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The spectacular
Drakensberg mountains took their
rightful place on the international tourism
stage when the 243,000 hectare uKhahlamba
Drakensberg Park was proclaimed a
World Heritage Site (WHS) on 29 November
2000. In addition to recognising the unique
natural beauty of the Drakensberg,
the World Heritage Site title also
focuses world attention on the mountain
park's rich collection of rock art, the last
visible signs of the San Peoples. In order
for any site to be included in the World
Heritage List it must meet one or more
of the Natural or Cultural Heritage Property
criteria. The uKhahlamba Drakensberg
satisfies two natural criteria and two of
the cultural criteria.
International recognition was granted to its
unique richness of biological diversity, its
endemic and endangered species, its
superlative natural beauty as well as its
masterpieces of human creative genius in the
form of tens of thousands of San rock
paintings.
Within the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park
there are some 600 rock art sites,
collectively representing over 35,000
individual images. Remarkably the rock art
in the Park is better preserved than any
other region south of the Sahara. The oldest
painting on a rock shelter wall in this Park
is 2,400 years old while more recent
creations date back to the late nineteenth
century.
With an abundance of birds and plants, as
well as some of the worlds' most sunning
scenery and rock art, the uKhahlamba
Drakensberg Park is one of South
Africa's premier tourist attractions and
holiday destinations.
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