Klipgat Cave - an echo of early man

Near De Kelders, guides lead guests to Klipgat Cave, a limestone hollow named for its window-like openings that frame views over Walker Bay. Middle Stone Age people sheltered here between seventy thousand and eighty thousand years ago, living off shellfish, seabirds, seals, tortoises and small game while hunting steenbok and eland along a coastline once far more distant than today. Later, Khoekhoen herders occupied the site around two thousand years ago, working bone into tools and ornaments. Layers of buried deposits still hold clues to those vanished lives. Cape Nature Conservation manages the cave, recognised for its worldwide heritage value.