacks of superimposed basalt flows, often exceeding a km in thickness. These are found in the Keweenawan district of north-central USA (Proterozoic), the central sector of the Siberian platform (early Mesozoic), the Drakensberg of southern Africa (Jurassic), the Parana plateau of southern Brazil-Uruguay and the Deccan plateau of western India (both Cretaceous), the plateaux of the Columbia river western USA and Ethiopia-Yemen (both mid-Tertiary). These basalt piles were fed from linear zones of fracturing and fissuring in the earth’s crust through which the magma emerged in successive pulses and flooded out over the surrounding region, covering a few hundred km. In most instances these flood basalt eruptions have been intimately associated with initiation and early development of rifted continental margins (Mohr, 1983).

The formation of the Great Escarpment of southern Africa is intimately linked to the fragmentation of Gondwana at the end of the Jurassic period and the earth-forming process that shaped the subcontinent pre- and post-rifting. The Park landscape encompasses examples of these major stages in the Earth’s evolutionary history. The Karoo sequence of underlying sedimentary tabular strata overlain by deep basalt lava flows was deposited after 278 Ma in response to tectonism in the Cape Fold Belt. This sequence of lithologies traces the palaeoenvironmental changes which took place as Gondwana moved northwards from “polar” regions (Carboniferous period) to a warmer and dryer mid-latitude position (late Jurassic), that is, over a period from about 300 Ma to 140 Ma. The most outstanding and spectacular section of the Great Escarpment in southern Africa is the part of the Drakensberg Mountain range that lies within the Drakensberg Park. The Drakensberg is the only place where one can view these concordant Karoo sequences in situ from the oldest Beaufort Group sandstones of the Triassic (about 258 Ma) to the basalts of the late Jurassic (after 190 to 140 Ma).

The unique geomorphic history of the Drakensberg Escarpment begins prior to the rifting of Gondwana. The component landmass which was destined to form the southern African subcontinent is believed to have been of a relatively high elevation, with an overall westward trend in the drainage of the land surface. Preceding rifting and the separation of Africa from Antarctica and the Falkland Plateau, down- warping of the incipient east coast margin, together with adjacent interior updoming, occurred. It was these events that initially formed the Great Escarpment which separated an elevated interior from the coastal margin. Following continental separation, a generally eastward-facing erosional face was established, and was to recede away from the coast as an effective drainage system grew. This landscape erosion cycle (African Cycle) was of a long duration (100 Ma) and by the time of the mid-Cretaceous, the Drakensberg Escarpment had receded some 100 km inland.

At the end of this cycle elevations in the interior were of the order of 500-700 m above sea level, as enormous thicknesses of material had been removed. However, some areas such as the Lesotho highlands with its thick basalt layer had not succumbed to planation and stood above the African erosion surface. During the Miocene, vertical uplift of between 200 to 300 m along the Ciskei - Swaziland axis, ended the African erosion cycle and also resulted in the westward tilting of the African surface. This initiated the short first post-African erosion cycle when back-wearing of the Great Escarpment was limited by comparison with its recession during former Cretaceous times. A second uplift, virtually along the same axis as previously, but of much greater amplitude (600 to 900 m), took place in the Pliocene. This uplift event greatly accentuated the westward tilt, and the asymmetry in the landscape rejuvenated erosion processes that resulted in the progressive and major headward incision to form the Drakensberg Escarpment mountain as it is seen today.

2.4.1.2 Natural Property - Criterion 2

The Park is an outstanding example of one of the few high, mountain, grassland areas within the African Grassland Biome sufficiently large enough for the existing and original ecological and biological processes to operate without interference. The environmental heterogeneity and variability characteristic of the Great Escarpment region in which the Park is situated is expressed by the climate, where temperature extremes and high rainfall occurs, by the geology and associated shallow soils of different origin, the altitudinal range, and by the diversity of terrestrial and wetland physiographic features. Associated with this environmental heterogeneity and variability is a corresponding diversity in natural biota. All the species of plants and animals that historically are known to have been present within the area of the Park, still occur.

The high species richness, especially that of plants, is outstanding. This is due to several factors including the Park’s subcontinental position at the interface between Cape and subtropical biota, the complexity of this transition, past speciation events within the Drakensberg Centre of Endemism (Vavilov Centre), the impact of major geomorphological processes of erosion and uplift events of the past, many successful dispersal and establishment events, and the wide diversity of habitats including the only truly alpine tundra habitat in southern Africa.

It is considered that all the processes that have led to and influenced the evolution of the wide diversity of alpine tundra, montane, terrestrial, and wetland ecosystems, together with their component plants and animals, have not been significantly disrupted by external agents, and are therefore still functioning in the Park. The ecological processes within these ecosystems that control the population dynamics of the plants and animals, and are usually present at both micro and macro scales, typically include such major processes as primary production, input and cycling of nutrients, decomposition, inter-and intra-specific competition, disease, parasitism, herbivory, predation and migration. In addition, these systems are characterized by their biotic responses to natural disturbance processes that occur usually at a local level, at different frequencies and intensities. Such disturbance processes include land slides, rock falls, flooding, freezing, area-selective grazing and browsing, and the burning of vegetation.

2.4.1.3 Natural Property - Criterion 3

The park contains landscapes and features of exceptional natural beauty. In a Park that is so geomorphologically and biotically diverse, wild, distinctive and spectacular, it is not possible to list all the features of high aesthetic importance and thus only the superlative examples are given. The slides accompanying this submission illustrate the superlative scenic vistas of significant natural beauty that include :

• The mountain barrier with its jagged high peaks, ridges and intervening spurs silhouetted against the skyline and stretching as far as the eye can see to the north and to the south,
• The high escarpment walls of dark basalt lying above the light coloured Clarens Sandstone,
• The pristine steep-sided river valleys and rocky gorges containing forest patches, grasslands, thickets, waterfalls, cascades and clear rock pools,
• The rolling high altitude grasslands with their contrasting winter or summer colours, displays of spring wild flowers, or snow-fields after winter storms,
• The views from the top of the escarpment mountains across the vast distances of the lower lying grassland topography of the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

2.4.1.4 Natural Property - Criterion 4

The diversity of habitats contained within the Park is outstanding. The range in habitat diversity is from the high altitude mountain peaks and summit plateaux with their diverse vegetation communities including the unique alpine tundra (Fynbos types ), such as, Erica - Helichrysum Heath, to the steep slopes in mid-altitude areas supporting a wide variety of grassland, fynbos scrubland and woodland vegetation communities, to the lower lying areas in river valleys which contain various grassland and forest vegetation community types (see Appendix 3 for a more detailed description).

Found within these habitats is a remarkable richness of plant and animal species. Species known to be present in the Park are listed in Schedules 1 to 23 and the total number of species in the various taxonomic groups is given in Table 6. Knowledge of many taxonomic groups occurring in the Park is poor, particularly lower plant and invertebrate groups. However, those taxonomic groups that have been researched clearly indicate the universal nature of the species richness contained in this area. It is considered that the biotic communities in the Park contain all or most of their original component species.

TABLE 3. Known species richness in selected taxonomic groups.

Taxonomic Group	Number of Species	Schedule Number
Plants	2 153	1
Mosses	85	1
Ferns	70	1
Gymnosperms	5	1
Invertebrates
Earthworms	3	4
Millipedes	33	5
Centipedes	14	6
Onychophora	2	7
Crustaceans	7	8
Dragon &damselflies	44	9
Butterflies	74	10
Cetoniidae	24	11
Lacewings	10	12
Net-winged midges	4	13
Craneflies	61	14
Vertebrates
Fish	8	18
Amphibians	26	19
Reptiles	48	20
Birds	299	21
Mammals	48	23

Within the diversity of habitats contained in the Park are those supporting populations of rare and endangered species. The overall number of species for the various groups of international and national importance are given in Table 3 and the various plant species listed in Schedule 3.

Table 4. Number of species of international and national conservation importance.

Taxonomic Group	List of Threatened Species		Species listed by
	International	National
Plants	109	109	121
Butterflies	-	-
Fish	-	-
Amphibians	-	?
Reptiles	-	1?	?
Birds	10	18	46
Mammals	-	11	7
TOTAL	119	141	174

Viable populations of all the listed threatened national and internationally important species breed successfully in the Park. In addition population sizes of all other species resident in the Park are believed to be sufficiently large and heterogeneous to ensure their genetic integrity. Re-establishment programmes have guarded against genetic contamination.

The Park is located within the Drakensberg Alpine Region, a centre of plant diversity and endemism. The number of endemic species for different taxonomic groups is given in Table 4. Endemic plant species are a particularly important feature of both the region (394 species) and the Park (247 species).

Table 5. Number of endemic species for selected taxonomic groups.

Taxonomic Group	Endemicity		Notes
	South/Southern Africa	Park
Plants	247	+98
Invertebrates	-	-
Earthworms	-	-
Millipedes	-	?
Centipedes	-	1?	?
Copepoda	10	18	46
Dragonflies	6	1	7
Butterflies	4	-
Planthoppers	4	4	To date only found in the Park
Lacewings	4	4	as above
Craneflies	32	32	as above
Hanging flies	1		as above
Wormlion flies	1		as above
Dance flies	30	21	as above
Net-winged midges	2	1	as above
Dark-winged fungus fly	1	1	as above
Tachinid fly	2	2	as above
Solitary midge	1	-
Aulacigastrid fly	2	-
Campichoetid fly	1	-
Vertebrates
Fish	1?	-	presence in Park requires confirmation
Amphibian	???	-
Reptile	1	1	To date only found in the Park
Bird	31	-
Mammal	11	-

For the various component areas of the Park, management plans have either been adopted or are in an advanced stage of either revision or preparation. Submitted with this nomination proposal are examples of two management plans for the Park and its cultural resources (Appendices 5 and 6). Management programmes undertaken by the former Natal Parks Board and presently the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service staff over the years have ensured the protection of the area through law enforcement, controlling access by people and the use of sustainable resources. In addition control of alien species, fire management programmes and re-establishment programmes are implemented according to biologically-based rules.

As a contracting party to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (the Ramsar Convention), South Africa has honoured this commitment in having 16 sites, including the Drakensberg Park, inscribed on the list of Wetlands of International Importance. This Convention is in the process of incorporation into South African law in terms of the provisions of a Wetlands Bill. This new legislation ensures a greater commitment to, and more stringent protection of, these important sites. In addition South Africa has also ratified two other important conventions that add to the measures to safeguard the Park, these are the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn Convention).

2.4.2 Justification for the Drakensberg Park to be a Cultural Property

CRITERIA FOR THE INCLUSION OF CULTURAL PROPERTIES IN THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST

A monument, group of buildings or site which is nominated for inclusion in the World Heritage List will be considered to be of outstanding universal value for the purpose of the Convention when the Committee finds that it meets one or more of the following criteria and the test of authenticity. Each property nominated should therefore:

• represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; or
• exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design; or
• bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared; or
• be an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stages(s) in human history; or
• be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement or land-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; or
• be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance (the Committee considers that this criterion should justify inclusion in the List only in exceptional circumstances and in conjunction with other criteria , cultural or natural).

  2.4.2.1 Uniqueness of the Drakensberg as an art region The Drakensberg region presents a unique combination of five features of outstanding cultural significance, these are:

  • ( The area is the most densely painted, significantly large area on the African continent; hardly any inhabitable shelters lack paintings. The number of sites is estimated at 600 and the number of individual images in those sites probably exceeds 35 000. The Natal Museum has an extensive record of the Drakensberg paintings in the form of written descriptions, photographs, tracings and redrawings (Ward pers comm.). However new discoveries are being made every year and therefore this record is being continually supplemented.
  • This density of paintings is, in part, a function of the remarkably wide spectrum of types of sites that were available to the San artists.
  • The ecological integrity of the area has been preserved intact since the time when the last artists were living there near the end of the nineteenth century. The climate, vegetation and fauna have not changed and, in most areas, an absence of roads and the mountainous terrain have prevented any significant human impact. Uniquely, it is possible to turn from rock paintings of eland, rhebok and other animals, to look out over pristine valleys and to see those very species feeding, resting or moving about.
  • The rock art of the whole region represents a unique coherent artistic tradition. In other parts of the world, rock art in a given geographical area comprises a number of periods or styles, though the allocation of individual images to these styles is often highly problematic. Although some development through time has been detected in the Drakensberg art, it is for the most part, the product of a single tradition and therefore embodies the beliefs and cosmology of a single people, that is, the San of that part of Southern Africa, and their contacts with other peoples. There are however, also paintings done during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries attributable to Bantu speaking people.
  • The Drakensberg region is unique in that the rock art is far better preserved than in any other region, certainly south of the Sahara. This degree of preservation is remarkable because, unlike the Sahara, Namibia, and some other areas in Africa, the conditions are wetter and therefore it may be expected that these would not have favoured preservation of the rock paintings. However, the paintings were executed, for the most part, on absorbent sandstone of the Clarens Formation. The paint soaked into the rock face, so that a certain amount of weathering can take place before the images are lost. Red is the best preserved colour; white paint, which did not soak into the rock as readily as red paint, nevertheless appears to be as brilliant as the day it was applied. Its excellent preservation has permitted the art to retain highly significant details that are sometimes no larger than a pin-head.
  The uniqueness of the Drakensberg as a rock art region thus consists in an exceptional combination of:
  * the quantity of sites and paintings,
  * the diversity of sites and painting locations,
  * the undisturbed harmony between the art and the environment,
  * the preservation of the art’s cultural context and that the images come from a single artistic tradition,
  * the remarkable state of preservation of the art.

  2.4.2.2 Uniqueness of the Drakensberg rock art images
  The Drakensberg rock art constitutes a unique, well-researched aesthetic and intellectual achievement. The uniqueness of the rock art images may be summarized as follows:

  • The diverse subject matter. A wide variety of hunting, dancing, fighting, food gathering and ritual/trance-like scenes were painted which have a large diversity of studies of animal and human figures, and inanimate objects. A more detailed account is given in section 3. of the Description.
  • The minute detail portrayed. The uniqueness of many of the rock art images is primarily in their often minute detail. In comparison with rock art in other parts of the world, the Drakensberg images are small, for example, the average length of depictions of eland antelope is approximately 35cm and some human figures measure no more than 15 to 20 mm in length. Also, unlike any other rock art anywhere in the world, the images are often extraordinarily detailed. Many depictions of eland have eyes and mouth clearly shown, the ears laid back or pricked, hairs no more than 1.5 mm long individually drawn along the back of the neck, and exquisitely neat black cloven hoofs. Depictions of human figures often have five fingers individually drawn, or show them wearing dancing rattles, the segments of which are only a couple of millimetres long. Human figures are sometimes shown with facial features and toes.
    The items of material culture that accompany the human figures are similarly detailed. Bows are often shown with the stave in red and the string represented by a less than 1 mm wide white line. Arrows are frequently painted in red and white sections to represent the parts of the composite arrows that the San used. Bags are depicted with sets of leather tassels hanging from them and appear similar to bags made by the San people who live in the Kalahari desert regions of south-western Africa.
  • The shaded polychrome technique.
    Principally eland and rhebuck but also human and other animal figures, have been executed using this technique. These depictions have two colours usually red and white delicately grading into each other, for example, the red upper body and the white under-belly of an eland. These paintings are regarded as masterpieces of the San rock artists’ craft and are therefore considered to be artistically and culturally advanced in terms of a hunter-gatherer culture.
  • The animation and variety of positions of the subjects.
    In addition to the unique realism, detail and shading of the painted images, there is also a wide variety of positions depicted including animation of the subjects. Animals are depicted not only walking and running, but also lying down, leaping, looking back over the shoulder and, most remarkably, as viewed from the front or from the rear. These foreshortened depictions, often executed in great detail using the shaded polychrome technique, constitute what are probably the most remarkable rock art images in the world.
    Similarly, human figures are portrayed not merely standing or walking, as many are in sitting, lying, or running positions with legs widely outstretched in a graphic representation of speed, while others are in dancing and distinctive ritual postures. The postures of the people depicted often carry meaning and identify the paintings as illustrations of supernatural beliefs and rituals (Deacon pers comm.). Composed in dancing and other groups, these artistically portrayed human figures present an unparalleled liveliness and realism that alone sets this art apart from all other rock art.

