In the 1960s and 1970s, the caves were made accessible to mass consumption when a tourist complex was built, the rock-strewn floor was evened out with concrete, ladders and walkways were installed and the caverns were turned into a kitsch extravaganza with coloured lights, piped music and an indecipherable commentary that drew hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
Even apartheid put its hefty boot in: under the premiership of Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, the arch-ideologue of racial segregation, a separate non-whites entrance was acked through one wall, resulting in a disastrous through-draught that began dehydrating the caves.
Fortunately, the worst excesses have now ended: concerts are no longer allowed inside the chambers, and the coloured lights have gone.
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