Africa Antiqua

A 5 day journey enquiring into the ritual motives lying behind the painting of the exquisite ancient art panels of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Drakensberg National Park. Located in the three provinces of Free State, KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape, this four day tour will unfold in the KwaZulu Natal Drakensberg of South Africa. Included in the tour are some of the finest ancient art panels on the world. Add to this the splendid mountain scenery and fine lodges in which we will be staying and you have a perfect holday to complement your Holiday Season. Running from the 4th to the 10th of January 2010, this tour offers a concise glimpse into the ancient art of the Drakensberg and the people who once lived in caves and shelters of this mountain fastness.

This tour to the majestic Drakensberg Mountains will take visitors to some of the finest prehistoric rock art in the world. Some of the more spectacular images were painted in shaded polychrome style and in almost three dimensional aspect. The Drakensberg is the heartland of the so-called shamanistic interpretation of the art - an interpetation that is now widely applied to prehistoric rock art in the Americas, Europe, and parts of Asia. The tour will cover a wide spectrum of rock painting sites covering different periods and artistic styles. You will be accompanied by Frans Prins a qualified archaeologist who have been researching the rock art and the descendants of the San artists for many years. This tour is not to be missed as visitors will not only visit some of the most spectacular rock art sites in the world but will also be informed about the latest research insights and academic debates regarding the meaning of the art. This tour to the majestic Drakensberg Mountains will take visitors to some of the finest prehistoric rock art in the world. Some of the more spectacular images were painted in shaded polychrome style and in almost three dimensional aspect. The Drakensberg is the heartland of the so-called shamanistic interpretation of the art - an interpetation that is now widely applied to prehistoric rock art in the Americas, Europe, and parts of Asia. The tour will cover a wide spectrum of rock painting sites covering different periods and artistic styles. You will be accompanied by Frans Prins a qualified archaeologist who have been researching the rock art and the descendants of the San artists for many years. This tour is not to be missed as visitors will not only visit some of the most spectacular rock art sites in the world but will also be informed about the latest research insights and academic debates regarding the meaning of the art.

Africa Antiqua invites you on an adventure of a lifetime. You will be transported back into a time when most of Europe was covered in ice and our ancestors hunted now extinct animals, such as the woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, wolves, enormous cave bears and giant bison. This was a time when shamans enacted their mystical rites deep in the wombs of caves, surrounded by the shifting and shimmering shapes of painted animals in the flickering half-light of the fire. Images of these large mammals representing Ice Age man.

Journey into the deep history and pre-history of the Emerald Isle. Negotiate the maze of time, and lose yourself in a mystical world of ancient Celts, and fair-haired Vikings whose ferocity still lingers about those places they battled and built. Uncover the mists which have settled upon the Irish Bronze and Iron Ages, and wonder at the hidden secrets of ancient places of learning and religion. On this tour travel in a luxury coach on country roads to explore ruined abbeys and dark castles. Walk along lonely moors to Neolithic graves, and sail upon a sacred river on a Viking ship to an ancient high seat of learning. Brave the high seas to the Aran Islands where you will learn about Bronze and Iron Age Ring Forts, and just experience the wild and savage beauty of the Aran Islands. Castles and Wild Places will thrill you with the wierd moonscape of the The Burren, a landscape literally littered with spots of ancient significance. Walk the Olde Streetsof Dublin, eat traditional dishes and enjoy real beer in authentic Irish Pubs, and then dance the night away to the soul-stirring music of the Irish which hints of ancient mysteries, long-bearded kings, foggy marshes and lonely megaliths.