  2.4.2.3 The events, traditions, ideas and beliefs of the San people as depicted in the Drakensberg rock art.

  (i) The people associated with the Drakensberg rock art All the people of Southern Africa are, in a number of different ways, associated with the Drakensberg rock art. Consequently, the images present a unifying, unfolding history of the subcontinent.
  
  The San people themselves are everywhere depicted in the rock art. They are recognised as the autochthonous inhabitants of the subcontinent. Today they survive in large communities in and around the Kalahari desert but there are San descendants scattered throughout Southern Africa. Formerly they inhabited the entire subcontinent and have come to be seen as embodying the essence of southern Africa’s deep past. Yet there is no monument to them - other than their own art.
  
  Their art chronicles not only the San way of life and beliefs, but also their contact in comparatively recent times with other peoples. More than a thousand years ago the Drakensberg San learned about the Bantu-speaking agriculturalists who were gradually occupying areas closer to the coast. They interacted with these people in diverse and complex ways. Many San beliefs were shared by the farmers, and they looked to the San for guidance in spiritual matters. Some San shamans made rain for the agriculturalists and, in the nineteenth century, some San shamans and their families went to live with the chiefs of these Bantu-speaking people and became resident rain-makers. Contact with the farmers is reflected in the Drakensberg art in a number of ways. Most notably, the farmers and their cattle are depicted in the southern part of the Drakensberg region.
  Later, starting in the eighteenth century, the Drakensberg San began to make contact with white colonists who destroyed the hunters’ game and mounted raids that were designed to exterminate these people. The San used their traditional shamanic powers in their attempts to defend themselves. Paintings depicting colonists together with their rifles and horses derived from these attempts at shamanic protection. In the end, the rifles proved invincible. Many San died, others intermarried with the Bantu-speaking agriculturalists and with the colonists. Today there are no recognisable, self-proclaimed San communities in the Drakensberg.
  
  (ii) Beliefs and meanings associated with the San rock art Although today no Drakensberg San survive to explain the meaning of their art, it has become the best understood rock art in the world about which no informants can be interviewed. Insights obtained into the meanings of the Drakensberg images have illuminated not only rock art in other parts of the southern Africa but also elsewhere in the world.
  
  By remarkable sets of circumstances many of the Drakensberg San’s key beliefs were recorded in the 1870s. At the same period, comprehensive records were also made of the beliefs, rituals, myths and cosmology of San living in the Kalahari region of southern Africa. Comparison of these independently recorded sets of beliefs shows that the fundamental structures and elements of nineteenth-century San beliefs extended across the subcontinent. Further comparison between these earlier findings and beliefs with those recorded in the twentieth century from San people living in the Kalahari desert shows that certain beliefs and rituals were not only more widespread in southern Africa but were also probably of great antiquity.
  
  At the centre of San belief are concepts of a spirit world that can be reached by people who possessed a multi-faceted supernatural power. These people, the shamans of San society, entered trance at a communal trance dance or in more solitary circumstances. In trance, they cured the sick, made rain, guided antelope towards hunters crouching in an ambush, and visited the spirit world where they could see God and all his animals, especially the most frequently painted creature, the eland. Nearly every shelter with rock art has at least one eland painting and some have over a hundred, many are painted one on top of the other. Each painted eland is more than just a depiction of the animal. An eland painting is a symbol of, among other things, the power that shamans harnessed to enter the spirit-world. The power resides especially in its fat and a male eland has more fat than the female which is seen particularly in the male’s large dewlap, which in old bull animals hangs down between its front legs, whereas a female eland has a much smaller and higher dewlap. These distinctions are made in the eland paintings. Eland fat is greatly valued as a food and as a ritual substance. It is used by the Kalahari San in girls’ puberty rituals, when a boy has shot his first eland, and in marriage rituals. The fat sums up all that the San hold to be true, good and valuable in life, and by painting eland superimposed on one another, the artists were increasing their store of power.
  The beliefs and rituals practiced by the San were developed as a means for their use and management of natural resources. This was done through rain-making, ritual practices associated with hunting, planned seasonal movements to make the nest of wild plant foods, social organisation that controlled the impact of people on the landscape and more deliberate actions such as a regular fire regime. The rock art illustrates some of these practices, but by no means all of them (Deacon pers comm.).
  Although there is still some debate about the proportion of the Drakensberg rock art that was associated with the beliefs, power, rituals and supernatural activities of San shamans, much of it was unquestionably religious in character. Ritual and dancing postures frequently and startlingly portray those described in the nineteen-century San ethnography and those still observable in parts of the Kalahari desert. In addition, the art presents the hallucinatory experiences of San shamans, such as rain in the form of a fantasy animal or snakes, or shamans partially transformed into animals, or the somatic experiences of trance, especially attenuation.
  Moreover, the placing of these essentially religious figures gives unique insights into the place of the Drakensberg itself in San cosmology. Sometimes images are shown entering or leaving the rock face through steps, cracks or other inequalities in the surface. These features combine with ethnographically recorded beliefs to show that the spirit world, the source of the shamans’ power and the goal of their spiritual quests, lay behind the walls of the rock shelters. In other words, the spiritual entities and essences that gave form and power to San belief and cosmology existed deep within the Drakensberg mountain range. The art thus speaks eloquently and graphically of the San’s own beliefs about and attitudes towards the towering escarpment and the rock shelters that afforded the shamans access to the spirit world that was contained within the mountains. For the San, the Drakensberg was not only a storehouse of art but also of supernatural, spiritual power. That storehouse has been preserved virtually intact to the present day. We therefore have, in the Drakensberg rock art, a uniquely well understood expression of early hunter-gatherer life and belief.

  2.4.2.4 The value and importance of the Drakensberg rock art.
  The rock art contained in the Drakensberg Park represents a masterpiece of human creative genius and constitutes a unique, well researched aesthetic and intellectual achievement. It is a record of an important extinct hunter-gatherer culture which demonstrates connections (spiritual beliefs) with the modern day San surviving in the Kalahari. The rock art is supported by ethnographic information that shows a continuity of an artistic tradition over several thousand years. The paintings which are located in their natural setting are of spiritual significance and show a fundamental and deep connection between the San people and nature (biodiversity). There is outstanding diversity in the art in a wide spectrum of respects such as the subject matter, its portrayal and the marvellous detail depicted. Clearly therefore the rock art of the Drakensberg is recognised as being of considerable cultural, research and scientific value. It is an exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition which has disappeared from this region of southern Africa and therefore is considered to be of outstanding universal value.
  The art and its setting constitutes a unique monument to which all Southern African people can, in various ways and from diverse viewpoints, relate and in which all can find symbols not only of the past but also of the future. The rock art that the vanished people created was thus not exclusively associated with their own lives. Rather, it unites all of the subcontinent’s people and becomes emblematic of the region’s history and of South Africa’s often turbulent and tragic past.
  
  2.4.3 Justification for the Drakensberg Park to be an Associative Cultural Landscape Property [category (iii)]

  2.4.4 CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
  
  Cultural landscapes represent the "combined works of nature and of man" designated in Article 1 of the Convention. They are illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal.
  
  They should be selected on the bases both of their outstanding universal value and of their representivity in terms of a clearly defined geo-cultural region and also for their capacity to illustrate the essential and distinct elements of such regions The term "cultural landscapes" embraces a diversity of manifestations of the interaction between humankind and its natural environment. Cultural landscapes often reflect specific techniques of sustainable land-use, considering the characteristics and limits of the natural environment in which they are established, and a specific spiritual relation to nature. Protection of cultural landscapes can contribute to modern techniques of sustainable land-use and can maintain or enhance natural values in the landscape. The continued existence of traditional forms of land-use supports biological diversity in many regions of the world. The protection of traditional cultural landscapes is therefore helpful in maintaining biological diversity.
  
  In addition to the natural and cultural criteria, there is some justification for considering the Park as a cultural landscape as well. Some of the characteristics of this cultural landscape are not unique to the Park. People have been living intermittently in parts of the region for hundreds of thousands of years. Their presence must have subtly altered the landscape and its resources because they hunted game animals and collected medicinal and food plants and practised veld burning to stimulate grazing, but the San are unlikely to have made any more impact on the plants and animals in the Park than hunter gatherers did elsewhere. The effects of intangible cultural practices, however, are site-specific.
  
  African people cultural landscapes seldom include great walls, monumental buildings or intricate irrigation systems. Instead, the landscape is imbued with religious and ritual meaning that grows in significance the longer people live there. In many cases this significance has been lost because it has no tangible markers, but in the Drakensberg there are a few indicators that these mountains represent a cultural landscape with special qualities.
  
  (i) It was largely within the remarkable Drakensberg landscape with its great altitudinal range, its many valleys, cliffs and numerous streams and rivers, that the San hunter gatherers found their home for some 8 000 years. This geological landscape contains an extraordinary high density of caves and rock overhangs that provided shelter for these people from both wild predators such as leopard, as well as from inclement weather particularly during periods of cold and rain. The Drakensberg was a remote mountainous region that was a refuge for the San and that, to a large extent, separated them from the midland and coastal areas that became inhabited by Bantu speaking iron age agriculturalists. The Park and including some adjacent areas, has a high density of San rock art sites with approximately 600 recorded rock art sites containing 35 000 images in the area. The rock art sites are found in these caves, overhangs and shelters formed by the process of erosion, and which are distributed over most of the mountainous Drakensberg landscape that includes its foothills and steep sided river valleys. Archeological cave deposits associated with these sites, some of which have been excavated, bear testimony to past occupation by the San people.
  
  (ii) The resources for their survival were found within these mountains. Sustenance was obtained by gathering edible plants and hunting the wild animals that also lived in the area. Also, both plant products ( straw, bark, pods, etc) and animal products ( bone, horn, skins, fat) were used by these people for many different purposes. The use of these natural resources during their long period of occupation is a remarkable demonstration of sustainable consumptive use which only came to an end when competition by immigrant peoples exploited and almost drove to extinction the populations of wild animals during the mid to late nineteenth century.
  
  (iii) The rock art of the Drakensberg is distinctive and was deliberately placed in a particular niche in the natural landscape. This niche is broadly characterised by the rock shelters in valleys and cliffs formed by sandstones of the Clarens Formation. This focus is not found elsewhere in KwaZulu-Natal, although it is repeated on the western side of the Drakensberg range and in Lesotho. Placement is equally important at a micro level. Artists incorporated cracks, bulges and other natural features in the rock in their paintings, a practice that led Lewis Williams to suggest that the shaman artists perceived the rock face as a veil between the real and the supernatural world. The images were painted on the rock because the shaman had 'seen' them coming out of the rock during trance visions. A good example of a snake emerging from a step in the rock can be seen at Main Caves, one of the sites open to the public in the Park. The source of the shamans’ power and the goal of their spiritual quest therefore lay deep within this mountain range and was shaped by it (Deacon pers comm.).
  
  (iv) Apart from their placement, the subject matter of the paintings shows a strong link between myth, ritual and the natural landscape and its resources. As one example, the eland is by far the most commonly painted animal and was highly valued in San conceptual thought. It played an important role in rain making, and in puberty rituals for boys and girls and it was believed that the eland could help the shaman communicate with God. Nearly every shelter with rock art has at least one eland painting and some have many more. An eland painting is a symbol of, among other things, the power that shamans harnessed to enter the spirit world. The significance of the eland is illustrated in an account by a nineteenth century Drakensberg San man, Qing, who told J M Orpen (1872) that the deity whom he called Cagn "gave orders and caused all things to appear, and to be made, the sun, moon, stars, wind, mountains and animals". Cagn's wife, Coti, gave birth to an eland calf in the fields. He put it in a gourd and took it to a secluded kloof enclosed by hills and precipices and left it to grow there. After a series of events in which the eland was killed and revived, male and female eland were created. A 'chief' killed an eland and purified himself and his wife. He lived in a place enclosed with hills and precipices. They sprinkled canna (herbs) on the ground, "and all the elands that had died became alive again". The ability to revive after death was shared by San shamans. Myths about other animals in the mountains that Qing told Orpen included tales about the water snake, baboon, eagle and rhebok. The mountains were therefore an essential element in the cosmology of the Drakensberg San. By placing paintings there the landscape was subtly over printed with visual memories of supernatural experiences that recorded intangible cultural practices for posterity (Deacon pers comm.).
  
  (v) Interaction between the San, the Bantu speaking agriculturists and European colonists contributed to the Park as a cultural landscape by affecting the pattern of land settlement. Wright (1971:193) notes that the European farmers' fear of San raids helped to keep the colonists from settling under the mountains until well into the nineteenth century. The British created buffer zones between themselves and the Drakensberg San and settled Zulu and Sotho farmers there. As a result, areas like those incorporated into the Park remained undeveloped. In a sense, then, the Park is an artificial creation, an example of a twentieth century cultural practice. It makes provision for visitor comforts at hotels and other resorts at selected nodes, it re introduces some animals that were 'shot out' in the last century, it maintains a network of paths for hikers, it protects the rock art, it manages the vegetation in various ways and it prevents people from
  
  settling there. In so doing it creates a refuge for endemic plant and animal species and sustains the landscape as a wilderness (Deacon pers comm.).
  Today we regard the Park’s environment as being near pristine that is, the disturbances by man in the past did not significantly transform the landscape although there were severe impacts on wild animal populations in the area during the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the natural balance has subsequently been restored and the original complement of species are now present in the Park. Fire, and particularly fires started by lightning, is regarded as one of the major ecological determinants of this grassland region. It has possibly played an influencing role on the biota of the region over several million years. Both plant and animal species have adapted over this time to withstand the effects of fire and thus to ensure their continued survival. The persistence of the wide diversity of species that comprise this part of the African grassland biome is to a large measure due to the fire regime that has prevailed over a long period of time rather than circumstances where fire was absent or occurred at a low frequency. There is good circumstantial evidence that fire was used in the Drakensberg by the San hunter gatherers and the Bantu speaking agriculturalist to provide natural grazing areas suitable for ungulate animals by the removal of moribund plant growth. Such veld management practices continue to the present day as fire is regularly used by the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service in the management of the Park.
  
  Within this large region there was thus an intimate association between the San inhabitants and their physical, natural and spiritual environment. The 242 813 ha area of the Park with its diverse topography, physiographic features, altitudinal range, and biological diversity is sufficiently substantial to represent the totality of the Drakensberg and the cultural landscape of the San people who formerly occupied the area. This vast landscape has not been significantly modified by the activities of man since the time it was originally inhabited by the San with the exception of a small percentage of the area such as where facilities have been provided for visitors to the Park.
  
