A panoramic view of the south

*ABEL ABEDNICO MABUSE | Friday November 11, 2011 00:00

The Southern Region Heritage Trail is part of the Greater Gaborone Heritage Trail, which details almost all places of prime tourist interest in the Greater Gaborone area. Through this essential tourist package, the Botswana National Museum offers a completely fresh means of diversifying the tourism sector. For the very first time, a comprehensive visitor guide combines the best and otherwise well-known natural sites such as Mokolodi Nature Reserve and Manyelanong Game Reserve with cultural heritage sites to offer a limitless choice of fascinating tourism destinations found in the most southern parts of Botswana. A visit to these sites takes you through a panorama of Botswana's oldest geological formations to the awes of the rare stone plants of Pelotshetlha, ubiquitous and unimpeded folklores associated with hills and sacred gorges whose spirituality is unique to the southern region only.

Since the last two months leading to the coronation of the Bangwaketse Paramount Chief, historian and writer, Dr Jeff Ramsay has made sterling contributions in alerting us about import historical accounts of the Bangwaketse and other people living in the area where these heritage sites are found. This paper attempts to augment the invaluable historical information provided by Ramsay and offer some tangible evidence of some of the remains of the development of the settlement of the Southern Region. Although some of the sites have very little reference to some of the accounts of the Bangwaketse that Ramsay offers, they help showcase some of the fascinating sites within the broader area that he has been discussing. The map in figure 1 shows the location of 24 of the best natural and cultural sites of the Southern Region Heritage Trail. The heritage sites discussed in the map are represented by numbers located near villages closer to them.  They cover a broader region that links some parts of the Kweneng, Southern and South East districts to offer a variety of heritage sites ranging from historic monuments, sacred gorges and hills, some popular game reserves, stone walled ruins and several monuments associated with the legendary Kgosi Bathoen II of Bangwaketse.

Your starting point for a complete visit of this trail is Gaborone where all trip essentials can be acquired. The first site takes you to the Livingstone Memorial just three kilometres west of Kumakwane village. The remains of the legendary missionary, traveller and medical doctor David Livingstone. This mission station is one of the few successful stations that Livingstone set up among Batswana. It is in fact here that Livingstone managed to baptise Kgosi Sechele I of Bakwena, his only convert to Christianity. The second stop is the Dimawe Cultural Landscape, which consists primarily of Dimawe Hills between Manyana and Mankgodi villages, Manyana Rock Paintings and the famous Mmakgosi Cave as well as the Livingstone Tree. Dimawe is that all important battlefield that helped shape the future of Botswana when Kgosi Sechele I of Bakwena and other Batswana merafe averted Transvaal Boer invasion into the lands of Batswana in 1852.  At Manyana Rock Paitings you will encounter a small cave remembered by the locals as the hiding place of the Bakwena Queen during the infamous battle of Dimawe.Mogonye Gorges are found to the south east of Dimawe Hills among a couple of highrise hills with countless streams, which form the catchment area of Gaborone Dam. Among these gorges, Kgopu ya Ga Marete (Marete Gorge), Kgopu ya Nkwe (Leopards Gorge) and Kgopu ya Mmamotshwane are open to tourists.  A local guide is available at the Kgotla on weekdays. 

The most popular among these gorges is Mmamotshwane Gorge where development of a gatehouse, ablution blocks, camping sites and rest areas at the gorge are nearing completion.  This is part of the Botswana National Museum's plan to promote cultural tourism to these destinations.  Mmamotshwane offers splendid waterfalls, aquatic animals and plants such as the fern believed by the locals to be the source of the gorge's waterfalls.  The gorges are closely guarded by ancestral spirits believed by some to be in the form of larges snakes whose fresh trails are often visible in some parts of the trails of the gorge.

Further southeast, along the Lobatse-Gaborone road are the Baratani and Manyelanong Hills; two significant hills found in Otse village. The latter is famously known as the setting of a romantic epic of two young lovers who disappeared into the hill after being denied the opportunity to marry by their parents.  The fate of these lovers is deeply shrouded in mystery, which may never be resolved since climbing of Baratani Hill is considered a serious taboo. Beyond Baratani Hills lies Segorong Gorge; a shallow stream believed to have holy waters among some religious groups. Manyelanong Hills on the other hand now falls within a game reserve established in 1986 to protect the breeding ground of the endangered Cape Griffon vultures. Further south of Otse at Lobatse, the bustling township of Peleng offers the tourist an opportunity to relax in the homestead where Mozambique liberation struggle leaders such as the late Samora Machel once lived in the 1970s.

Baratani HillKgoro Landscape offers one of the few serene destinations found in the entire trail. The village of Kgoro offers a close encounter of traditional Tswana village where houses are predominantly made up of thatch, mud and poles. There is a large pan to the west of the village where birds of all sorts such as the migratory storks, ducks, flamingoes and others congregate during the rainy season to offer the pan a panaoramic view where picnics can be arranged. Further north and visible from the pan, is Kgoro Hill. The top of the hill is adorned with defensive Sotho Tswana walls that were occupied by a people whose identity remains a secret to the local people, historians and even archaeologists. These stonewalls are similar in design to the ones found at Mosenekatse near Molapowabojang.

To the west of Kgoro near Pelotshetlha village you will encounter the rare opportunity to hunt stone plants of Diabo Hill. These stone plants (lithops) are locally known as marago a banyana due to their sensual shapes. These plants produce beautiful flowers between May and June. They have no known medicinal value and are not edible either. Since they are only endemic to Diabo Hill in Botswana, they are highly protected by the Monuments and Relics Act 2001, which strictly prohibits their harvesting for any purpose without permission from the Botswana National Museum.

Your final destination lies within the capital of the Bangwaketse at Kanye where the statue of Kgosi Bathoen II, Pharing Gorge, Kgosi Bathoen II Museum and Mmakgodumo Dam speak volumes of the contribution that Bathoen II made while leading the Bangwaketse. Further north of Kanye, there is a beautiful valley and popular viewing spot known as Polokwe. Your journey into the crme da le crme of the Southern Region Heritage Trail ends probably with a panoramic view of Polokwe. This is best described in the words of the traveller Alfred Dolman who probably stood here in 1924 and later on exclaimed, .. 'I could see perhaps to the distance of 30 miles to the north. The country consists of Acacias, wild olives, mimosas and other trees. In the kloofs, plenty of water is found, and the vegetation assumes a fresher and greener appearance...'*Abel A Mabuse is Curator of Archaeological Research at Botswana National Museum.