BOOKS & MUSIC
MEET THE AUTHOR
Vincent Carruthers is an environmentalist and the author of several books. His latest, Cradle of Life – The Story of the Magaliesberg and the Cradle of Humankind, takes readers on a journey of discovery into this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Carruthers takes care to give a complete account of the “jewel in South Africa’s evolutionary crown”, in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in history, evolution and geology.
What is your first memory of the Magaliesberg? While I was a student in the 1960s, I went camping there with Jimmy Watson, Eddy Lutz and Johan Fassler – legendary names in South African Mountain Club lore.
I had walked in the Drakensberg and the mountains of the Cape, and I shared the popular prejudiced view that the (then) Transvaal had nothing scenic to offer. Those few days in the Magaliesberg were a revelation. I saw towering kloofs, splendid waterfalls and big skies, and I experienced the miraculous tranquillity of a landscape that – incredibly – was only an hour’s drive from Johannesburg.
What made you decide
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