  3. DESCRIPTION
  3.1 Description of property
  3.1.1 Physical formations and groups of outstanding universal value
  (i) Climate
  The climate of the Drakensberg region is dominated by the influence of subtropical anticyclones. In winter, the subsidence of air causes atmospheric stability and consequently a distinct dry season. In summer, the subsidence inversion may rise above the escarpment resulting in an influx of humid air from the Indian Ocean by south-easterly winds. Precipitation, often in the form of thunderstorms, then takes place. Also, due to seasonal shifts in the climatic belts, frontal depressions which have formed at mid latitudes extend far inland in the form of cold fronts and cause sudden drops in temperature and precipitation in winter. (Tyson et al.,1976)
  
  The mean annual temperature of the Drakensberg is about 16oC, but variations are considerable both seasonally and between day and night. The highest temperatures (up to 35oC) occur during summer on north-facing slopes at lower altitudes, while the lowest temperatures (down to about -20oC) occur during winter nights on the summit plateau. Frost is common, however the local topography exerts a control on its distribution and intensity. Conditions favourable for frost occur in winter with an annual duration of about 180 days from mid April to October at high plateau elevations, and about 120 days duration from May to about September in the foothill areas. Frost occurs at lower altitudes when drainage of cold air from high plateau areas drains into the lower-lying valleys.
  
  The Drakensberg is one of the best watered, least drought-prone areas of southern Africa. Annual precipitation totals vary in the region between about 1000 mm in the foothills to 1800 mm at the escarpment. Precipitation in the summer months (November to March) accounts for 70% of the annual total, while the winter months account for less than 10% of the annual rainfall. Both orographically-induced and squall-line thunderstorms are almost entirely a summer phenomenon, and due to their local nature and the pronounced effect exerted by relief, precipitation may vary considerably from area to area. Snowfalls, with an average frequency of about 8 days of snowfall per year, occur in winter, and may remain for several weeks to a few months in shadow-sites. Snowfalls at high elevations have been recorded for all months of the year, however at lower altitudes it is rare and melts quickly.
  Although strong westerly pressure winds (known as “berg winds”) prevail ahead of frontal disturbances, local topographically-induced winds occur at a variety of scales as a result of solar heating of the ground and radiational cooling at night. Thus at a subregional scale a cool mountain-plain wind blows at night whereas in the daytime a warm wind blows towards the escarpment.
  
  (ii) Geological formations
  
  The following description of the geology and the events under which it was formed was provided by G Botha of the Council for Geoscience. The information was obtained from several sources (Dingle, et al., 1983; Smith, et al., 1993; Cole, 1992; Duncan, et al., 1997).
  The geology of the Drakensberg records a ~ 130 Ma episode in the history of Gondwana and the evolution of the African continent since the breakup of the super-continent. A thick succession of sedimentary strata is overlain by basalt up to two kms thick. The sedimentary rocks preserve fossils which trace the evolution of reptiles through to mammal-like reptiles and dinosaurs. Numerous fossils of insects, crustaceans, fish, herbivores and carnivores have been recovered from these sedimentary rocks. A diverse fauna is preserved, ranging in size from small insects through to the large Massospondylus dinosaur. The plant fossils are as diverse as that of the fauna with abundant cycads, ferns (Dicroidium) and conifers (Dadoxylon).
  
  The signature of palaeoenvironmental conditions interpreted from the sedimentary rocks record climatic changes during the drift of Gondwana from a polar position to warmer mid-latitude regions. The diverse sedimentological sequences preserved, record depositional environments which changed from glacial conditions, to cold tundra, then into an epicontinental basin surrounded by deltas and peat swamps, followed by braided river systems and finally dry arid and sandy desert conditions. The extensive sand areas were smothered by lava resulting from catastrophic volcanism. Subsequent erosion along the margin of the Africa continent resulted in unprecedented rates of erosion and a rapid migration of the high ‘Drakensberg’ escarpment. The terrain morphology of the region has been moulded by river and slope erosion processes which were influenced by neotectonics and repetitive cycles of climatic change during the Cainozoic era.
  
  The Drakensberg can be divided into distinct physiographic regions. The form of the terrain is influenced by the structure of underlying lithologies. The foothills or “Little Berg” are steep-sided spurs, escarpments and valleys which occur below 2000m elevation while the high main escarpment rises to more than 3400m above sea level.
  The geology of the Drakensberg is characterised by a thick sedimentary succession which is capped by an accumulation of basaltic lava, comprising the upper part of the Karoo Supergroup succession which has a composite thickness of up to 7 000 m in this area (Figure 6). The sedimentary rocks accumulated in a depositional basin which developed in response to compressional tectonics to the south and south east. Episodes of tectonism in the Cape Fold belt, which was the provenance area for much of the Karoo Supergroup resulted in pulses of sedimentation in the depositional basin. This gave rise to alternations of coarse and fine grained sedimentary units.
  The Tarkastad Subgroup (Beaufort Group) of Triassic age is exposed at the lowest elevations in the foothills of the Drakensberg escarpment and is characterised by sandstone (Kamberg Formation) and mudstone (Burgersdorp Formation) deposited in meandering fluvial channel, flood plain and lacustrine environments under semi-arid climatic conditions with highly seasonal rainfall. Vegetation supported a diverse reptilian fauna. The sandstone and mudstone succession currently forms low cliffs along river courses and is exposed in river beds.
  Coarse-grained sandstone, hardened by secondary siliceous cement, overlying the Tarkastad Subgroup are represented by the distinctive Molteno Formation. These channel through to flood plain deposits reflect tectonic influences in the south at approximately 230 Ma. The well-bedded sandstone units of this formation form prominent scarps. Weathering of the coarse-grained sandstone gives rise to hillslopes covered with large, scattered, flat-lying slabs of rock. The overlying ‘red bed’ succession of the Elliot Formation which is about 250m thick, is exposed in the hillslopes below the prominent sandstone cliffs of the Clarens Formation. The thinly-bedded mudstone and sandstone units represent past ephemeral streams and flood plain playas. Associated with this arid palaeoclimate was a change in the fauna from larger dinosaurs to more gracile, light-limbed forms as shown by the fossil record.
  The most distinctive physiographic feature of the Drakensberg foothills is the high cliffs formed of cream to maroon, fine-grained sandstone comprising the Clarens Formation lithologies. The sandstone succession is up to 150m thick and accumulated as desert dunes and wadi systems during the arid Late Jurassic period. Thinly-bedded lacustrine, interdune sediments preserve footprints of quadrupedal and bipedal dinosaurs which are exposed in the roofs of caves and overhangs in some areas. Large blocks of massive sandstone litter the slopes below the cliffs. Many caves or over-hangs are present which were inhabited by people in the past and which preserve the rock-art of the San people.
  Tensional tectonism attributed to the development of hot spot activity during the incipient break up of Gondwana resulted in regional volcanism which terminated the Karoo sedimentation and gave rise to the Karoo Igneous Province. The full basaltic succession is best preserved in the Drakensberg escarpment and Lesotho. These fissure-type lava flows were fed by numerous hypabyssal dykes and sills which exploited vertical and horizontal planes of weakness in the crust to reach the surface. The narrow dykes intrude all of the lithologies in the Drakensberg area resulting in a contact metamorphic effect on the surrounding sedimentary rocks. Preferential weathering of adjacent softer rocks has resulted in the dykes forming distinctive topographic features.

  The high Drakensberg escarpment comprises a succession of basalt units, vents and diatremes which is up to 1 370 m thick. Basal, flood-type, lava flows rest directly on the palaeo-dune topography of the underlying Clarens Formation sandstone. Thin sandstone units higher up in the basalt pile are present and record synchronous aeolian activity during lava extrusion which was concentrated around 184 Ma. Many lava flows are 10-20 m thick and have a basal zone rich in pipe amygdales, a massive central zone and upper vesicular zone with some flow-tops exhibiting ropy ‘pahoehoe’ surfaces. Dolerite dyke feeders, which intruded through previously crystallised lavas to overlying flows, commonly define zones of preferential weathering which were subsequently eroded to form steep-sided valleys or ‘cut-backs’ on the escarpment. The dykes are also important conduits for groundwater recharge.
  Active erosion along the Drakensberg escarpment has not permitted deposits shed from the steep slopes during the long period of scarp-retreat to be preserved. Talus deposits are common below cliffs and colluvial debris is preserved on most hillslopes where landslides and arcuate slope-failures have produced hummocky slope surfaces. A series of alluvial terrace deposits occur along river valleys within the gorges of the high escarpment and further downstream in the lower gradient river sections. Colluvial deposits derived from the weathering of the underlying rocks and re-working of soils eroded up slope are susceptible to erosion and result in erosion gullies which are characteristic of the foothill slopes. Block streams and debris deposits on the high-altitude topslopes are regarded by some parties as representing periods of glacial or periglacial activity during the recent geological past.

  (iii) Geomorphology of the Drakensberg
  
  The significance of the Great Escarpment of the southern African subcontinent to the development of the landscape of this area has been stressed repeatedly in the literature. This feature separates the marginal areas of the subcontinent from the interior plateau, and it forms an enormous horseshoe-shaped step at distances ranging from 50 to more than 500 km from the present coastline. The geomorphic history of the Great Escarpment, which includes the Drakensberg Escarpment component, is intimately linked to that of the southern African subcontinent and the fragmentation of Gondwanaland. This history will be traced through a series of major evolutionary stages that have been described by Partridge and Maud (1987) in the sections that follow below.
  
  * Gondwanaland
  Within the Gondwanaland supercontinent, Africa had a central position prior to the separation into the various southern continents at the end of the Jurassic period (Dingle et al., 1983). The separation of the eastern masses (east-Gondwanaland consisting of Antarctica, Madagascar, India, and Australia) preceded that of Africa and South America. The distribution of Karoo remnants indicates that rocks of the Karoo sequence covered almost all of southern Africa (with the exception of the Cape Fold Mountains) at this time. These rocks, with their flat arrangement of sequences (tabular disposition) exerted an important structural influence on subsequent landscape development as they are relatively susceptible to erosion.
  
  The Gondwana pre-rifting surface has not been found to be preserved anywhere in southern Africa as an exposed planation feature, that is, even in relic form on the crests of the Lesotho Highlands. Examination of the kimberlite pipes at Letseng Le Terai in the Lesotho Highlands (Hawthorne, 1975) indicates that some 300 m of the Drakensberg formation lavas have been eroded since their emplacement some 87 Ma ago (Davies et al., 1977). Relative to present sea level, Partridge and Maud (1987) calculate the absolute prerifting surface elevation would have been at about 2350 m at Letseng, and to the west, elevations were lower (e.g. at Kimberley it was around 1800 m). These derived surface elevations indicate that drainage was predominantly to the west prior to the rifting of Gondwanaland.
  
  The features of the Gondwana surface therefore considered by Partridge and Maud (1987) to be important for the later geomorphic evolution of southern Africa, including the Drakensberg escarpment, are:
  * the high initial elevation of the continent,
  *the overall westward trend of the drainage, the presence of tabular Karoo rocks beneath most of the land surface,
  * the existence of the Cape Fold Mountains.
  * Creation of the Great Escarpment and erosion of the African surface

  The northern Mozambique Basin was formed by rifting between 142 and 133 Ma and resulted in the separation of Africa from Antartica. However along the southern African coast the Falklands Plateau was detached from the Mozambique Ridge later and only cleared the southern tip of Africa about 100 Ma. Large-scale down warping of the incipient continental margin along the east coast had preceded rifting. Within the adjacent interior major updoming, generally parallelling the continental margin, also preceded rifting and continental separation. These events led to the creation of the single most important geomorphic feature of the subcontinent, that is, the Great Escarpment which separates the elevated interior from the coastal margins. The newly established oceanic base levels produced an erosional face which would have receded away from the coast following the establishment and growth of an effective drainage net. The present Great Escarpment, which now lies more than 200 km inland of the original continental margin in some areas, is a perpetuation of this early rift-generated feature.
  Erosion proceeded simultaneously both above and below the Great Escarpment and at different levels. In the coastal areas this erosion was controlled by the oceanic base level, but in the interior plateau the operating base level was that of the major river systems (e.g. Orange - Vaal). This landscape erosion cycle, called the African Cycle by Partridge and Maud (1987), was of long duration (more than 100 Ma) and was an episode during which landscape development proceeded under the influence of erosion. It did not proceed without interruption, as several peaks of different ages have been recognized in the sediments found on the continental shelf. Nevertheless, despite its polycyclic nature, the major part of the erosion occurred in the period immediately following rifting. This is supported by comparison of the size of basalt class of the Drakensberg Formation found along the length of Natal rivers with those of similar class preserved in earlier coastal sediments. This analysis indicated that by the mid-Cretaceous the Natal Drakensberg Escarpment had receded some 100 km from the coast, but towards the end of the Cretaceous this distance had increased to approximately 120 km, that is, to a line not far eastward of its present position (Matthews and McCarthy, 1978). By end-Cretaceous to early Tertiary times the subcontinent had been reduced by the erosion processes to a vast, undulating plain punctuated at infrequent intervals by erosional residuals and high-lying massifs. Enormous thicknesses of material had been removed over the interior plateau (e.g. some 1650 m in parts of the Harrismith area). At the end of the African cycle, elevations in the interior were of the order of 500-700 m above sea level. However there were some extensive areas standing above the African surface that had not succumbed to planation, such as the Lesotho Highlands and other major ranges (Partridge and Maud, 1987).

  * Miocene uplift

  Uplift of the subcontinent about 18 Ma during the Miocene brought to an end the African erosion cycle and its resultant major episode of landscape evolution. However, movement was concentrated along several axes, of which the Ciskei - Swaziland axis, situated some 75 to 175 km inland of the present southeastern coastline, was the most prominent. Here vertical movements ranged from about 300 m in southern Swaziland to about 200 m near Umtata in the Eastern Cape. Also, marginal areas seaward of the axis were flexed gently outwards with the zone of zero movement occurring near the present coastline. The geomorphic manifestation was therefore a slight westward tilting of the African surface with limited coastal monoclinal warping.

  * The Post-African I surface

  The Miocene uplift caused a rejuvenation in landscape formation processes both in the interior and coastal areas and thus the Post-African I erosion cycle was initiated (Partridge and Maud, 1987). This erosion cycle was of relatively short duration (15-16 Ma) and back-wearing of the Great Escarpment was limited by comparison with its recession in Cretaceous times, involving only a few tens of kms.

  * Pliocene uplift

  The Pliocene movement of about 2.5 Ma was of a much greater amplitude in most areas than the earlier Miocene uplift, and given the deformation of the Post-African I surface which took place, the uplift was concentrated along virtually the same axes as before. The present face of the southern African subcontinent therefore probably owes more to this late Tertiary disturbance than to any previous tectonic event since the fragmentation of Gondwanaland (Partridge and Maud, 1987). Uplift was concentrated in the eastern part of the subcontinent and varied from 600 to 900 m along the Ciskei-Swaziland axis, and thus greatly accentuated the westward tilt that had been initiated by the earlier Miocene movement. This asymmetry in the landscape resulted in the significant rejuvenation of erosion processes along the major inland drainage lines, and resulted in the progressive and major headward incision of the Great Escarpment, and particularly its eastern part. Relatively modest incision occurred in the interior plateau along almost the entire length of each river.
  The land seaward of the Ciskei-Swaziland axis underwent major monoclinal (outward) warping. The position of this axis was sharply defined, and lagging of the sub-escarpment area to the west of the axis resulted in many headwater zones being back-tilted towards the escarpment. To the east of the axis down warping resulted in the gradients on the erosion surface increasing from less than 3 m/km to as much as 30 m/km. This increased gradient resulted in high sedimentation rates in the cones at the mouths of the major rivers. In the back-tilted sub-escarpment areas several anomalous drainage features resulted, and major aggregation occurred in a number of high-level basins such as the Cedarville Flats.

