NATURAL & HISTORICAL SITES

21 : Eugène Marais

At this site, the hills to the right are on the farm Rietfontein where Eugène Marais spent many years studying termites.  Eugène Nielen Marais first brought the Waterberg and its varied wildlife to the attention of naturalists and scientists through his work there early in the 20th Century.  He was a writer, poet and naturalist who spent an important part of his life in the Waterberg.

Marais became fascinated by baboons and started to study them which ultimately led him to writing the books, "The Soul of the Ape" and "My Friends the Baboons". These two books, together with "Road to the Waterberg" and "The Soul of the White Ant", are his most well-known works. Marais has been described as the first son of the Waterberg for having opened up a window of the wonder and intricacies of the life of the Waterberg's plants and animals.