Lesedi Cultural Village

This time of year is very slow for us in Gaborone because many people go to the villages to be with family for the holidays. We took advantage of this and went to South Africa to check out the Lesedi Cultural Village and surrounding area as a possible venue for an upcoming couples retreat we were asked to help plan. Elder and Sister Taylor are in charge of the retreat and they went with us. The village is about four hours from Gaborone and about an hour from Johannesburg. We spent Thursday night, 27 December, at the village.

The village is located in the Hartbeespoort Dam area of South Africa. This is a popular holiday area for South Africans so there are many things to do. On the way to the village we stopped at Chameleon Village which is a large African craft market. We had lunch there; and of course, the sisters did some shopping.

Pedi Village

 

 

Ndebele Village

 

At the village we were assigned rooms in the Pedi Village. Our rooms were very comfortable and built in the rondavel (traditional round house) style. There are five villages each with a tribal theme - Pedi, Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho, Ndebele. After settling into our room we listened to some traditional music by the craft shops, and then watched a video on the history of South Africa.

Zulu Village

 

Xhosa Village

A guide then took our group to all of the villages and told about traditions and history of each of the tribes. In the villages people demonstrated tasks and social activities of that tribe such as grinding maize, traditional healers, cooking, using cow dung to smooth and harden the dirt floor of a house, etc. Sister Rands is VERY glad she does not do her floors this way.

Guide at Basotho Village

At the end of the tour of villages they had a traditional singing and dancing program. For the last part of the program they had all the visitors get up and dance with the performers.

We then went to a buffet dinner with many African foods - squash, chard, pap ( maize meal), chicken, lamb, crocodile, kudu, bread, salads, fruits, and desserts.

In the morning we had an English breakfast buffet with many items to choose from. We then visited with the convention manager about our possible retreat and did some craft shopping. We also checked out Hartbeespoort Dam and waterfall and the cable way tram to the top of the mountain. We did not ride the tram because the wait was two hours.

We drove to Johannesburg and picked up supplies for the missionaries in Botswana before we returned home.