  * Post-African II surface

  The Pliocene uplift and warping of the subcontinent triggered the Post-African II landscape cycle, which is manifested chiefly in the major dissection of the coastal hinterland, for example, the 500m deep Valley of a Thousand Hills in KwaZulu-Natal. The process of erosion of the Drakensberg escarpment thus continues to be active.

3.1.2 Biological formations and groups of outstanding universal value
3.1.2.1 Biogeographic importance of the region

The mountain region in which the Park is situated is an ancient feature that has played an important role in the distribution of ancient invertebrate lineages. This region has remained at a relatively high elevation, and topographical and ecological conditions have also been relatively similar since the time of formation of the Great Escarpment, for example, rainfall has been high and reliable. The mountain region has therefore been a refuge for some relic palaeogenic taxa.
Of particular interest ate the palaeogenic invertebrate groups. These occur in several parts of the world, but are confined to South Africa in the context of the Afrotropical Region (Africa south of the Sahara). This is largely due to the ancient character of the Great Escarpment and the Cape Fold Mountains in contrast to the more recent features in most of the rest of Africa. Some of these groups are unique in South Africa, such as, certain groups of earwigs, alderflies, stoneflies, planthoppers and flies (including some wormlion flies, snipe flies, net-winged midges and solitary midges). There are two main concentrations of palaeogenic invertebrate species in South Africa. These are the Eastern Highlands Centre (which includes this mountain region as one of its subcentres) and the Cape Centre). Within each of the palaeogenic invertebrate groups mentioned above, there are species that are endemic to the Maloti-Drakensberg Highlands and several species have to date only been found in the Park.
In addition, palynological studies on wetland deposits in areas surrounding the Drakensberg have yielded evidence of significant change in plant communities in response to cyclical climatic change during the Quaternary period. The changes in the amount of insolation experienced by the region affected the seasonality of rainfall which is reflected in the change in composition of the dominant grassland vegetation. The ‘Late Pleistocene Hypothermal’ resulted in a regional desiccation and lowering of temperature by up to 6oC which lead to a spread of components of the ‘fynbos’ vegetation typical of high altitudes down to distant river valley areas as much as 900m lower. The effect of vegetation change on faunal populations during these climatic changes has been documented from fossil evidence at numerous sites around the Drakensberg area.

3.1.2.2 Flora
(i) Vegetation

With altitudes varying from 1280 m to nearly 3 500 m, a range of 2 200 m, the Drakensberg has a great variation in its topography, with summit plateaux and peaks, vast basalt and sandstone cliffs, deep valleys and intervening spurs. In addition to the topography, the vegetation of the Drakensberg is further influenced by the effects of climate, soil, geology, aspect, slope, drainage and fire. The interrelationship and interactions between these factors has allowed for the development of a wide diversity in plant community types and associations in the region.
The vegetation of the Drakensberg mountains is altitudinally zoned to form three belts which coincide with the three main topographical features, namely the river valley system, the spurs, and the summit plateau. These belts are: the low altitude belt (1 280 - 1830 m) with Podocarpus latifolius Forest as the plant successional climax community, the mid altitude belt (1 830 - 2865m) with Passerina-Philipia-Widdringtonia Fynbos as the plant successional climax community, and the high altitude belt (2 865-3 500 m) or alpine tundra with Erica-Helichrysum Heath as the plant successional climax community (Killick, 1990; Killick, 1997). A profile through a typical part of the Drakensberg region showing the vegetation belts with their major plant communities is given in Figure 7 and a description of the various plant communities is given in Appendix 3.

(ii) Plant species
A total of 2 153 species of plants has been recorded for the Drakensberg Park and these are listed in Schedule 1. A comparison of the flora of the Park with surrounding regions is given in Table 6.

Table 6. A comparison of the flora of the Drakensberg Park with surrounding regions.

Park or Country	Families	Genera	Species
Drakensberg Park	171	585	2153
Lesotho	95	526	1537
KwaZulu-Natal	179	1235	5200

A remarkable feature of the Park is the large number of endemic species present. Of the 394 species and infraspecific taxa recorded by Hilliard and Burtt (1987) for the Drakensberg Alpine Region (Killick, 1994), at least 247 species occur in the Park of which some 98 species (51,5%) are endemic/near endemic to this protected area. The percentage endemism of the whole flora was found to be 29,5%. Since 1987, several new species have been described from the region, while many taxa remain undescribed. A provisional list of plant endemics for the Park (totalling 247 species) is given in Schedule 2. In the southern Drakensberg, local endemic forbs and shrubs are more frequent than in the northern Drakensberg. Despite relatively large areas of forest, there are no endemic forest trees in the region, and most of the endemic plants are associated with grassland (Hilliard and Burtt, 1987; Killick, 1994).
The Park also contains a large number of species that have been included in the international and national Red Data books of threatened plants, or have been listed as Appendix I (1 species) or Appendix II (120 species) by CITES (Schedule 3).

The following is a summary of the 109 listed threatened species per Red Data Book category (Hilton-Taylor, 1996; Walter and Gillett, 1997):

• Endangered 3
• Vulnerable 5
• Insufficiently known 21
• Indeterminate 19
• Rare 61

In an analysis of the composition of the flora (1332 flowering plants) of the southern Drakensberg it was found that although the Compositae was the largest family (285 species), its proportional dominance (21,4% of the flora) was exceptional (Hilliard and Burtt, 1987) and may be compared to that of the Sonoran Desert (15%). The ten largest families, and ten largest genera and their percentage of the whole flora of the southern Drakensberg is given in Table 6. The two outstanding features of the family representation in the southern Drakensberg flora was the high percentage of Compositae and of monocotyledons (five families) which together comprise over 55% of the flora. There were some 23 genera with five or more endemic species (Table 7). Many of the 23 genera have either a Cape centre of origin (Erica, Crassula, Sutera etc.), or are essentially genera of the Drakensberg Alpine Region itself (Merxmuellera, Schoenoxiphium, Rhodohypoxis, Glumicalyx), or of the summer rainfall area of South Africa (Kniphofia, Alepidea). With the exception of Helichrysum, Senecio and Kniphofia, tropical representation amongst the 23 genera is relatively weak, thus emphasising the southern African continental affinities of the Drakensberg flora.

Table 7. The ten largest families and genera and their percentage composition of the flora of the Southern Drakensberg (after Hilliard and Burtt, 1987).

Family	No Spp	%
Compositae	285	21.4
Gramineae	108	81
Liliaceae	84	6.3
Orchidaceae	83	6.2
Scrophulariaceae	79	5.9
Leguminosae	65	4.9
Iridaceae	65	4.9
Cyperaceae	59	4.4
Cyperaceae	44	3.3
Ericaceae	26	1.9
Genus
Helichrysum	85	6.3
Senecio	76	5.7
Erica	25	1.9
Disa	24	1.8
Sebae	19	1.4
Crassula	19	1.4
Argyrolobium	18	1.3
Moraea	16	1.2
Thesium	15	1.1
Hypoxis	15	1.1

Table 8. Genera with five or more endemic plant species (Hilliard and Burtt, 1987).

Genus	Genus
Merxmuellera	Sebae
Pentaschistis	Schizoglossum
Schoenoxiphium	Asclepias
Kniphofia	Diascia
Rhodohypoxis	Sutera
Hesperantha	Glumicalyx
Disa	Wahlenbergia
Thesium	Helichrysum
Crassula	Cotula
Argyrolobium	Senecio
Alipidea	Berkheya
Erica

A phytogeographical analysis of the flora found in the southern Drakensberg based on the distribution of both genera and species, has resulted in a greater understanding of the flora of the area in relation to that of Africa and especially southern Africa (Hilliard and Burtt, 1987). Previously the Drakensberg flora was considered to have affinities with the flora of the tropical African mountains. This led to the Drakensberg summits being ascribed to the Afroalpine phytogeographical region, and the lower slopes to the Afromontane region (Killick, 1978; White,1983). Based on the improved concepts and terminology of White (1983), Hilliard and Burtt described the Drakensberg as a phytogeographical region where different floras meet but where there is also a richness of endemic species, and argue that this merits recognition in the broader African context of a floral region which they called the South-eastern Mountain Regional Mosaic. The areas above 2750 m altitude in the Drakensberg are alpine, where the climate is cold with considerable frost-thaw activity at least in winter, and the vegetation is treeless with low-growing grasses, perennial forbs and dwarf shrubs, and abundant mosses and lichens.
Cowling and Hilton-Taylor (1994) examined patterns of plant diversity and endemism, and compared the species richness and levels of endemism of the southern African flora with other areas of the world, and also identified the hot-spots of plant diversity and endemism within southern Africa. They describe eight such areas as occurring in southern Africa, one of these being the high Drakensberg (Table 5). Myers (1988) coined the term “hot-spot” to describe areas that are characterized by high species richness, high concentrations of endemic species, and which are experiencing high rates of habitat modification or loss. Subsequently, the Drakensberg Alpine Region has been proposed by the WWF/IUCN as one of nearly 250 major sites for conservation of plant diversity worldwide.

Table 9. Characteristics of the Drakensberg Alpine Region in relation to the other southern African “hotspot” areas (from Cowling & Hilton-Taylor, 1994).

Hotspot	Area (km2)	No Spp	Endemics (%	Vegetation
Drakensberg Alpine Region (Eastern Mountain)	40 000	1 750	30	Temperate grassland and rainforest, sclerophyll shrub land
Succulent Karoo	111212	4 750	35	Succulent shrub land landlandlandlandddsss
Cape	90 000	8 600	68	Sclerophyll shrub land, temperate rainforest
Maputaland	26 734	1 100	15	Savanna, subtropical rainforest and grassland, wetland
Kaokoveld	70 000	952	12	Deciduous shrub land, ephemeral herbland, savanna
Albany	22 500	2 000	10	Subtropical thicket
Pondoland	1 880	1 500	8	Subtropical grassland and rainforest
Wolkberg	5 980	2 700	4	Temperate and subtropical grassland and rainforest, savanna

3.1.2.3 Fauna

(i) Invertebrate fauna

The invertebrate fauna of the Park and Drakensberg region is poorly known. However studies which have been undertaken on several taxa, namely the earthworms, millipedes, centipedes, lacewings, crane flies, dragonflies, butterflies, cetonid beetles, hanging flies and robber flies, have been dealt with in sufficient detail to provide some information and insight into the invertebrate groups. In addition, reference was made in section 2.2.1 to palaeogenic insects that are unique to South Africa and particularly to the Drakensberg mountain region. Of particular note are the species listed in Table 10 which includes many species endemic to the region The species are:

Table 10: The palaeogenic insects recorded for the Drakensberg Park. Species marked with an asterisk(*) have to date only been recorded from the Park and are considered to be endemic to the region.

Insect Group	Species recorded
Planthoppers	Menenches nona* M. decuma*	Griphissus xenocles* Gamergus phintias*
Crane flies	Ctenacroscelis quathlambicus* Longurio drakensbergensis* L. syndactylus* Nephrotoma basutoensis* Dolichopeza altiacica* D. aurantiaca* D. cathedralis* D. chaka* D. dorsoprojecta* D. parvistyla* D. thoracica* Tipula draconis* T. natalia* Limonia satura* L. umkomazanae* L. rudebecki*	L. tugela* Antocha indumeni* A. venosa* Austrolimnophila luteipleura* Limnophila hetaira* Hexatoma preposita* Quathlambia stuckenbergi* Gonomyia daedalus* G. gnophosoma G. unispicata G. sulphurelloides* Limnophilomyia stuckenbergi* Rhabdomastrix tugela* Tasiocera probosa* Ormosia hirtipennis*
Wormlion fly	Vermipardus sylphe*
Dance flies	Drapetis sebetuanei* D. Sekeletui* Platypalpus similis* Syneches graminis* Syndyas indumeni* Stenoproctus similis* Empis indumeni* E. natalensis* Hilarempis adrianus* H.indumeni* H. carlieri*	H fasciata* H. inerma* H. breviseta* H. neptunus* Hilara sextaseta* Hemerodromia gogi* Afrodromia montana* Dolichocephala duodecempunctata* Brachystoma jonesi* B. montana*
Net-winged midges	Elporia hiemis E. scruposa*	E.scruposa*
Dark-winged fungus fly	Bradysia novalobata
Tachinid flies	Montonothalma natalensis*	Mediosetiger microcephala*
Solitary midge	Afrothaumalea pamelae
Aulacigastrid flies	Aulacigaster africana	A.sp
Campichoetid fly	Campichoeta natalensis
Hanging fly	Bitticus bicornis*
Lace wings	pamochrysa stellata* Nimboa natalensis	Hermerobius aper* H. natalensis*

(Stuckenberg, 1962; Stuckenberg, 1995).
Three species of earthworm belonging to two families have been recorded for the Park (Schedule 4). The species Proandricus pajori has only been collected in the Drakensberg Park but is possibly endemic to the region.
The millipedes are well represented in the Park with 32 species recorded as being present. One genus and 20 species have to date only been found in the Park and therefore several of these may possibly be found after further research to be Park endemics (Schedule 5). Some 14 species of centipedes have been recorded as present in the Park, of which Lamycetes setigera has to date, only been found within the Park (Schedule 6).
Two species of that remarkable taxon Onychophora namely, Opisthopatus cinctipes and Peripatopsis moseleyi have been found to be present in the Park (Schedule 7).
Three species of fairy shrimp occur in emphemeral rock pools in the Park, two of which are endemic to the protected area. Two species of freshwater harpacticoid copepods Attheyella pauliani and A. reducta are only known from the Park. One species of crab has been recorded which is abundant in the many rivers and streams in the Park. Schedule 8 lists the Crustaceans recorded in the Park.
Of the 156 dragonfly species described for South Africa, 44 species (28,2%) have been recorded for the Park (Schedule 9). Although many of these species are generally distributed, there is one Park endemic and six South African endemic species found in the protected area. The more unusual or interesting species are those associated with the ancient tarns and wetlands at high elevations (e.g. Enallagma subfurcatum, Agriocnemis pinheyi) or high altitude streams (Chlorolestes draconica, Pseudagrion caffrum, and Platycypha fitzsimmonsi; Samways (1994).
Although the total number of 74 butterfly species in the Drakensberg may be considered relatively low, representing 11,7% of the 632 species recorded for South Africa, the butterfly communities are rich in skippers (Hesperidae), browns (Satyridae), and blues (Lycaenidae), with 19 being typically montane species (Schedule 10). Four species are endemic to the Drakensberg and occur within the Park (Quickelberg, pers, comm.).
A total of 24 fruit and flower chafer beetles (Cetonidae) are present in the Park, being 13,9% of the 173 species recorded for South Africa (Schedule 11). There are six South African endemic species of cetonids recorded for the Park.
Species lists of several insect families are available for the Park and include ten species of lace wings, 61 species of crane flies and four species of net-winged midges (Schedules 12 to 15). Six species of hanging flies (Bittacidae) have been recorded in the area and the species Bittacus bicornis has only been collected from the Drakensberg Park (Schedule 16). Some 33 species of robber flies (Asilidae) belonging to 14 genera are known to be present in the Park (Schedule 17).

(ii) Fish

Being a mountain area, only seven species of fish, including two introduced alien species of Salmonidae, have been recorded as occurring within the Park (Schedule 18). Although an old record for the endemic Drakensberg minnow (Pseudobarbus quathlambae) exists for the Park, the species has not been subsequently recorded as being present, although it does occur in Lesotho close to the border of the Park.

