F E AT U R E : B A R B E RTO N
WE HAVE SOMETHING RIGHT HERE IN SOUTH AFRICA THAT IS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF ITS KIND ON OUR PLANET
GUARDIANS OF LIFE’S NURSERY ROOM BY U F RI E DA H O
Komati Valley Image: © UNESCO
It was just another passing story in July last year when South Africa got its 10th UNESCO World Heritage site: the Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains.
I
t should matter more, says environmentalist Roger Porter (BSc 1968, BSc Hons 1969, MSc 1975), one of the people who have worked to secure world recognition for South Africa’s heritage sites. These mountains in the southeastern corner of Mpumalanga are a unique natural treasure, he says.
“It’s the story of our planet’s earliest formation, told in rock,” says Porter. The mountains are the oldest and best preserved sequence of volcanic and sedimentary rocks on Earth. They are estimated to have formed between 3600-million and 3250-million years ago. Back then, there was no oxygen in the atmosphere; there
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