Game Pass Valley Initiative

uKhahlamba Drakensberg · South Africa

Where Ancient Stones
Speak to Us

A family initiative to honour a sacred valley, uplift its community, and preserve a UNESCO World Heritage Site for generations to come.

Support the Initiative→Discover the Valley

Kamberg Nature Reserve

A Valley Written
in Stone & Light

Nestled in the southern Drakensberg, the Kamberg Valley forms part of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg World Heritage Site — one of South Africa's most spectacular landscapes. Towering basalt escarpments, pristine trout streams, and rolling highveld grasslands define a terrain that has drawn humans for thousands of years.

At its heart lies Game Pass Valley — a place where history, ecology, and community converge. The valley shelters one of the finest concentrations of San rock art on Earth, embedded in sandstone overhangs that have protected the paintings through centuries of rain, frost, and time.

Today, the Tendele community lives in and around this valley, holding a living connection to the land that predates any written record. The Game Pass Valley Initiative was founded to walk alongside them — honouring the past while building a sustainable future.

Dawn light over the Kamberg Valley
Wetlands reflecting the Drakensberg at dusk
Thatched lodge with Drakensberg mountains

Game Pass Shelter · 3,000 years of art

The Rosetta Stone
of Rock Art

Long dismissed as simple depictions of daily life, San rock art puzzled researchers for generations — until a single panel at Game Pass Shelter changed everything.

Archaeologist Prof. David Lewis-Williams decoded a scene showing a dying eland surrounded by San shamans. One shaman holds the eland's tail, his feet morphing into hooves — a painting of a man entering a trance state, harnessing the eland's supreme spiritual energy.

This discovery proved that San rock art was not literal but deeply symbolic — a coded map of shamanism, the spirit world, and the practice of trance healing. It permanently transformed the study of ancient African art, earning Game Pass Shelter recognition as a National Heritage Site within the UNESCO World Heritage listing.

“The painting perfectly represents the shaman's journey into an altered state of consciousness.”

San rock paintings at Game Pass Shelter

San rock paintings at Game Pass Shelter, Kamberg. Estimated age: up to 3,000 years.

The Paintings

Art That Speaks
Across Millennia

The panels at Game Pass Shelter are among the best-preserved examples of San rock art in the world. Painted using natural pigments — red, brown, black, and white — they depict eland, humans, and therianthropes with extraordinary skill and detail.

The eland holds particular significance. In San cosmology, the eland carries the greatest spiritual power (n/um) of any animal. To possess its energy was to access the spirit world itself.

Visiting the site requires a guided hike of 1.5–2.5 hours from the Kamberg Rock Art Centre. The site remains sacred to both descendants of the San people and the Zulu-speaking Tendele community.

3,000+
Years old
UNESCO
World Heritage
∞
Cultural value
The Drakensberg escarpment rising above the Kamberg Valley grasslands

How We Began

A Family, A Valley,
A Homecoming

Our great-grandfather purchased Game Pass in the 1800s and gave one homestead to each of his three sons. For generations, the valley was where cousins from around the world gathered, where children were home-schooled under open skies, and where the happiest memories of a family were made.

The community that worked the land — Mcetshwa, Lizzie, Emelda, and others — were not just employees but a living part of that world. We felt it would be ours forever.

In 1990, the land was expropriated by the government. Despite every effort, it could not be prevented. For many in the family, returning felt impossible — most stayed away for 20 years or more.

It was our mother who brought us back. After she passed away in 2015, we returned to scatter her ashes in the valley at her request. Then, last February, cousins from around the world gathered at Kamberg to walk Game Pass again — and watched a film about the Khoi-San, the paintings, and the history of the valley.

We were deeply movedby how intertwined our lives are with the people of this valley. Our cousin Felicity reconnected with Mcetshwa's family, and with the help of Scelo, Emelda, and Junior, the Game Pass Valley Initiative was born.

Founders visiting the valley
Planning sessions at the valley

“We felt our lives are intertwined with the people of this valley. It made us want to find a way to show how grateful we were to have had so many wonderful experiences here.”

— The founding family

What We Do

Six Pillars of
Meaningful Change

Tendele Village Upliftment

Direct support for the Tendele community — the families who have called this valley home for generations. We work alongside residents to identify needs and fund meaningful, lasting change.

See our milestones →

Water Infrastructure

Clean, reliable water is the foundation of community health. We have already installed water storage tanks serving Tendele village, with further infrastructure projects underway.

See the water project →

Guide Training & Employment

Equipping local community members with the knowledge, accreditation, and confidence to lead guided cultural and nature experiences through this extraordinary valley.

See training milestones →

Conservation

Protecting the unique highland ecology of the Kamberg Valley — its grasslands, wetlands, and indigenous flora — for future generations of both wildlife and people.

See conservation milestones →

Cultural Preservation

The San rock art of Game Pass Shelter is among humanity's most important cultural treasures. We partner with heritage bodies to safeguard these 3,000-year-old paintings and the living knowledge that surrounds them.

See our conservation work →

International Workcamps

In partnership with the South African Voluntary Workcamp Association (SAVWA), we host international volunteers who work alongside the Tendele community on infrastructure, conservation, and cultural projects — building lasting cross-cultural connections.

Hear from the community →
Tendele community members
Water infrastructure project
Highland stream near Tendele
Community guides at the valley

Our Community

Tendele Village
The Heart of the Valley

The Tendele community has lived in and around the Kamberg Valley for generations, maintaining deep cultural, spiritual, and practical ties to the land. Their knowledge of the valley — its seasons, its plants, its history — is irreplaceable.

Many families face the challenges common to rural KwaZulu-Natal: limited access to clean water, constrained economic opportunity, and the erosion of traditional knowledge. The Game Pass Valley Initiative works directly with community leaders to address these needs from the ground up.

Our first completed project — a clean water tank installation — gives families reliable access to water for the first time. It is the first of many steps.

Help the Community→

The Valley in Pictures

Scenes from Game Pass

Dawn light breaking over the Kamberg Valley

Dawn over the valley

Mountain wetlands reflecting the Drakensberg at dusk

The valley's wetlands

Thatched buildings with the Drakensberg mountains

The retreat grounds

Highland river rapids in the Kamberg

Highland streams

Hikers approaching Game Pass Shelter

Trail to Game Pass Shelter

San rock paintings at Game Pass Shelter

San rock art

Rolling highveld grasslands and the Drakensberg escarpment

The Drakensberg escarpment

Exploring the mountain streams of the valley

Valley exploration

Dusk silhouette of the lodge against Drakensberg sky

Dusk at the lodge

Make a Difference

Your Gift Protects
What Cannot Be Replaced

Every contribution — large or small — funds clean water, local employment, cultural preservation, and the long-term health of one of Africa's most significant landscapes.

R250
Seedling
Plants indigenous flora
R500
Stream
Funds clean water
R1,500
Guardian
Trains a guide
R5,000+
Protector
Conservation season
See All Ways to Give→