Ancient ruins of Southern Africa

To give you a bit more of an idea about the stone ruins around Waterval Boven, Machadodorp and Carolina, visit the Makomati Foundation's website. The photos above, also the information below is from there. Author Michael Tellinger has also founded a small but fascinating museum at his Stone Circle Bistro in Waterval Boven.

In the heart of southern Africa lies the scattered evidence of a lost civilisation whose people built some 20,000 stone structures. These breathtaking ruins constitute the largest continuous stone settlement ever built on Earth as it stretches over thousands of kilometres from South Africa all the way to Kenya and beyond.

These mysterious ancient ruins consist of dwellings, forts, temples roads, irrigation systems and agricultural terraces that cover thousands of square kilometres. It is our estimate that more stone went into building these features than went into building all of the Egyptian pyramids. It is an archaeologist’s dream that will unveil even greater and more mysterious secrets in years to come.

On the edge of the forest...

I've been asked where exactly the ruins from my previous post are (thank you for taking the time to comment by the way). Here are some roughshod directions, which I hope will make sense.

If you're travelling the N4 from the Machado Toll Plaza eastwards towards Waterval Boven, take the Lydenburg/Nelspruit (Schoemanskloof Road) to the left. When you're almost at the summit of the hill, on your left, along the side of the forest you'll notice in the distance some small ruins. Just after that is a sand road to the left, take it, and travel with it until you're above the ruins... there's a gate in the fence and you'll find that you have an incredible view of the entire valley, all the way to Imemeza (SeSwati for "place of shouting"), the mountain behind Waterval Boven. Either before the sand road or not long after it is a signpost for the forest on the left, which I believe is 'Camelot'. Next time I'll take a GPS reading to highlight the entrance to the sand road. Let me know what you think.

As yet no one really knows just how old these ruins are. If you clink some of the rocks together you'll hear that they are like iron stone and are very heavy. Respect the space and leave everything exactly as it is - take only photographs, leave only footprints. And enjoy...!