Introduction    |   Tim Hauf   |   Max Du Preez   |   Contributing Authors

ESSENCE OF A LAND
South Africa and its World Heritage Sites
Photography by Tim Hauf
Introduced by Max du Preez

Introduction

There is no way better to tell the fascinating story of South Africa and its people than through exploring the country’s seven World Heritage Sites.

The Vredefort Dome, the biggest crater on earth caused by an asteroid, takes us back 2 000 million years to a time when life on earth was still very primitive and Africa was still part of a giant continent called Gondwanaland.

The Cradle of Humankind tells us more about early hominids and the development of the human species over the past 3,5 million years than any other single site.

The Cape Floral Kingdom and the uKhahlamba/Drakensberg National Park are not only spectacular in their natural beauty, but were also home to South Africa’s first peoples, the San (Bushmen) and the Khoikhoi, who left us their art and fish traps to admire thousands of years later.

The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape tells us the story of the first great kingdom of black farming groups in southern Africa more than six hundred years ago , while unique porcelain and gold artefacts found on Mapungubwe hill and in ancient graves reflect on active trade with the Middle East and India some 400 years before the Cape was colonised.

The sandy beaches, coastal dunes, lake systems and wetlands of the unique Isimangaliso Wetland Park (former Greater St Lucia Wetland Park) were roamed by the ancestors of the Zulu people and explored by the first European settlers.

Robben Island is the most powerful symbol of South Africa’s long history of repression and resistance – indeed, of humanity’s persisting quest for freedom. During the last four centuries, the island served as a refreshment station for seafarers, a prison, a colony for the sick and insane and an influential political “university” where the first rulers of a democratic South Africa were trained.

Essence of a Land – South Africa and its World Heritage Sites tells the stories of all these sites, and thus of the land and people of South Africa, in an engaging, accessible way and shows them in a way not seen before.

Essence of a Land is not a boring history or science book, nor is it your standard coffee table book.
The seven World Heritage Sites are presented visually through the extraordinary photographs of world-renowned photographer Tim Hauf. The text is written by the most eminent experts on each site, and the reader is introduced to the book through a wide-ranging, engaging chapter by Max du Preez, author of best-selling books such as Of Warriors, Lovers and Prophets and Pale Native.

The result is a highly readable and informative yet visually very attractive book – and the first on South Africa’s seven World Heritage Sites.

Essence of a Land is not only ideal reading for visitors and tourists to South Africa, but indeed for all South Africans, young and old.

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Tim Hauf
www.timhaufphotography.com

Tim Hauf - has travelled to many remote corners of the planet with a desire to create a better understanding and appreciation of the world around us through photography. He has published several best-selling books featuring unique destinations such as the trek to Everest Base Camp in the Himalaya of Nepal; South America's remote Patagonia region at the southern tip of the continent; Manitoba Canada's wilderness; and the Channel Islands, off the coast of California. His photographs have been widely published in travel magazines throughout the world including Islands, Sunset, Sea Magazine, Asia Pacific Travel, Explore, Terre Sauvage, Dove and others. South Africa's uniqueness, as well as its dedication to the preservation of its cultural history, flora and fauna, and the unique and contrasting landscapes has a special appeal to him. It is this passion which he wishes to share through his photography and books.

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Max Du Preez
Max du Preez – contributed to the Apartheid Museum and the Democracy Museum and wrote a section in Turning Points in South African History, published by the Department of Education in 2004.  He authored several books, including best-sellers Pale Native, and Of Warriors, Lovers and Prophets – Unusual Stories from South Africa’s Past.  He received numerous awards for journalism, including the Outstanding Young South African Award by the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of South Africa Award for Outstanding Journalism, the Pringle Award by the South African Society of Journalists, the Louis M Lyons Award by the Nieman Fellows at Harvard University, an honorary degree by the University of Cape Town, and the International Journalist of the Year Award for 2006 by the Yale University Globalist.  He is a former political correspondent of Financial Mail, Sunday Times and Business Day, and founder/editor of the ground-breaking weekly Vrye Weekblad.  During his time at the SABC (1994 – 1999) he launched programmes such as Special Report on the Truth Commission and Special Assignment.  He has produced numerous television documentaries, including The Renaissance King, a documentary film on the life and legacy of King Moshoeshoe, the founder of the Basotho nation.  He is presently a weekly columnist for the Independent Newspapers Group and researching a book on Origins, Spirituality and Civilisation in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Contributing Authors

