Whether they were made by extraterrestrials mining gold, or Pedi people droving cattle, Mpumalanga's stone circles are intriguing

FEW people lie awake at night agonising over the origins of mankind. It all seems pretty much resolved really - a few millennia of evolution to turn us from grunting hairy things into the fine specimens we are today - with a few brutes still roaming among us, as if to confirm the theory.

But what if that's all wrong? What if a species of alien gods had descended to Earth - to Waterval Boven, to be precise - and created humans through genetic cloning?

It sounds crazy, but next time you fancy a weekend away, why not indulge in some anthropological research to stretch your imagination. And your incredulity.

If ancient extraterrestrials thought Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga was a great place to settle, then it must have some attractions. Well, it has now, but mostly thanks to them.

This is the place, according to self-styled scientist and researcher Michael Tellinger, where aliens landed 300000 years ago. They came to mine the gold they needed to repair the damaged atmosphere of their home planet. To avoid any manual labour, they cloned themselves to create mankind to do the dirty work.

Tellinger is a musician-turned-author and explorer who has written three books: Slave Species of God, Temples of the African Gods and Adam's Calendar. The latter was co-authored with Johan Heine, a pilot who discovered one of the hilltop circles from the air.

Next month Tellinger will be a speaker at Megalithomania, a book fair focusing on the origins of man. The event usually takes place in Glastonbury in the UK, but is coming to Johannesburg so the other authors can see the stone circles for themselves.

Where is all this leading, you may ask?

It's leading to a fascinating experience after a pleasant three-hour drive from Johannesburg along the N4. Most people take that road to go game-viewing in the Kruger, but this time it's mankind you're studying.

"This stuff gets freaky and weird," warns Tellinger. "In a split second everything you have been taught about human history flies out of the window."

As you enter the strange world according to Tellinger, one thing is undeniable: the region is littered with the most incredible stone circles. Not in the Stonehenge style, although there is one of those. But mostly slab upon slab upon millions of other slabs of stone laid out in concentric circles.

The walls of the circles stand a metre or sometimes two metres high, with the stones carefully placed on top of each other. Some have circles within circles, but only the aerial photos show just how extensive they are.

Many are overgrown with ferns, others are clearly visible and they're all absolutely intriguing. Some are 100m in diameter, so you can walk in and around them, listening to the tuneful notes the rocks make when you strike them.

You can pick up the slabs and question whether they were naturally shaped that way, or were carved into the bird shapes some resemble. But most of all, you'll wonder who put them there, and why.

That's where everything gets a little fuzzy.

Some formal history books describe the circles as remnants of cattle kraals built by nomadic tribes, with the paths linking them together built by Pedi people on which to drive their cattle, says Tellinger.

"That's based on absolutely zero scientific foundation, but it goes into our history books. We are dealing with something completely different from primitive herders building stone circles for their cattle."

Tellinger spins tale upon tale with zeal.

I obviously look sceptical. "Do you believe we are alone in the universe?" he asks. Er, no. "Do you believe we can clone an animal?" That's an easy one - yes, we can.

"Well, these were advanced beings who knew genetic cloning," he says. "These gods came out of the skies and made humans to dig gold for them. They were using gold as their energy source and took it off this planet and back into the skies to wherever the hell they are."

The stone circles tap into the Earth's natural energy and amplify it, creating a swirling vortex of energy that denatures gold into the powder form the aliens required.

The stones were transported to the sites by levitation, because everybody knows an object can defy gravity when you blast it with an ultra-high sound frequency, Tellinger says.

Conical stones were used to generate those frequencies.

This time I giggle audibly.

Archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and physics experts stubbornly refuse to endorse his theories. Tellinger believes they are afraid to challenge the accepted wisdom that man evolved from the early species as found in the Cradle of Humankind.

"It's rubbish that we evolved from the apes or hominids at the Cradle of Mankind," he says. He dismisses those relics as merely "the origins of some cretins 1.8-million years old" and says linking those hominids to these first humans is "the biggest insult to ancient civilisations anyone could ever throw at them".

The final site we visit on this wacky tour is Adam's Calendar near Kaapschehoop. Here the stones and theories both get significantly larger.

Adam's Calendar offers clear proof that time travel is possible, says Tellinger, through a concentrated energy vortex shooting straight up into the sky. Evidence fails to materialise, of course, but it's a beguiling yarn.

Adam's Calendar is at least 160000 years old, he claims, and its giant stones line up with summer and winter solstices, the equinox, sunrise and the angle at which Orion's belt appears over the horizon. Well, it would align with Orion's belt if the Earth's crust hadn't shifted and dislodged the north and south poles. The planet's crust has shifted several times in the last few hundred thousand years, Tellinger believes, and cites the misalignment of Adam's Calendar with the stars as evidence.

Tellinger's own calendar is difficult to fathom. We're talking about 300000 years ago, then 70000, until a devastating flood wiped out this first civilisation 12000 years ago.

Even if you dismiss every word as hocus-pocus, it's hugely entertaining. The stone circles are amazing, and indisputable evidence that someone - or something - was doing something weird here.

People will hail Tellinger as a genius or dismiss him as a madman. He's certainly a controversial character, derided by many for his eccentric theories.

Even The Fortean Times, a magazine of news and research on strange phenomena, criticised his book Slave Species of God. Reviewer Mike Pursley described it as 500 maddening pages of muddle, but "entertaining due to its sheer over-the-top oddness".

Tellinger isn't fazed. "I've been trying to bring it to the attention of the authorities and academics for years, but get told to go away, it's rubbish," he says.

The tour gives you plenty to talk about as you sip sundowners at the Stone Circle Bistro. That's Tellinger's base, and features an oddly rambling museum of rocks, artefacts and photos.

Scrambling around in the countryside builds up an appetite, and the Stone Circle Bistro serves steaks with a deliciously mean chakalaka for R40. I enjoyed a light and tasty chicken pancake and salad for R40. When the bill arrives you certainly know you're out of the city.

My day ended with a late-night swim in the warm pool of the Malaga Hotel further along the N4. Quaint is a great word for the Malaga, with décor that looks unchanged since - well, not quite since the gods created humans, but probably for at least a decade. - © Lesley Stones

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE:

From Johannesburg or Pretoria take the N4 toll road. It's about three hours to Waterval Boven. Look for signs to the Stone Circle Museum and Bistro.

WHY GO?

If you need an excuse to bask in Mpumalanga's glorious scenery, think of it this way: recounting the intriguing stories of the Stone Circle tour will guarantee you're a fascinating guest at dinner parties.

WHAT TO SEE:

Stone Circles: most of the mysterious circles are on private land or off the beaten track, so you need a guide. Tellinger's full-day tour to some circles and Adam's Calendar costs R1200 per person. Shorter, cheaper options with other guides are also available. You'll need your own 4x4, as Tellinger's Makomati Trust doesn't supply vehicles. Tel: 0823483019 or www.makomati.org.

WHERE TO STAY:

The Malaga Hotel near Waterval Boven costs from R780 for a double room with breakfast. Tel: 013 257 5300, www.malaga.co.za. Or search for accommodation on www.sa-venues.com. The N4 is literally a killer, with lethal lorry-drivers who put Joburg's taxi-drivers to shame, so try not to travel at night.