The word 'Drakensberg' means 'Dragon's Mountain' in Afrikaans — an old South African language. It is a very fitting name. The peaks are sharp and jagged like a dragon's spine, and clouds often swirl around the summits. In the Maluti range, the rock is mostly sandstone, which has been carved by millions of years of rain and wind into cliffs, caves and towers.
Ancient San Bushmen painted pictures on the walls of caves inside the Malutis thousands of years ago. These rock paintings show animals, people dancing and mysterious spirit figures. Many of these paintings are so well preserved that the colours are still vivid today — red, yellow, white and black painted using plant and animal pigments.
The mountains are also the source of some of southern Africa's most important rivers. Rain falls on the high peaks, soaks into the ground, and slowly flows down into rivers that provide water to millions of people across the whole region. The mountains act like a giant water tower for the land below.