Galleries and Museum
in
Polokwane (Pietersburg)
The stylish Bakone Malapa Museum is a wonderful place to experience the rich culture of the BaSotho people.
The Bakone, a highly sophisticated subgroup of the Northern Sotho tribe, will give you a warm welcome and enthusiastically share their contemporary and traditional customs.
The guides are superb story tellers and the village becomes alive as they take you on a journey through their traditional way of life.
Considered a living museum, the Bakone tribesmen practise long-standing traditions to explain the traditions of Africa’s people. Another reconstructed village like it is the open-air Tsonga Museum near Tzaneen.
Bakone Malapa is built in the style used by the northern Sotho 250 years ago and demonstrates the daily life of the Bakone clan.
Two homesteads exhibit and explain fire making, maize grinding and beer brewing in the traditional manner. Handcraft demonstrations include pottery, basketry and bead work. Most of these locally-made creations are sold from the onsite craft shop.
And that’s not all – the museum and cultural village has a bird sanctuary, wildlife reserve, hiking trails and outdoor recreation areas.
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Restaurants near
Polokwane (Pietersburg)
*Distances are shown as the crow flies and not necessarily the actual travelling
distance.
Galleries and Museum
in
Mokopane (Potgietersrus)
(58.3 km from Polokwane (Pietersburg))
Definitely worth a stop, the Arend Dieperink Museum houses a valuable cultural and historical collection of Sotho and Voortrekker artefacts.
Inhabiting an elegant old stone school building, the museum tells the story of the region from early humankind at Makapan’s Cave, the Anglo Boer War and recent times.
Vintage farm implements, tractors and wagons are showcased outdoors. Inside are a few of the incredible archaeological finds discovered at Makapan’s Cave including the three-million-year-old human predecessor, Australothipicus africanus.
Do try the mampoer, a locally brewed ‘moonshine’ along with freshly baked bread – available on request.
Tours to Makapan’s Cave depart from the museum by prior arrangement +27 (0)15 491 9735.
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