San religious experiences were painted in much the same way as art in churches, temples and mosques and illustrate animals and rituals of that time. It is impossible to interpret the meaning of every painting — a general understanding of the basic elements of San religion has been built up, helping with the interpretation of rock art. The information comes from /Xam San, from the Karoo (19th century) and San in the Kalahari (20th century), but many of the paintings remain as a tantalising reminder that we do not have all the answers.

At Vaalkloof you will see a finely painted quagga, accurately represented with no stripes on the rump, but with odd shapes painted on its flank and no hooves; there is at least one Eland that was believed by the San to have a special power that could bring them closer to their god; there is a hartebeest with the characteristic, but oddly mid-sharpen horns; there are several small antelope like grysbok placed in strange positions and faded human figures. All are typical of the artistic tradition of the San, but the artists were not keeping diaries. Each painting is a record of a unique, spiritual experience, either a vision seen in trancelike state, or a graphic representation of the sensations of supernatural experience, or a record of a ritual. There is a complex interplay between reality and the super natural — human figures may be shown with animal heads, or in a dancing posture. Lines and dots depict the patterns of light seen by medicine men and women when they begin to hallucinate. At Vaalkloof you will see examples of these in the form of finely painted nested U-shapes and swarms of finger dots.

A short historic look into the San