Prof Graeme Addison (Vredefort Dome)
A former journalist and Professor of Communication at the University of North West in Mafikeng, is best known for three books on South African innovations: The Hidden Edge, The Leading Edge and The Competitive Edge, and for White Water: The World's Wildest Rivers. He has published numerous articles on the Vredefort Dome area and is currently writing a book about the Dome and its intimate relationship with the Vaal River Basin. Graeme is currently leading a team involved in the mapping of the Vredefort Dome as a tourist destination and offers eco-tourism experiences in the area.

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Prof Francis Thackeray (Cradle of Humankind)
Acting Director of the Transvaal Museum, has devoted his life’s research to past environmental changes in relation to hominid evolution.  He is the author of more than 200 publications, including being co-author of the thought-provoking article in the South African Journal of Science titled Mrs Ples(Sts5) from Sterkfontein: and adolescent male? His PhD project concerned the analysis of fossils from Wonderwerk Cave near Taung.  Since 1990 he has directed excavations at Kromdraai and Plovers Lake in addition to fieldwork at Bolt’s Farm in the Cradle of Humankind. 

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Johann van As (uKhahlamba/Drakensberg National Park)
Lives at the foot of the uKhahlamba/Drakensberg in Phuthadhidjaba, He obtained a B.Sc, B.Sc. Honours and M.Sc degree from the University of the Free Stare. He is conducting research on a Ph.D and lecturing at Qwaqwa University in Zoology and Aquatic Ecology, focused on blood parasites from montane reptiles in the Drakensberg range, Eastern Free State and Lesotho.

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Sian Tiley-Nel (Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape)
holds the position as Curator and Archeologist of the Mapungubwe Museum at the University of Pretoria.  She obtained and Honours Degree in Archeology and a Post graduate diploma in Heritage Studies and Museum Science.  She is studied as a restorer of low fired and unfired earthernware at the South African Institute of Objects Conservation.  Sian has published numerous research papers and contributed to several commercial publications on the subject of the Mapungubwe Collection.  She is also the author of Mapungubwe: South Africa’s Crown Jewels

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Ernst van Jaarsveld (Cape Floral Kingdom)
is a botanist and the curator of the Kirstenbosch Conservatory in Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town.  He has been awarded the Senior Captain Scott medal by the Academy of Science of South Africa for his research on South African plants, the Dudley D’Ewes medal from the Botanical Society for the promotion of South African plants and the Hans Herre medal from the succulent society of South Africa.  Ernst has authored more than 200 articles, co-authored numerous books including Wonderful Waterwise Gardening, Cotyledon & Tilcodon, Succulents of South Africa, Gaterias of South Africa and Vygies, Gems of the Veld.

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Kian Barker (Isimangaliso Wetland Park (former Greater St Lucia Wetland Park) )
B.Sc. Botany and Zoology, B.Sc. Hons in Ichthyology and fisheries Science, has published articles in a variety of publications on estuarine management, tourism and related ecological aspects as related to the Isimangaliso Wetland Park (former Greater St Lucia Wetland Park) .  He has appeared on a number of television documentaries on the Isimangaliso Wetland Park (former Greater St Lucia Wetland Park). Kian specializes in offering a variety of eco-tourism services in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park (former Greater St Lucia Wetland Park).

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Prof Amanda Gouws (Robben Island)
was commissioned by the NGO Peace Visions to conduct a feasibility study for a Peace Institute on Robben Island resulting in the report  Feasibility on the Future of Robben Island (May 1994).  With a Ph.D from the University of Illinois, she is Professor of Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch and is a board member of the African Gender Institute. She co-authored a book with Prof Jim Gibson from Washington University titled Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa: Experiments in Democratic Persuasion  and is Editor of (Un)Thinking Citizenship: Feminist Debates in Contemporary South Africa.

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