(iii) Herpetofauna

With its four Park endemics and 40 South African endemic species the Park is considered to be one of the eight major centres of herpetofauna diversity in southern Africa (Branch, 1998; Bourquin, pers, comm.). This mountainous region forms a link between the mountain regions of the Cape to the south and the northern, more tropically situated mountain areas, and is considered to function as a corridor along which various faunal taxa can move.
Given a wide range of habitat types at different altitudes, there is an astonishingly high species richness. 26 species and subspecies of frogs occur within the Park, being 21,0% of the 124 species recorded for South Africa. With some 19 species and subspecies, the family Ranidae is best represented among the amphibians (Schedule 19). The frog species found in the Drakensberg include a high proportion of species that are widely distributed throughout South Africa or KwaZulu-Natal. However there are also several species with more limited ranges and habitat preferences including three species (Rana vertebralis, R. dracomantana, Strongylopus hymenopus) which are adapted to very high altitudes and low temperatures.
There are 23 lizard and 25 snake species recorded for the Park (Schedule 20). Species richness of amphibians and reptiles in the Park is related to altitude with fewer species being present at the high, cold and wet altitudes where 5 amphibian, 6 lizard and 3 snake species are found above 2 600 m. One endemic reptile species is recorded only for the Park namely, the cream-spotted mountain snake (Montaspis gilvomaculata).

(iv) Birds

A total of 296 bird species have been recorded for the Park (Johnson, pers, comm.) representing 37% of the non-marine birds recorded for southern Africa (Schedule 21), of which 213 species are considered to be either permanently resident (154 species) or are regular visitors i.e 59 migratory species (Little and Bainbridge, 1992). All 16 paleoartic migrants are non-breeding summer visitors, whereas all 22 Intra-African migrants are summer visitors of which 20 species probably breed. There are 21 local migrant species all of which probably breed in the Park

The majority, 233 species, have AfroTropical affinities, and are relatively widespread elsewhere in Africa. However, not all of these have contiguous ranges, and some of the Drakensberg populations are isolated from their main ranges. Some of these isolations, for example that of the Bearded Vulture, probably represents man-induced inhospitality in areas where the species is now absent. However, others provide a probable demonstration of climate and vegetation changes. One example is the Olive Woodpecker which is confined to cooler forests, there being a single race present in South Africa which is separated by an arid gap from another subspecies found in sub-equatorial Africa.
There is a high degree of endemism present. There are 43 southern African endemics of which 32 species are endemic to South Africa (Schedule 22). These include birds such as : Ground Woodpecker (Geocolaptes olivaceus), Buffstreaked Chat (Oenanthe bifasciata), Cape Rock Thrush (Monticola rupestris), Sentinel Rock Thrush (Monticola explorator), Gurney’s Sugarbird (Promerops gurneyi), Bald Ibis (Geronticus calvus), and three high altitude species namely, the Orangebreasted Rockjumper (Chaetops auranticus), Drakensberg Siskin (Serinus symonsi) and Yellowbreasted Pipit (Hemimacronyx chloris). It is considered that 41 of the southern African endemics breed in the Park.
Some 18 species recorded for the Park are listed in the South African Red Data Book as threatened species.

(v) Mammals

There are 48 species of mammals occurring in the Park (Schedule 23), with 16 species of Rodentia, 15 species of Carnivora and 11 species of Artiodactyla present. The largest population of the Clawless Otter and Spotted-necked Otter in KwaZulu-Natal, and possibly South Africa, occurs within the Park (Rowe-Rowe et al., 1994). Large populations of several antelope species are present and include an estimated population of 1 500 - 2 000 of the endemic Grey Rhebuck (Pelea capreolus), 1 000 Reedbuck (Redunca arundinum), and ca 2 000 Eland (Taurotragus oryx) which is also one of the largest populations of this species in South Africa (Rowe-Rowe, 1994).
Table 11: Estimated population sizes of selected species of mammals found in the Drakensberg Park

Species	Population Size	Species	Population Size
Black-backed Jackal	1 000	Chacma Baboon	1 100
Black Wildebeest	40	Red Hartebeest	15
Blesbuck	80	Oribi	150
Grey Rhebuck	2 000	Eland	2 000
Reedbuck	1 000

The Park is the only protected area in KwaZulu-Natal known to have populations of the following species: Sclater’s Golden Mole (Chlorotalpa sclateri), Cape Mole Rat (Georychus capensis), Ice Rat (Otomys sloggetti), and the Small Grey Mongoose (Galerella pulverulentus).

Eleven South African endemic species are present, namely: Forest Shrew (Myosorex varius), Greater Musk Shrew (Crocidura flavescens), Sclater’s Golden Mole (Chlorotalpha sclateri), Hottentot Golden Mole (Amblysomus hottentotus), Black Wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou), Blesbuck (Damaliscus dorcas), Grey Rhebuck (Pelea capreolus), Cape Mole Rat (Georychus capensis), Ice Rat (Otomys sloggetti), White-tailed Rat (Mystromys albicaudatus), and Natal Red Hare (Pronolagus crassicaudatus).
Although there are no mammal species included on the international list of threatened species, 11 species occurring in the Park are to be found listed in the South African Red Data Book. There are 7 mammal species that are either on CITES Appendix list I or II.

3.1.2.4 Species of global conservation importance
Ten species of birds occurring within the Park are listed as being of global conservation importance (Collar et al., 1994), these are:

* Globally endangered - Whitewinged Flufftail and Cape Parrot,
* Globally threatened - Lesser Kestral, Corncrake, and Yellowbreasted Pipit,
* Globally vulnerable - Bald Ibis, Cape Vulture, and Blue Crane,
* Globally near-threatened - Black Harrier and Pallid Harrier.

3.1.3 Description and inventory of the Cultural Heritage of outstanding universal value
3.1.3.1 The San rock art of the Drakensberg

The rock art found in the Drakensberg represents a significant component of the cultural heritage left by the San hunter-gatherers who survived in this area until the nineteenth century. These people lived in the Drakensberg from about 8000 years ago to the late nineteenth century. Within the 242 813 ha area of the Park and including adjacent areas, there are almost 600 sites on record at the Natal Museum with some 35 000 individual images represented (Whitelaw, 1997; Wahl et al., 1997). The exact number of sites or images is not known because there are still some areas that have not been comprehensively surveyed for rock paintings. Although all the large, major sites have probably been found, new discoveries are regularly made.

Paintings are found in a diverse range of sites from large rock shelters containing over a thousand individual images, to small rock overhangs with only a few paintings, to the vertical sides of boulders strewn along the steep slopes of valleys. Within sites, paintings are found not only on prominent rock faces that can be viewed from all parts of a shelter, but also on the often comparatively hidden surfaces of the jumble of fallen and broken rocks on the floors of many shelters. Most of these less obvious paintings were done after the rocks had come to rest in their present positions, and therefore their presence on these rocks was intentional. It is apparent that the San artists selected specific rock shelters for repeated visits in order to paint and repaint particular surfaces over a period of time, as paintings are often superimposed.

The age of individual images can be determined only if organic ingredients have been used in the paint, and as the dating method is destructive and expensive, few samples have been taken. If painted rock or fragments of paint have fallen onto the floor of a shelter and have been incorporated into the deposit, organic remains, typically charcoal, can be dated to give a rough estimate of the time when the paint or rock was detached from the cave wall. Using these techniques, the oldest dated painting on a rock shelter wall in the Park is about 2400 years old, while in the region, paint detached from a painting was found at the same level as charcoal dating to about 3800 years ago. At the other end of the time scale the age of the more recently painted images can be more readily established. Historical records and the subject matter of some of the art show that San paintings were created up to the late nineteenth century. There are also paintings in the Drakensberg that are attributable to Bantu-speaking farmers. These were probably done during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The art thus represents a very long tradition.

Vinnicombe (1976) investigated 150 rock art sites in the central and southern Drakensberg (Figure 8). Many of these sites contained painted scenes which depict hunting, dancing, fighting, food gathering or ritual and trance scenes of hunting or rainmaking. Of the 8478 images recorded by Vinnicombe, 53% were of human figures, 43% of animals, and 4% were inanimate and abstract subjects. Twenty one shelters were found that contained only animal paintings, compared with eight that had only human figures depicted. The predominant colour for all subjects was red (40%) whereas white, orange and yellow coloured paint was more frequently used on animal paintings. Other colours used included black, and rarely, brown (2%). The majority of the images were between 100 to 250 mm in size, but paintings were found to range from 13 to 2430 mm. Most images were either monochrome (64%) or bichrome (22%), but both polychrome (6%) and shaded polychrome (8%) paintings were present. The shaded polychrome paintings, usually of

animals such as eland and rhebuck, are virtually unique to this south-eastern mountain region of southern Africa. Finally Vinnicombe recorded superimposed paintings in 51% of the rock shelters in the study area.
The subject matter of the art is diverse and may be classified as follows (Vinnicombe, 1976):

Animal subjects (3 606 images)

(i) Antelopes comprised 77% of the animal images with eland (35%) and rhebuck (18%) being the most frequently painted subjects. The eland paintings range in size from 80 to 230 mm and the rhebuck from 13 to 160 mm. Most eland paintings show groups of animals in superimposed freezes or masterly compositions in a variety of restful poses. Eland were treated elaborately by the artists. Other antelope species depicted included hartebeest, reedbuck, oribi, grey rhebuck, black wildebeest, bushbuck, and roan antelope.
(ii) Other indigenous species less frequently painted include, baboon, snakes, birds, shoals of fish, small carnivores, leopard, hyaena, buffalo, bushpig, warthog, aardvark, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, jackal, hare, lizard, and mongoose.
(iii) Domestic animals were also painted with cattle and horses being most common.

Human and therianthropic subjects (4 530 images)

(i) Most human subjects painted appear to be naked (58%) but the sex was indeterminate for 89% of the figures. However male figures (9%) were more frequent than female (2%).
(ii) Dressed figures were clothed in a variety of garments that include apron, cloak, short kaross, long kaross, or European clothing. The figures may have accompanying weapons or equipment such as bow, arrows, quiver, stick, digging-stick, assegai, bag, fly-switch, or shield.
(iii) The head of the figures may be round, concave, hooked, or that of an animal. Headgear may be portrayed as a knob, hat, cap, horns, feathers, both horns and feathers, lines up, or lines drawn down.
(iv) Parts of the body, such as the head, neck, body, arms, legs, or penis may be decorated.

Non-representational paintings

These paintings comprise a variety of images such as intentional finger smears often in pairs, crossed lines in rectangles, rope-like lines drawn from an animal or a therianthropic figure, or feathery white lines leading from the head area of an animal or animal-like figure.
The 5,5km Didima gorge situated within the Cathedral Peak State Forest is possibly the richest art area in South Africa with some 3909 individual paintings in 17 rock shelters. Pager (1971) undertook a survey and recorded in detail the rock art in a study area that included the Didima gorge. He found that in terms of subject matter, 57% of images were human figures, 36,29% were animals 1,62% mythological creatures, and the remaining images were of man-made structures, bees’ nests, ground features, equipment or were paintings of obscure meaning. However his analysis did show that the significance of the human figures in the art is of less consequence than the animals which feature as the predominant element as these are larger, often more colourful, and more elaborately executed than most other figures. He found that only a few paintings depicted Bantu and their domestic animals and none portrayed Europeans. About 60% of the paintings were monochrome, the others had two to four colours, and most paintings were only a few centimetres in size.

3.2 History and Development
3.2.1 History of the region

The Drakensberg region ranks as one of the most important archaeological areas in southern Africa. Archaeological sites from the Early, Middle and Late Stone Ages, and the Late Iron Age are present, indicating that the period of human occupation in this mountainous region possibly extends over the last million years. Important Middle Stone Age sites are, for example, found in the eastern Free State Province and eastern Lesotho. Several of these sites have been excavated and they have yielded important information relating to hunter-gatherer occupation during the last 100 000 years. The majority of excavated sites in the Drakensberg, particularly in Lesotho and the eastern Free State, have had late stone age occupation deposits Although the first evidence of human occupation of the Drakensberg Park dates from the Middle Stone Age and may go back 20 000 years or more (Mazel, 1982), it was Late Stone Age people the ancestors of the nineteenth century San, who inhabited the area from about 8000 years ago. The San were hunter-gatherers and often lived in caves and rock shelters, many of which were adorned with rock paintings. The population was small, probably never more than a thousand in the Park, and therefore they had little significant impact on the vegetation or wildlife populations of the area (Wright, 1971).

The settlement of Iron Age farmers in the foothill areas east of the main escarpment may possibly date from the 1200s, or even slightly earlier. These people brought cattle and sheep into the region. However by the late 1600s there were African cattle-herding people living in permanent settlements in areas adjacent to the northern and central Drakensberg region (Wright, 1971, Irwin and Irwin, 1992). Although there were different impacts, natural resources continued to be managed in a sustainable way. The people living in the area to the north were known as the Zizi and to the south, the Tholo. Relations between these people and the San appear to have been reasonably harmonious during their initial period of contact during the first millennium AD in the low-lying regions of KwaZulu-Natal, but archaeologists are less clear about the nature of their relations during the second millennium AD. However it is likely that these relations became more complex during the nineteenth century. From 1816, under the leadership of Shaka, the rise of Zulu military power in Zululand far to the north-east brought an end to peace in the region as successive waves of refugees displaced by the Zulu army (impis) settled towards the Drakensberg, in turn attacking those already there.

At the time of the arrival of the first white settlers (Voortrekkers) in late 1837, large areas in the Drakensberg and adjacent country to the east appeared to be virtually uninhabited apart from the San and a few surviving fugitive groups (Irwin and Irwin, 1992). Some of the Voortrekkers settled in the foothill areas where they established farms on land where good grazing for cattle was present. Many turned to sheep farming after 1855 following severe outbreaks of bovine lung disease, and this was to continue on a large scale until the 1930s. These settlers hunted the game animals and significantly reduced their numbers. The disappearance of game animals was a major impact after millenia of careful management by the indigenous people (Deacon pers comm.).

This was to bring them in conflict with the San who also hunted over these areas. The San would raid the stock of farmers, who would retaliate by pursuing them in an attempt to recover their animals. Usually the San were overtaken and in the ensuing battle, men were invariably shot. The farmers complained to the Natal colonial authorities, and in 1847 a military post was established in an attempt to control, what was deemed by the colonists to be stock theft (Vinnicombe, 1976). The raids continued and the Natal Government attempted to check stock theft from white-owned farms by settling Bantu-speaking farmers in areas along the Drakensberg in an effort to seal off the approaches used by San raiders. By 1865 this human barricade had been completed and was successful in ensuring an immediate and organized pursuit of the San raiders and the stolen animals by farmers, military and native levies. The raiders were often tracked high up into the mountains. By 1870 the raids had almost ceased, the last recorded being in 1872 in the upper Pholela area. Counter measures were swift and five San were killed and four taken prisoner. In 1871 the last of the Lesotho San were destroyed and it is generally accepted that by 1875 the San hunter-gatherers as a viable community were no longer to be found in the Drakensberg. Thus within about 50 years, European colonists had upset the balance that had existed between the indigenous people and their sustainable use of the natural resources of the region and the rock art of this time illustrates some of the anger that the San felt towards them (Deacon pers comm.)

