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I have attached [I hope!!] two images borrowed off the site, to illustrate my question. (Thank you to the donors)

Can anyone shed light on the very tall cairns found on the summit and into Lesotho. Who builds them? Why? Why are they built so tall? Why do they not just mark spot heights or the border boundry?

I have some of my own theorys, but wish to see what others exist, or what facts come to light. In either event, the startling similarity between a vertical idle sheperd and a verticl idle cairn, is the reason I lug binoculars along. This image is hidden for guests. Please log in or register to see it.

The stone shepherds guard the citadels from invading armies, they also stop errant sheep from wandering off because they think that the shepherd is nearby and can see them!

I wonder about those cairns a lot too. Thats a great comparison between the shepherd and the cairn!

@ST: interesting perspective...

My assumption has always been that it is mostly shepherds that build them. Many of them appear on at seemingly arbitrary places on ridges, not necessarily marking a summit. These tend to be quite visible on the skyline and are commonly in the vicinity of a kraal. For this reason I've thought that they may be navigational markers which help the shepherds, particularly in misty conditions (note how visible they are on skylines, even in the mist).

Sometimes they appear on high, water-shed ridges, seemingly marking a pass over the ridge - a "lekhalo" more accurately said. There are some good examples between Mafadi and Leslies Pass, near the 3300m spot heights above Yodler's Cascades, and there is a particularly tall and neatly built one near ka-Masihlenga Pass. I've thought that they may be border makers, but they are not consistent enough.

The one the attached pic belongs to a pair that seem to mark the summit of Ts'ehlanyane Pass on the Maloti Range. Between the two flat-topped peaks in the background is another one.

Whatever they are, they certainly are very neatly built...they obviously have time on their hands. Hikers cairns tend to be so messy in comparison!

I would agree with the navigation theory. Although when the mist is really thick you can barely see your hands in front of you. I somehow doubt the shepherds would risk loosing their sheep into any of the gullies during a really misty day. I would reckon that they would just sit tight, and build another large cairn to pass the time, as you said, they are really well built.

It is not surprising though that hikers cairns are sloppy. They gasp up to the top of the ridge, throw their pack down, chuck a rock on the cairn and take a rest. I have never actually put a stone on a cairn on the top, or though we built a beauty along the cathedral traverse. Hey st², scan that image and pop it onto this thread, our "is that a cairn or what" image.

Perhaps someone can ask one of the shepherds the next time they bump into one, a shepherd I mean, not a cairn

Keep it coming. comments? theories?

[nothing like reviving an old topic from before the time I joined this site]

That one near Thlanyako Pass had me fooled, until we where fairly close to it I thought it was a shepherd, the joys of shadows and people who wear gray clothes...