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I notice there are two San paintings sites supposedly visible to the public in the Southern Kruger. The one is near Renosterkoppies (near Stevenson Hamilton) and the other is down near the Hippo Pool close to the Crocodile Bridge.

Are either of these "drive by" sites or do they require booked walking trails? My gut feeling says the latter as I can't imagine open paintings surviving the sun and rain for very long. If so, how long and how far and how expensive etc. would these viewings be?

The hippo pools is a get out point where a guide ,that is stationed there during the day, takes you out towards the site...Free of charge

But ,and I am not 100% sure about this Moira, I think that the floods that the Kruger had in 2000 damaged most of the San art down at the hippo pools...

Yes, the Hippo Pools site was severely damaged by the flood, to such an extend that they do not even take people there anymore. If the guard is there, you can however ask him to show you, since it is close to the parking spot.

No other readily accessible spots however. There are plenty of paintings in KNP, especially around Berg-en-dal. The best way to view them is by doing the Bushmans walking trail. I do believe that there is an exhibition in Berg-en-dal which you can view.

This is sadly one part of the KNP history that is not accessible enough.

As DD correctly stated, the hippo pools paintings were damaged by the 2000 floods. The guide there will gladly take you to the site.

Interesting, the force of the flood can be seen in the bent iron beam that was put into place to protect the paintings from human touch.

the best place to see paintings is to either book the Bushman's trail where you will see several. I have a topic on that somewhere. I will go finf it for you. Or alternatively do the morning walk at Berg-en-Dal and ask the guide to lead you to such a site nearby the camp.

My experience with Bushman paintings.

During our June trip we stopped at Hippo Pools and the ranger took us up and showed us the paintings. They are very faded and difficult to see. AS WTM mentioned, the old protective bar over the paintings is bent well out of shape - that was the first time I realised how powerful the floods were.

Still - well worth the stop

The Kruger National Park has a great wealth of San/Bushman (both terms are acceptable) rock art. Included is a large number of painted sites and a smaller number of engrawings. The best of the sites are accesiable on the Bushman, Wolhuter and Nylala Land Trails. Visitors staying at the Sand River Bush Camp are also taken to visit a painted site.

I am an archaeologist that have visited and work on sites in both KNP and Mapungubwe and hope to slowely start supplying the Forum with small sniplets of information of the rich cultural heritage of our National Parks. Lets hope there is an interest out there!!!

And please feel free to ask any question about this topic!

micromammal!

Yes, there is definitely an interest in this!
Please keep it coming!