Descriptions of the Drakensberg and the naming of landscape features by explorers occurred intermittently from 1835 when Capt A.F. Gardiner first journeyed into the area, and later by the missionaries M T Arbousset and M F Daumas in 1836, also Maj. Grantham in 1861, J. S. Dobie in 1863, J. E. Fannin in 1873 and Col A. W. Durnford in 1874 following the Langalibalele affair. The first recorded climbs were undertaken by A. H. and F. R. Stocker in 1887 and these were described and published together with a map of a section of the Drakensberg from Mont-aux-Sources and the Tugela Falls to Giant's Castle in which a relatively large number of features were named. Such exploration and description led to further settlement of the area. In 1884 surveying of the boundaries of farms commenced, and the properties were put up for sale by the Colonial Government. Although some of these farms were well into the river valleys of the Drakensberg, the highest occupational and agricultural level was about 1675 m; beyond was too extreme for farming, though stock certainly grazed the upper slopes and spurs of the mountain.

3.2.2 History of preservation/conservation

In 1903 the Natal Colonial Government took preliminary steps to establish the first protected area in the Drakensberg by way of a Government Notice (No. 735 of 29 October 1903) which stated its intention to proclaim a "game reserve on the Crown Land in the vicinity of Giant’s Castle". Although no specific reason for the establishment of the reserve can be traced it has been generally accepted that the reserve was set aside for the protection of the fast disappearing herds of eland and other antelope species, and the magnificent scenic value of the area (Pearse, 1973). The area was declared a "Demarcated Forest" in 1905 but later proclaimed a game reserve in terms of Government Notice No 356 of 1907 which allowed for the enforcement of the game protection laws. Subsequently, over the years since 1916, there have been twelve proclamations or amending notices which have increased the size of Giant's Castle Game Reserve to its present day area of (34 638 ha).

Several Government-owned farms and adjoining Crown Land in the vicinity of Mont-aux-Sources were to become the nucleus of a second protected area in the Drakensberg. The importance of this area as a potential national park was first recognised by W. F. Clayton, Minister of Agriculture and Lands in 1906 who took the first steps towards its proclamation. A party led by Senator F. Churchill inspected and recommended the area to be a national park to the Natal Government in 1908. However due to lack of funds the scheme was abandoned and the land sold to General J. S. Wylie. After the formation of the Union of South Africa, Wylie sold the land (at cost) back to the Government on condition that it remained for all time a national park for the people of South Africa. The Natal National Park was then formally established by the Natal Provincial Administration on the 19 September 1916, and an advisory committee appointed to study the area, control the land and develop its potential. Additional land was added to the Park increasing its original size of 3294 ha to 8094 ha and in 1950 the adjoining area was proclaimed Rugged Glen Nature Reserve making a total area protected of 8846 ha. As a result of the visit by the British royal family to the park in 1947, the name was changed to Royal Natal National Park. Following the establishment of the Natal Parks, Game and Fish Preservation Board (later the Natal Parks Board) in 1947 all these protected areas have been managed by this organization. In terms of the provincial Nature Conservation Ordinance several other nature reserves were proclaimed in the Drakensberg. These were, Kamberg Nature Reserve in 1951, Loteni Nature Reserve in 1953 and Vergelegen Nature Reserve in 1967.

Concerns regarding the exploitation of indigenous forests was expressed in reports submitted to the Colonial Government in 1880, 1889 and 1902. These resulted in the appointment of Mr T. R. Sim as Conservator of Forests and the establishment of a Forestry Department. Given their remoteness and difficulties of access, many of the natural forests in the Drakensberg were not exploited to the same extent as those elsewhere in Natal. However as timber resources became scarce in those forest areas, more permits for tree felling were issued for areas in the Drakensberg. Mr C. Robinson made representations to the South African government which were to lead to the proclamation of the Cathkin Forest Reserve (initially some 40468 ha in extent) in April 1922 and the issuing of permits was then stopped. In 1927 three areas were demarcated as State Forests. These were Cathedral Peak (included the Cathkin Forest Reserve), Monk's Cowl, and Cobham State Forests. This ensured that the high rugged terrain along the face of the escarpment (mostly above 1800 m) remained as Crown Land (unallocated) but areas could be hired out for grazing. A parliamentary resolution in 1934 called for the protection of mountain catchments in South Africa for the conservation of water supplies.

Concerns regarding the effects of plantation forestry on catchment water supplies also emerged at this time and led to the founding of a research station in the Cathedral Peak State Forest. However it was only after World War II in 1948 that the Drakensberg Catchment Reserve (later the Drakensberg Catchment Area) was proclaimed which ensured the protection of these important water-producing areas of South Africa. Large areas of the Drakensberg, known as Garden Castle, Highmoor and Mkomazi were demarcated as State Forests and placed under the control of the national Department of Forestry in 1951. The administration of all the State Forest areas in the Drakensberg was assigned by the State President to the then Natal Provincial Administration in August 1992 and their control transferred to the Natal Parks Board in December 1993 by the Administrator. This allowed for the consolidation of the conservation management of all of the protected areas in the Drakensberg under one nature conservation body (the NCS) and the establishment of the Drakensberg Park.

In 1973 two large areas within the Park were proclaimed as Wilderness Areas in terms of the Forest Act of 1968. These were the, Mdedelelo (27 000 ha) and Mkhomazi (56 122 ha) Wilderness Areas. They were two of the first three wilderness areas to be so proclaimed in South Africa. Subsequently, the Mzimkulu (28 340 ha) and Mhlambonja (6 270 ha) in 1989 Wilderness Areas were proclaimed. Management policy for wilderness areas is to “leave no trace” that is to retain the wild character of these areas by prohibiting all forms of man-made developments (roads, buildings etc.). Although people may gain access by foot or horse, recreational opportunities within wilderness areas are managed to allow for an experience of solitude within an intrinsically unaltered natural environment, and thus to provide opportunities for inspiration, enrichment, self-reliance, and physical adventure.
Several conservation programmes have achieved successful results and have been widely acknowledged:

(i) Ungulate conservation
At the time of the establishment of Giant’s Castle Game Reserve, only a remnant population of eland were present in the Drakensberg, and populations of all other antelope species were nearing the point of extinction. Conservation programmes in the Park ensured that populations were adequately protected, and have resulted in an increase in population size and range.

(ii) Protection of rock art sites

Archaeological research and particularly rock art research has been undertaken by several archaeologists notably in the last few decades and a discussion on the history of this research can be found in Mazel (1989). The results of this research has led to the implementation of additional measures to protect rock art sites in the Drakensberg.
Several caves containing important San rock art were declared national monuments in terms of the National Monuments Act, namely Battle Cave, Main Caves, Game Pass 1, and Kanti 1. In addition, conservation programmes within the Park have also ensured that archaeological sites, and especially rock art sites, were protected. These programmes focussed on preventing damage to the paintings by people by ensuring controlled entry to the Park, awareness creation, guided access to selected sites, keeping the location of other sites confidential, and the prohibition of camping and or making of fires inside shelters with rock art. Appendix 6 details the management and monitoring measures that are being implemented that should ensure the protection of the rock art sites in the Park.

3.3 Form and date of most recent records of the property

There are extensive records of the Park on the physical environment, the biota, management activities and results, both past and present research projects being undertaken. Monitoring records are either updated annually or more frequently as required by the respective programme. The records are in the form of several computerized databases including a geographical information system. These are located at the Pietermaritzburg head office and other institutions such as universities and the Natal Museum. Many records are in the form of reports and publications contained in offices and libraries under the control of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service.

3.4 Present state of conservation

Almost the entire area of the Park is in an unmodified, near-pristine condition. A portion of the Park has been formally protected for almost a century, being amongst the oldest areas set aside for conservation in Africa. The Park, although used by man for a long time, has never been occupied by significantly large human settlements, nor has the area been subjected to significant man-induced land disturbances. The past presence of hunter-gatherers and iron age agriculturalists in the Park is likely to have contributed to the diversity of habitat types in some areas. The largest areas transformed in recent history, representing approximately 1,0% of the total area (242 813 ha) are areas of alien plant infestation in the Cathedral Peak, Vergelegen and Kamberg areas of the Park and most of this will be eliminated and the areas rehabilitated in the near future. In addition a system of roads used by visitors and for management purposes has been established, mainly at lower elevations within the Park. Sensitively planned accommodation is provided within designated development nodes at Tendele and Mahai, Giants Castle Camp, Loteni Camp, Kamberg Camp, Injasuti Camp and Vergelegen Camp.

Based on the principles of integrated environmental management, the nature-based tourism plan has been designed to provide appropriate and sustainable access to the resources within the Park, while ensuring the protection of the fragile resources and the equitable distribution of benefits to local communities in the region. It is estimated that the total area of the Park transformed by both alien plant infestation and infrastructural development is approximately 1,4% of the area (3 452 ha). The natural ecological and geomorphological processes therefore function with little or no significant detrimental interference by the activities of man. Where there have been impacts, the Park management approach is to restore such areas to their former status.

3.5 Policies and Programmes : presentation and promotion of the property

There is a progressive neighbour relations policy, to foster good relations with communities who reside in the immediate vicinity of the Park. This policy promotes the value of the protected area to its neighbours. It ensures that they derive direct benefits from the protected area in a variety of ways, including free access and business and employment opportunities. The range of business opportunities includes the marketing of curios at designated market places.

4. MANAGEMENT
4.1 Ownership
All the land comprising the Park is state-owned, being registered in the name of the President of the Republic of South Africa. Control and management of the Park has been delegated by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Administration to the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service. The address is:
KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service
P O Box 13053
CASCADES
3202
SOUTH AFRICA

4.2 Legal status

The laws which establish the Park as a conservation unit are the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Management Act No 9 of 1997 as amended and the Republic of South Africa National Forests Act No 84 of 1998. The right of the President of South Africa to assign responsibility for the acts to ministers in charge of various portfolios, and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, emanates from the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act No 108 which came into effect in 1996. Legislation that has enabled the amalgamation of the former Natal Parks Board and KwaZulu Department of Nature Conservation was only recently approved by the Provincial Parliament, that is the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Management Act No 9 of 1997. This new legislation has resulted in the establishment of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service, which is responsible for the control and management of the Park. All component areas forming the Drakensberg Park are defined as protected areas by this legislation and listed in a schedule in the act. Proclamation of nature reserves or any future areas that may be acquired as additions to the Park is the responsibility of the provincial Minister responsible for environmental protection and nature conservation.

The legislative enactment governing the former Natal Parks Board, and under which the then Administrator of Natal proclaimed nature reserves in the province including the Park, was the Nature Conservation Ordinance No. 15 of 1974. This Ordinance was assented to by the State President in council on 21 August 1974, in terms of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act No 32 of 1961 and came into effect on 12 September 1974. With regard to the establishment of State Forest Reserves and Wilderness Areas, in terms of the Forest Act No. 122 of 1984, the State President, acting in terms of the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act No. 32 of 1961, assigned the responsibility for proclamation of these areas to the then Ministers of Environment Affairs and Environment Affairs and Fisheries respectively. The control and management of areas proclaimed under the National Forest Act No 84 of 1998 lies with the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry and his department. In terms of post legislation, management of the State Forest areas within the Park were assigned to the province and the former Natal Parks Board controlled these areas. Under the new legislation these past assignments could be withdrawn by the Minister, however, the power of delegation or assignment has been retained in the new forest legislation. Nevertheless, the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service is presently seeking re-assignment of the control and management responsibilities for the State Forest component areas of the Park.
The following component areas of the Park have now been incorporated under the new KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Management Act:
Giant’s Castle Game Reserve
Kamberg Nature Reserve
Loteni Nature Reserve
Royal Natal National Park
Rugged Glen Nature Reserve
Vergelegen Nature Reserve
The following component areas were set aside under the Government of South Africa, Forest Act No. 122 of 1984, as amended:
Cathedral Peak State Forest
Cobham State Forest
Garden Castle State Forest
Highmoor State Forest
Mkhomazi State Forest
Monks Cowl State Forest

The Park enjoys full legal protection under the provisions of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Management Act No 9 of 1997 as amended, the National Forests Act No 84 of 1998 and assignments. Provisions within the Water Act No 54 of 1956 as amended and the Environment Conservation Act No 73 of 1989 as amended, also ensure the protection of certain natural resources.

4.3 Protective measures and means of implementing them

The following instruments provide for the legal protection of the Park :
4.3.1 The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Management Act No. 9 of 1997 as amended
This legislation provides for the institutional structures for nature conservation in the province and the establishment of control and monitoring bodies and mechanisms. The administration of the Act falls under the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) responsible for the protection and conservation of the environment and nature conservation. This minister is also responsible for nature conservation policy, the implementation of the Act, and the proclamation of protected areas. The Act establishes a decision-making body in the form of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Board having the primary functions of (i) directing the management of nature conservation, protected areas, the development and promotion of ecotourism facilities within protected areas, and (ii) ensuring an effective Nature Conservation Service under the direction of a Chief Executive Officer. Section 5(3)(c) of the Act requires that the Nature Conservation Board must ensure the protection and management of heritage resources within the protected areas according to the principles of the KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act of 1997. All former proclaimed protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been listed in a Schedule to the Act and include all the component areas of the Drakensberg Park. The Act also makes provision for local protected area boards which provide a statutory basis for the direct involvement of communities living in the area in the decision-making for the protected area. The first local boards are to be established during 1999.

4.3.2 The National Forests Act No. 84 of 1998

The Act protects State Forests, Forest Nature Reserves and Wilderness Areas, and the plant and animal life contained therein. In addition the Act allows for management programmes to be established in order to prevent soil erosion and fire, maintain the natural genetic and species diversity and control plants and animals which are harmful to a particular area. The Act provides for the control and reasonable access to State Forests for the purposes of recreation, education, culture or spiritual fulfilment. Also, any person is prohibited from damaging State Forests or contributing to the threat of fire. Forest officers are empowered to arrest any person who has contravened this Act and may seize such person’s property.

4.3.3 The National Water Act No 36 of 1998

The Act allows for the nation’s water resources to be protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled. In undertaking these actions the Act requires that several factors need to be taken into account including the protection of aquatic and associated ecosystems and their biological diversity as well as reducing and preventing pollution and degradation of water resources. In addition the Act reserves water for the maintenance and protection of natural aquatic ecosystems, that is the ecological reserve, and refers to both the quantity and quality of the water and their determination.

4.3.4 The Environment Conservation Act No. 73 of 1989 as amended

This Act provides for the protection and controlled utilization of the environment. In particular, the Act is aimed at protecting natural ecological processes against harm caused by human activities, promoting environmental education and the effective management of cultural resources, and the co-ordination of integrated environmental management programmes. Regulations in terms of this legislation make the undertaking of environmental impact assessments for listed activities mandatory. The Act empowers the President to add any schedule containing provisions of an international convention, treaty or agreement relating to the protection of the environment which has been entered into or ratified by the South African Government. The Act prohibits littering and obliges any person in control of areas to which the public have access to remove any litter. It also seeks to control noise pollution, vibration and shock.

4.3.5 The National Monuments Act No. 28 of 1969

The Act seeks to preserve and protect the historical and cultural heritage of South Africa. Thus any unauthorised interference with sites protected by this Act is prohibited and includes four national monument sites within the Park. In particular, the Act provides for the protection of burial grounds and graves, the erection of memorials, the preservation of property as national monuments, including the drawings or paintings made by previous inhabitants of South Africa.

4.3.6 The KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Act No. 10 of 1997

This Act provides for the establishment of a statutory body to administer heritage conservation on behalf of the provincial government. Amongst other things, particular attention is paid to historically important sites, monuments and memorials, military cemeteries, traditional burial places, archaeological and paleontological sites and artifacts, rock art, important cultural objects and trade therein. The Act also establishes educational, training and tourism-related projects in the province. It prohibits interference with any site or object protected in terms of the Act.

