Everything began in 1865 when 2 young catholic missionaries bought a farm and called it Botshabelo (place of refuge). During the different wars in the country this place welcomed more and more refugees (up to 1315 people) including a fort, church and a school (which was used until 1979). Nowadays, Botshabelo is an open-air museum showing the life from the Ndebele tribe in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Colorful houses from 20th century
The entry to the houses was very low
Typical Ndebele hut from the 19th century, again very low entry, but why ?
Our very friendly guide (who studied and spent his whole life in Botshabelo) explained us the very simple : if a enemy want to come in your hut, the entry was so low that he must bend his knees and come in the hut with head first....and the people in the hut can hit him before he could do any crime...
Tyipical Ndebele women, the gold rings are hold when the women are married
In the evening , our last evening in ZA, we spent a lovely time with our friends Mike, Lynette & their daughter
awesome blog+awesome pics...thanks sooo much for sharing this beauty!
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