Stepping in the footsteps of our ancestors at Melville Koppies
MELVILLE – Hike the Melville Koppies Nature Reserve and Heritage for an educational walk through history.
Most people know Melville Koppies as ‘that beautiful koppie with 360 degree views’.
It’s a nature reserve now so no-one lives on it but some of its stones and rocks tell a story of who once lived there and what they did.
Because of lockdown there are no guided tours of Melville Koppies but instead you can self-guide yourself around with a map that points out some of the key historical spots.
From one particular spot, at the foot of a small rise and sheltered from the freezing southerly wind, you can walk just 200m up to the top of the rise and down again and walk through 100 000 years of human history. First, you’ll stand in what was once an early San/Bushmen settlement with views of Magaliesberg. If you’ve got sharp eyes, you’ll be able to pick out stone walls against the slope – these are the remains of the early farmers that lived on the koppies from about 1 000 years ago who also knew how to smelt iron from the rocks.
Then if you climb up the slope and over the top, you’ll find a blast-hole from the 1880s and an adit (a mine entrance) where the Geldenhuys brothers tried to find gold. Unluckily for them, but luckily for us, they didn’t find enough to warrant mining.
Go see all of this for yourself but make sure you pre-book and pay only R80 for adults and R40 for children. Next hike is on 20 and 24 September at 8am to 11.30am.