4.3.7 National Environmental Management Act No 107 of 1998

This law develops a framework for integrating good environmental management into all development activities. The Act provides for co-operative environmental governance by;
(i) establishing principles for decision-making and conflict management on matters affecting the environment
(ii) establishing the institutions responsible for promoting co-operative governance in particular the National Environmental Advisory Forum and the Committee for Environmental Co-ordination
(iii) establishing the procedures for co-operative governance and the co-ordination of environmental functions. These require that environmental implementation plans and management plans are prepared,
(iv) promoting the application of appropriate environmental management tools to ensure integrated environmental management of activities,
(v) the incorporation of international environmental instruments.

4.3.8 White Paper on a National Environmental Policy for South Africa

The principles and objectives of the Environment Policy were published as a Government White Paper. These policies ensure the protection and/or sustainable utilization of all natural resources in the country and also supports ratification of international conservation conventions including the designation of World Heritage Site properties and the conservation of biodiversity.

4.3.9 White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biodiversity

As a party to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, South Africa is obliged to ensure that the agreement is implemented in accordance with its objectives as well as to develop national strategies, plans or programmes to address the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into policies and plans. The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has undertaken a consultative process which ultimately resulted in the publication of the government’s White Paper on the conservation and sustainable use of the country’s biological diversity. In addition to defining biodiversity policy and strategy, the White Paper also states the vision, mission and principles which guide the policy and strategy as well as its implementation.

4.3.10 Wetlands Bill

A draft Wetlands Bill has been prepared by the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. This proposed legislation provides protection for wetland systems and incorporates the provisions of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) into South African law.

4.3.11 Policies for nature conservation in KwaZulu-Natal

Given the recent amalgamation of the former Natal Parks Board and Department of Nature Conservation to form the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service, it is important that there is a vision and policies that will guide the new organization. The following vision and policies have been outlined.

The vision of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service is the long term conservation of the indigenous biodiversity of KwaZulu-Natal in such a manner that the people of KwaZulu-Natal and of South Africa, in particular, and humanity in general, will benefit from and share in the diversity, economic value and opportunities for spiritual well being and recreation which it offers.
The Mission is :
TO CONSERVE THE INDIGENOUS BIODIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL , WHICH INCLUDES THE LANDSCAPES, ECOSYSTEMS AND PROCESSES UPON WHICH IT DEPENDS, AND TO ASSIST ALL PEOPLE IN ENSURING THE SUSTAINABLE USE OF THE BIOSPHERE.
Where:
* To conserve means to ensure the survival of indigenous fauna, flora and natural ecosystems and the promotion of public environmental awareness.
* Biodiversity means the wealth of life on Earth, including the millions of different animal and plant types, the genes they contain and the communities, ecosystems and landscapes of which they are part.
* KwaZulu-Natal means the provision of KwaZulu-Natal and adjacent territorial waters
* Sustainable use is the level of consumptive or non-consumptive use that will not threaten the long-term survival of biodiversity or its benefits to current and future generations.
* Biosphere means that part of the Earth which sustains living organisms.
To achieve the above mission, the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service must:

a) Promote awareness of the functioning and importance of the biosphere.
b) (i) Prevent the man-induced extinction of any species indigenous to KwaZulu-Natal.

(ii) Ensure the survival of viable populations of all species indigenous to KwaZulu- Natal.

c) Recognise the link between rural poverty and environmental degradation and promote the conservation of biodiversity and ecological processes in KwaZulu-Natal and ensure their conservation in protected areas administered by the Service and other areas where biodiversity conservation is a declared goal.
d) Promote the sustainable and equitable use of wildlife resources in KwaZulu-Natal, and exercise the necessary controls to ensure sustainability and equity.
e) Create conditions and incentives that support the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
f) Facilitate public access to protected areas and provide appropriate services including opportunities for education and scientific study.
g) Participate in KwaZulu-Natal’s ecotourism industry by providing visitor facilities and experiences in protected areas on a self funding basis and by developing partnerships with local communities and the private sector all of which must be compatible with the Mission of the Service.

h) Conduct its activities effectively and efficiently through the employment of appropriately skilled people dedicated to service and committed to biodiversity conservation.

i) Ensure the social, economic and environmental integration of protected areas locally, sub-regionally, and regionally.
j) Be aware of the increasing threats to the environment as a result of pressure from rival poverty, unsustainable population growth and lack of individual responsibility and accountability, and foster sustainable living through the economic and social development of communities, especially those adjacent to protected areas.
In pursuit of its mission, and the realisation of its objectives, the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service understands:
* that the State provides limited funding and legislative support for the conservation of wildlife resources and the promotion of public biodiversity conservation awareness in KwaZulu-Natal.
The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service recognises:
* that the long-term survival of Man depends on the universal acceptance and understanding of the need for natural life-support systems to operate at sustainable levels;
* that the provision of natural resource-based recreation and opportunities for spiritual fulfilment in protected areas, accessible to all who desire to use them, is an indispensable contribution towards increasing public awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation;
* that formal biodiversity conservation agencies have a leading role to play in developing an awareness and understanding of, and sensitivity to, the protection and management of the biosphere; and
* that, as the statutory custodian of the wildlife resources in KwaZulu-Natal, it also has a wider role to play through the support of local, regional, national and international biodiversity conservation endeavours.
The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service acknowledges:
* that it holds in trust, for the benefit of all the people of KwaZulu-Natal and of South Africa, the protected areas over which it exercises custodianship;
* the IUCN World Conservation Strategy, expresses its support for its guidelines and undertakes actively to support international conservation by espousing the principles and endeavours of the World Conservation Union and its Commissions;
* that South Africa is a signatory to CITES, The Convention on Biological Diversity, the RAMSAR Convention, The Convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals, the World Heritage Convention and others, and pledges its support to uphold their principles and undertake the management responsibilities assigned to the Service;
* the role of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Traditional and Environmental Affairs;
* the role of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in biodiversity and environmental conservation in South Africa.
The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service:
* pledges its co-operation to all other local, regional, national and international biodiversity and environmental conservation authorities;
* confirms its commitment to and support for the communities and publics its services and with whom it interacts; and
*dedicates its staff to the fulfilment of its mission.
The core strategies developed in order to achieve the Mission are:

(i) Universal acceptance of the value of biodiversity conservation
Objectives:-
* to use biodiversity conservation as a basis for environmental education and awareness programmes, and to promote appropriate environmental ethics;
* to demonstrate the aesthetic values and economic contributions of biodiversity conservation and ecotourism;
*to expand the diversity and enhance the quality of products and services;
* to build powerful alliances.

(ii) Contribution to social stability and economic development in the region
Objectives:-
* to provide and support Conservancies, Biosphere Reserves and Community Conservation areas;
* to support, promote and develop ecotourism as an industry;
* to support, promote and develop the sustainable use of wildlife and protected areas;
* to use formally protected areas as a catalyst for development, especially in rural areas, through:
* encouraging infrastructural development;
* stimulating local entrepreneurship;
* empowerment of local communities through training and transfer of skills;
*initiating and supporting local community projects;
* optimising local employment opportunities;
* seeking and channelling funds to address community needs through for example the Community Trust;
*empowerment of local communities through the development of partnerships in ecotourism activities.

(iii) Adequate financial resources
Objectives:-
* to ensure that the State recognises biodiversity conservation as a foundation of economic development and provides adequate subsidisation;
* to use the Provincial subsidy effectively and efficiently in the best interest of biodiversity conservation;
* to optimise the generation of funds from ecotourism, sustainable use of wildlife resources and other services;
* to generate additional funds through joint ventures, concessions sponsorships, donations and contributions;
*to actively support the KwaZulu-Natal Conservation Trust, Wildlands Trust and Isivuno, established to assist the Service in meeting its conservation responsibilities;
* to generate international financial support;
* to manage assets and resources efficiently.

(iv) Provincial, parastatal biodiversity conservation structure for the management of integrated biodiversity conservation activities throughout KwaZulu-Natal
Objectives:-
* to demonstrate the effectiveness, flexibility and success factors of the Service as a provincial parastatal biodiversity agency;
* to demonstrate competence, expertise, credibility and effectiveness at local, regional, national and international level;
* to demonstrate relevance and commitment to and knowledge of KwaZulu-Natal.

(v) Shared vision and commitment throughout the Service and Board
Objectives:-
* to pursue the appointment of a well-balanced Board with representatives of appropriate skills and knowledge, previously disadvantaged groups and traditional authorities;
* to recruit, develop and retain competent, skilled and committed staff;
* to ensure effective internal communications;
* to empower and uplift staff from disadvantaged backgrounds to enable them to fulfil their potential;
* to pursue participatory management practices.

(vi) Excellence of products and services
Objectives:-
* to comply with the standards required for sound environmental management;
* to develop facilities which set the highest standards for environmentally sensitive development in protected areas;
* to meet the broadest spectrum of demands of the public for biodiversity based products and services, within a sustainable framework, environmentally, socially and economically;
* to strive for the development of research excellence and exemplary management practice in all relevant disciplines.

The Service believes that it has already made a significant contribution to the recognition of biodiversity conservation. KwaZulu-Natal has a rich biodiversity conserved through an extensive system of protected areas and conservation-orientated private sector management systems such as Conservancies, Community Conservation Areas and Biosphere Reserves. The economic value of KwaZulu-Natal’s wildlife resources has been quantified to the extent that it can be seen to be making a substantial contribution to commerce, social stability and the economic needs of this Province and its people.
The economic and social contributions of KwaZulu-Natal’s protected areas to adjacent communities are increasingly invaluable and widely appreciated.

Given that social stability will be achieved in South Africa in general, and KwaZulu-Natal in particular, the Service believes that the demand for wildlife resources, both consumptive and through eco-tourism, will increase exponentially employment opportunities and increased prosperity.

Accepting the State’s responsibility for funding the public good generated by biodiversity conservation, it is the Service’s firm conviction that a regional nature conservation agency with statutory autonomy, a system already proven in South Africa and aspired to by other countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, is the best guarantee of the most rapid achievement of the Service’s vision.

4.4 Agency(ies) with management authority

The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service is currently the agency responsible for the control of the Park. This mandate is carried out in collaboration with the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Administration and in accordance with legislation at national and provincial levels.

4.5 Level at which management is exercised

Management of the Park is currently exercised at the provincial level by the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service. The annual budget is allocated by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature. The responsible officer who is accountable to the Minister of Traditional and Environmental Affairs is the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr G.R. Hughes who is empowered to take the day to day decisions, which he does in consultation with his executive staff representing three Branches, namely Conservation (with four sub-directorates), Scientific Services (with three sub-directorates), and Administration (with three sub-directorates). All major decisions, including those of policy, are taken by the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Board, appointed by the Minister. The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Board is the successor in title to the Natal Parks Board.
In addition to the primary conservation functions, staff are also employed to undertake support functions such as construction, planning, public relations, secretarial services, accounting and accommodation bookings. Staff stationed within reserves are responsible either for implementing wildlife management programmes, the management of visitor facilities, the provision of environmental awareness programmes, or for undertaking research and monitoring projects.
The services and benefits provided by the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service are:
* The preservation of the biodiversity of KwaZulu-Natal through :
* the establishment of a network of protected areas ;
- the regulation of the use of wildlife resources ; and
* the encouragement and development of nature conservation activities by the public.
* The knowledge base, skills and management expertise essential for the wise use of wildlife resources which it has developed and which is readily available to the public.
* A diversity of natural resources based activities available to the public.
* The provision of wildlife resources from protected areas.
* The infrastructure, facilities and services within protected areas contributing significantly to a growing eco-tourism industry.
* Opportunities for local employment and entrepreneurship, and the seeking and channelling of funds for specific projects to address community needs and facilitate rural development.

4.6 Agreed plans related to property

4.6.1 Regional planning initiatives

Existing land uses in the region in which the Park is situated, consist primarily of formal and informal agriculture, plantation forestry, nature conservation, and ecotourism. Ecotourism is a significant and important industry, because of the appeal of the high quality of the resource base provided by the natural environments to visitors. It is likely to become an increasingly important form of sustainable land-use in the region.
At the regional level, KwaZulu-Natal provincial authorities are in the process of compiling structure plans for the two Regional Council areas in which the Park falls and which will provide a development framework and policy guidelines for the control of development in their regions. These two areas are largely under-developed, being relatively densely populated in certain parts by a majority of poor people. Unemployment levels are therefore high. The plans aim at an appropriate mix of land uses to accommodate both environmental concerns as well as development needs including infrastructural developments. Ecotourism is recognised as one of the more attractive development options, because of an anticipated escalation in the growth of the ecotourism market, and because of the sustainable nature of nature conservation as an appropriate land use in sensitive natural environments. Ecotourism and nature conservation are seen to be a labour intensive industry with the potential to provide employment and other benefits to neighbouring impoverished rural communities. In this and other aspects, it is expected that support for upholding the integrity of the Park will be provided by the plans.

4.6.2 Drakensberg Special Case Area

The KwaZulu-Natal Planning and Development Act empowers the Minister of Local Government and Housing to prescribe areas where restrictions on development would be applied so as not to destroy those features which make the region special in the first place. These are called special case areas and a study to define and plan the Drakensberg Special Case Area and the regulations that would be applied to the area, is being undertaken. The first phase of the study has been completed in which the unique and sensitive nature of the Drakensberg environment was recognized and the need for a planning framework for the co-ordination of appropriate and sustainable development. The underlying principles identify the need for development to comply with sustainability criteria and stem from a recognition of the growing impact of human activity and numbers on the environment. The study has taken into account present policy, planning, development needs and realities and suggests a spatial framework based on the boundaries of the area, sub-regions and zones in which preferred, prohibited or non-preferred land uses have been identified. Specific controls have been assigned to each land use category within the zones and which ensure that the overall objectives are achieved. The study has drawn on the provisions of the Seville Strategy (UNESCO, 1996) for the statutory requirements for the designation of biosphere reserves. A buffer zone has been defined surrounding the core area of the Drakensberg Park. The purpose of the buffer zone is to establish a protective strip or shield of land between the core and neighbouring areas and to protect the aggregation of various environmental characteristics such as the biodiversity resource, sensitive environments (e.g. steep slopes and wetlands) as well as the scenic qualities of the foothills peripheral to the Park. Beyond the buffer zone and away from the Park a flexible transition area has been designated which allows for a variety of land uses that includes agriculture, settlement, and tourism. The study is to continue and will involve wider consultation on the suggested policy, guidelines and spatial framework. On completion the study will recommend to the Minister the establishment of and regulations for, the Drakensberg Special Case Area.

4.6.3 The Drakensberg - Maloti Transfrontier Conservation and Development Area

In 1982, a collaborative effort known as the Drakensberg - Maloti Programme was initiated between the governments of Lesotho and South Africa and which was supervised by an intergovernmental liaison committee. Although base line information was gathered, funding was withdrawn before land-use planning and implementation strategies had been formulated or applied. Subsequently financial assistance has been received from the European Community towards the preparation of a programme of conservation and protection measures for the Lesotho component of the transfrontier region. Also further assistance has recently been provided for the preparation of an integrated natural resources management plan for a 1000 km² pilot area in the Lesotho highlands.

In a new initiative to conserve this transboundary mountain region and its resources as well as meet the development needs of the people who depend on it, the Drakensberg - Maloti Transfrontier Conservation and Development Area Programme is being developed jointly by representatives from the National Environment Secretariat of Lesotho, the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service and the Global Environment facility through the World Bank. A meeting between these parties and other stakeholders resulted in the finalization of a declaration, known as the Giant’s Castle Declaration (Appendix 7).

