World Heritage Status
A recognised World Heritage Site
The spectacular Drakensberg mountains took their rightful place on the international tourism stage when the 243 000 hectare uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 29th November 2000.
In addition to recognising the unique natural beauty of the Drakensberg, the World Heritage Site title also focuses world attention on the mountain park’s rich collection of rock art, the last visible signs of the San peoples.
With an abundance of birds and plants, as well as some of the worlds’ most stunning scenery and rock art, the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park is one of South Africa’s premier tourist attractions and holiday destinations.
Cathedral Peak Hotel offers unrivalled access to some of the most magnificent peaks, beautiful hiking trails, and many San rock art sites. Immerse yourself in the sights, smells and sounds of unmatched natural beauty and bring your sense of adventure alive at our hotel – the gem of the Drakensberg.
Meeting & exceeding the World Heritage Site criteria
In order for any site to be included in the World Heritage List, it must meet one or more of the natural or cultural heritage property criteria.
The uKhahlamba Drakensberg satisfies two natural criteria and two of the cultural criteria:
1. Unique richness of biological diversity
The park contains an outstanding richness of species, particularly of plants, in terms of diversity, and is of global importance in terms of endemic birdlife. The diversity of habitats is outstanding, ranging across alpine plateaus, steep rocky slopes and river valleys. These habitats protect a high level of endemic and threatened species.
2. Exceptional natural beauty
The park has exceptional natural beauty, with soaring basaltic buttresses, incisive and dramatic cutbacks, and golden sandstone ramparts. Further contributing to this unmatched beauty are the rolling high-altitude grasslands, pristine, steep-sided river valleys, and rocky gorges.
3. Human creative genius in the form of rock art
With some 600 rock art sites, collectively representing over 35 000 individual images, the rich collection of rock art in the Park is better preserved than those found in any other region south of the Sahara. The oldest painting is a staggering 2 400 years old, while more recent creations date back to the late nineteenth century.
4. A testament to the San people
The San people lived in the mountainous Maloti-Drakensberg area for more than four millennia, leaving a corpus of outstanding rock art behind them, and providing a unique testimony which throws much light on their beliefs and way of life.
MALOTI-DRAKENSBERG PEACE PARK
“Peace means a flood of love in the world-family—Sri Chinmoy”
Sri Chinmoy’s work for peace spanned five decades and earned him appreciation from luminaries such as President Mikhail Gorbachev, President Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa. In 1970, with the encouragement of then United Nations Secretary General, Sri Chinmoy began a twice-weekly series of talks on peace at the United Nations in New York, which he continued until his passing in 2007.
Sri Chinmoy was an athlete, poet, music-lover, philosopher and artist. He showed that all of these could play a powerful role in the pursuit of peace. Over the years, he provided the visionary spark for numerous imaginative initiatives to bring people together. The Peace Run, the largest of these initiatives, was founded in 1987.
In January 1996, Sri Chinmoy visited South Africa and fell in love with the Drakensberg mountains. It was then that the Maloti-Drakensberg Park was dedicated as a “Peace Park” by the Natal Parks Board (now Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) and became part of a worldwide network of more than 800 cities, natural wonders and man-made structures dedicated to world friendship and peace. Other Peace Parks include Victoria Falls, the Great Barrier Marine Park, Mt Fuji, the Taj Mahal and Lake Baikal to name a few. A plaque commemorating the dedication of the Park was never erected.
On September 20th 2019, Cathedral Peak Hotel welcomed runners from various countries taking part in the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run, in which the Peace Torch was encircling all 44 countries in the Southern Hemisphere. The Peace Torch has been blessed and held by Pope Francis, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and many more. It was during their visit that a plaque was unveiled at the Hotel dedicating the World Heritage Site to the cause of peace and international friendship and harmony.
