1. Lesotho
2. Category
3. Park

Butha-Bothe, Butha Bothe 400

Liphofung Nature Reserve

Approved

Lesotho’s smallest nature reserve protects a dramatic and atmospheric rock overhang known for its historical association with the 19th-century King Moshoeshoe I and for housing a collection of rock paintings attributed to the San (Bushmen) hunter-gatherers who inhabited the region in prehistoric times. Liphofung (literally Place of the Eland) is named for the paintings of Africa’s largest antelope left behind on its walls by the San hunter-gatherers who dwelt and performed shamanic rituals in the deep overhang for a period of around 5,000. Other rock art at the site includes depictions of people hunting, stick-fighting and participating in a rainmaking ceremony. Though the paintings are more faded that at other sites in Lesotho such as Ha Baroana and Tsatsane, they are accompanied by excellent explanatory panels that show what they would have looked like in their prime and also place then in a cultural context