The declaration endorsed the concept of a transfrontier conservation and development area which embraces the Lesotho Maloti Highlands and the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg mountains in South Africa, and also recognised the importance of the formal declaration of a core Transfrontier Peace Park linking the Sehlabethebe National Park in Lesotho and the Drakensberg Park.
Further the declaration recommends that Lesotho considers ratifying both the World Heritage Convention and the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, the incorporation of Sehlabethebe National Park as a component of a transfrontier World Heritage Site, and the inscription of the Lesotho Highlands as a wetland of international importance. Co-ordination of the programme is effective from an office in Maseru and is funded by a Japanese PHRD grant and a project preparation grant by the Global Environment Facility.

4.6.4 Extended Community Conservation programme.

The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service has instituted a comprehensive community conservation programme for the whole Drakensberg Park. A team of community conservation officers has established partnership forums with all local communities and interest groups to co-define and develop a sustainable relationship with the protected area. An integrated conservation and development programme known as the Partners in Mountain Conservation Programme has been running for several years. The programme aims to ensure that the benefits derived from conserving the Park are harnessed by communities within a framework of community-based natural resource management that is environmentally, economically and socially self-sustaining. The programme is centred on the establishment of partnership forums with local communities and interest groups in order that sustainable relationships can be established. The emphasis has been on building relationships with communities through facilitation of access to development opportunities. This has resulted in obtaining funding for community development projects and for building capacity. A number of projects have been successfully completed and several more are presently ongoing or in the pipeline.

The programme also addresses situations where conflicts between the Park and neighbouring communities have arisen. In most cases an improved relationship and understanding between the communities and Park management has resulted which led to the matter being resolved.
Whilst community development has been the prime focus of the programme at a grassroots level, there are a number of other issues that are dealt with on a regular basis. For example, neighbouring communities harvest specific plant species such as thatch grass prior to the burning season. Furthermore, biodiversity education workshops are held in and outside of the Park to encourage teachers to use the environment, including the protected area, in their teaching. Local schools are also visited by staff who run education programme at these institutions.
Traditional healers are encouraged to grow their own medicinal plants in order to reduce the pressure on the remaining wild stocks. In some cases, these gardens are also serving as tourist attractions and facilities have been built to enable the healers to dispense their medicines to local people.
Entrepreneurship is encouraged wherever viable markets occur. There are several womens’ groups selling their crafts to visitor to the Park and at Cathedral Park accredited community guides take groups of visitors into the mountains on walks to view rock art.

The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service has run an extensive programme to inform and consult with communities, stakeholders and visitors to the Park regarding its intention to submit this World Heritage nomination proposal. Pamphlets in English and Zulu were prepared which informed the reader of the World Heritage Convention, the requirements for designation of natural and cultural properties, the possible implications should the Drakensberg Park be listed as a World Heritage Site and why the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service believed that the Park was a candidate site and should qualify. The pamphlet also included a short questionaire which could be filled in by the reader and returned to the co-ordinator for the programme. All details from the questionaires received have been recorded and comments noted. A total of 1742 completed questionaires have been received to date of which 99.5% (1733) were in support of the Drakensberg World Heritage site nomination proposal.

Given that in a number of areas the Park is bordered by neighbouring communities comprising people many of whom are illiterate. Staff from the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service made presentations and held discussions with all the local community forums on the matter of the proposed nomination of the Drakensberg Park. Records of every meeting were made and in almost all cases these forums unanimously supported the proposal.

4.6.5 Programme for the rehabilitation of areas infested by alien plants.

Programmes for the removal and treatment of infestations of alien plants, particularly wattle, in the Park are in operation. The Working for Water project is a nationally funded programme by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry aimed at the removal of plant infestations from important water producing catchments in South Africa. The programme undertaken in the Park is managed by the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service. In addition the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service’s programme is funded by the Sappi Limited Edition Fund through WWF-SA. Another programme is being undertaken in areas adjacent to the Park which is funded by the Rand Water Board.

4.7 Sources and levels of financing

The headquarters of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service is situated in Pietermaritzburg from where it administers 110 protected areas with a total area of approximately 796 km². The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service is a semi-autonomous and non-profit making organisation, partly funded (approximately <60% of total receipts) by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature. The balance is from revenue earned through fees, charges for accommodation, sale of curios and other sources of income, which accrue to the Service's account. Some 4170 people were employed by the former KwaZulu -Natal Nature Conservation Service which earned R131 613 712 during the 1998/99 financial year.

4.8 Sources of expertise and training

The staff of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service is skilled and highly trained in a variety of fields such as wildlife management, protected area administration, the natural sciences, financial and tourism management, the provision of secretarial and construction services. In addition to its own staff resources, the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service is able to draw on both local and international experts located at universities or other government and non-government institutions for advice and assistance. In-house training is provided and a large variety of courses are made available to staff every year.

4.9 Visitor facilities and statistics

There are 15 entrance gates to the Park. Members of the public enter either as day or overnight visitors who make use of hutted accommodation, camping facilities, caves and mountain huts. The Park can currently accommodate 2 000 persons per night. In addition, almost 2 200 beds are provided by private enterprise outside the Park but in close proximity. The number of visitors to the Park have ranged between 224 000 (1994/95) to 288 200 (1996/97).
Access to the recreational opportunities of the Park via wilderness trails, day walks, guided walks, day hikes and overnight hiking, vehicle drives and horse riding is provided by the Nature Conservation Service and private operators.
The non-consumptive use of the area is encouraged. Activities permitted are:

* day-walks and overnight hiking, with or without a guide, horse riding and trails,
* camping, caravanning, and accommodation in chalets, mountain huts, and caves,
* game and plant viewing, bird watching
* mountaineering, rock and ice climbing,
* education and interpretation (biodiversity, rock art, conservation, environment), photography, painting
* recreation and relaxation
* religious worship

4.10 Property management plan and statement of objectives

The following management plans have been compiled for component areas of the Park:
* Policy statement for the management of the Drakensberg State Forest (1986)
* Kamberg Nature Reserve Management Plan (1992)
* Monks Cowl State Forest Management Plan (1998)
* Giants Castle Management Plan (1985)

* Royal Natal National Park and Rugged Glen Nature Reserve Management Plan (1985) A master management plan for the Drakensberg Park is currently being prepared (Appendix 5). In addition, a Cultural Resource Management Plan for archeological and rock art sites within the Park has been prepared (Appendix 6).
A neighbour outreach programme is in place. It is based on liaison forums within each community living adjacent to the Park and provides a means of communication between the Park authority and neighbouring people for resolving problems of common interest, facilitating development, reaping of natural products, and promotion of environmental awareness. Access to outside capacity building and or funding agencies is also facilitated. This has resulted in a large number of development projects being facilitated in poor communal areas adjacent to the Park boundary.

4.11 Staffing levels
The responsibility for administering the Park lies with the Chief Conservator. His staff are responsible for nature conservation and management in the area. There are three administrative centres, as follows:
* At Royal Natal National Park in the Northern Region of the Park, having five management offices (at Royal Natal National Park, Rugged Glen, Cathedral Peak, Monk’s Cowl, Culfargie)
* At Giants Castle Game Reserve in the Central Region of the Park having six management offices (at Witteberg, Hillside, Injasuti, Highmoor, Mkhomazi, Kamberg)
* At Himeville (a town located outside the Park) in the Southern Region where there are four management offices inside the Park (at Loteni, Vergelegen, Cobham, Garden Castle)
The total staff complement numbers 604 permanent and part-time employees.

5. FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROPERTY
5.1 Development pressures
Threats which potentially affect the integrity of the ecological functioning of the Park include:
* possible land use changes within certain Park component areas,
* invasive alien plants.
The location of the Park within a region where there are several impoverished communities raises the possibility of claims to the land in the Park. For such claims to be successful, it would require that the claimants prove prior ownership or occupation. In addition, the authorities would consider the desirability of restoration of a land right and would have to find in favour of the claimants. It is generally accepted that conservation of biodiversity and the water production potential of this fragile mountainous area is of the highest national priority and therefore it would be improbable that any land falling within the Park would be restored. A successful claimant would instead be compensated. From time to time there are requests from local communities to graze domestic stock inside the Park, to establish water supply schemes, or from developers wishing to establish resorts.
5.2 Environmental pressures
Possibly the most serious threat to the ecological integrity of the Park is from alien invasive plants, although the area currently affected by such invasions is limited. Principal threats are posed by; Acacia mearnsii (Black Wattle), A. dealbata (Silver Wattle), Pinus patula (Pine), Rubus cuneifolius (American Bramble), Populus canescens (Poplar), Cotoneaster spp (Cotoneaster). As part of the South African “Working for Water” campaign, areas within the mountain catchments of the Drakensberg have been cleared, or are presently in the process of being cleared, of major infestations of alien tree species. In addition, there is a relatively low level of poaching as well as uncontrolled fires that enter the Park from neighbouring areas or are started within the Park.
It is recognized that there are several important threats to the rock art of the Drakensberg. The main causes of deterioration in rock paintings are natural weathering of the rock and paint, as well as vandalism (Ward, 1997). The principal threat is the irreversible process of weathering, these are the forces that created the rock shelters in the first place and the process is ongoing. Research is presently being conducted on weathering processes to determine steps that may be taken to reduce, if not ultimately eliminate, natural threats to the art. A management plan that focuses on the cultural resources of the Park has been prepared and is included as Appendix 6.

5.3 Natural disasters and preparedness

The Drakensberg is prone to heavy winter snow falls, summer rainfalls which may result in flooding in valleys and landslides on the mountain slopes. A mountain rescue service is in place, fully equipped, and is on stand-by full time. It can draw on the South African National Defence Force for assistance in helicopter search and rescue operations should this be necessary.

5.4 Visitor / tourism pressures

A major threat to all Southern African rock art is human in origin. For example, campers light fires in painted rock shelters, and the smoke blackens the walls and ceilings. Moreover, people often wet the paintings to bring out the colours, sometimes they use substances such as carbonated soft drinks that have an even more destructive effect. The addition of graffiti and malicious scratching is also a threat to southern African rock art.
Fortunately, and indeed uniquely, the risk of these dangers of human origin have been significantly reduced in the Drakensberg region. The KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service has prohibited, with rare exceptions, camping in painted caves, and access to the entire region is strictly controlled. In addition, the locations of most painted sites do not appear on maps available to the public. A few sites (Main Caves, Game Pass, Battle Cave) have been fenced and access to them is permitted only in the company of a guide. In addition, a rock art interpretive centre has been planned for the proposed Didima camp at Cathedral Peak State Forest which would , amongst various other aspects, also deal with the threats to rock art, creating an awareness of its importance and value, and the need to conserve and protect rock art sites.
As a result of these management measures, the Drakensberg rock art is largely unspoilt by human agency and should remain so. Management strategies instituted by the KwaZulu -Natal Nature Conservation Service have also heightened public awareness of the unique value of the art, and public access to site such as Main Caves has been upgraded. Such improvements allow for further protection.

5.5 Number of inhabitants within the property and buffer zone

No private persons occupy the Park. Staff in the employ of the Nature Conservation Service are housed in the Park.

5.6 Other

Sustainable consumptive uses of certain natural products is permitted. Included are:
* harvesting of various grass and sedge species for construction of buildings, thatching and handicrafts, and the collection of seed of medicinal plants,
* removal of certain surplus herbivores, for translocation to other conservation areas or to private game ranches,
* collection of biological material for scientific research,
* fishing, fly fishing (trout) in dams and rivers,
* removal of timber of alien species for fuelwood.
Many organisations and people have expressed their support for this nomination proposal. These have included the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa, Bergwatch, Wilderness Action Group, South African Crane Foundation, Mountain Club of South Africa, Backpackers Club and people from a large number of organisations such as universities, fly fishing clubs, staff of nature conservation authorities including the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service, Rock Art Research Units, farmers and tourism associations and others.

6. MONITORING
6.1 Key indicators for measuring state of conservation

Key components of both the physical and biotic environment of the Park are monitored in order to determine the ecological state of the natural systems and to determine trends and changes over time. In terms of monitoring climate, daily records of rainfall are made at twelve stations and all unusual climatic events are recorded such as particularly heavy snowfalls. Vegetation is monitored using fixed-point photography, the annual mapping of areas burnt where the cause and season of burning are recorded, and at Royal Natal National Park the effects of burning on grassland species composition and the population dynamics of Protea Woodlands is scientifically monitored. Seasonal route count censuses of ungulates and any other mammals seen, and an annual aerial census of Eland are undertaken. The distribution, sex and age structure of the Eland population as well as all problem animal species destroyed (e.g. baboon) are recorded.
Rock art sites within the Park are regularly monitored by at least an annual inspection and the completion of a Rock Art Site Card in order to determine whether any impacts are having an unacceptable effect on these cultural resources. Sites are assessed to determine use by people, the affects of vegetation or wild animals, interference with the rock art, or if any water damage that is apparent. Appropriate management actions are then undertaken.
Monitoring of the consumptive use of natural products is undertaken. Areas and the amount in kilograms harvested are recorded for thatching grass, reeds, firewood (alien species), leaves (Hypoxis sp) and medicinal plants.
In terms of management actions undertaken by staff in the various component areas of the Park several activities are monitored, including the areas, species and treatments of alien plant infestations, the areas and sites of soil erosion reclamation, the species and numbers of animals poached or removed by live capture (eg eland) for restocking purposes, the numbers of feral dogs and cats destroyed, and numbers of stock animals removed that had entered the Park from neighbouring areas.

6.2 Administrative arrangements for monitoring property

Staff within each component area of the Park are required annually to review the management programmes (including research and monitoring programmes) which stem from the protected area management plan that were undertaken during the previous reporting year and formulate their programme for the current year. Management goals are set and reported on in the following year. These programmes are tailored according to resources (budgets, staff, and time) availability. A detailed annual report is compiled for each component protected area which collectively form a document called the yearbook. The yearbooks are used for compiling the annual report of the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service which is submitted to the Minister and members of the Provincial Legislature.

6.3 Results of previous reporting exercises

The results of monitoring and reporting are contained in a long series of yearbooks for the respective past financial years. These are housed in the library at the headquarters in Pietermaritzburg and at stations in the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service. The results are used to up-date management plans, formulate future management programmes or actions as well as monitoring and or research programmes.

7. DOCUMENTATION
7.1 Photographs
A collection of slides has been provided (attached) and several of these have been selected to illustrate this document.

7.2 Management plans
Management plans included as part of the documentation are :
Appendix 5 - Drakensberg Park Management Plan
Appendix 6 - Cultural Resources Management Plan for the Drakensberg Park

7.3 Bibliography
A bibliography of publications on the Drakensberg is given in Appendix 4.

7.4 Address where inventories and records are held
Records are kept at both the headquarters and the offices at management stations in the Park.

REFERENCES

Branch, N.R. 1998. Field guide to the snakes and other reptiles of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers Cape Town

Carcasson, R.H. 1964. A preliminary survey of the zoogeography of African butterflies. East African Wildlife Journal 2: 122-157.

Cole, D.I. 1992. Evolution and development of the Karoo Basin. Inversion Tectonics of the Cape Fold Belt, Karoo and Cretaceous Basins of Southern Africa. pp 87-99.

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Cowling, R.M. & Hilton-Taylor, C. 1994. Patterns of plant diversity and endemism in southern Africa: an overview. In: Huntley, B. 1994. Botanical Diversity in Southern Africa, edited by B Huntley. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria. Strelitzia 1 pp 31-52.

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