Botshabelo is about 20 minutes from Santi's house, going the same direction as to Loskop Damn. Botshabelo means "a place of shelter" or sanctuary". It was settled by Germany missionaries in 1878. More historical information can be found at: http://www.footprint.co.za/botshabelo.htm . Sadly, like so many of our own National Parks, this one has fallen prey to the economy. One could easily fall in love with this settlement and live happily ever after. It is nestled in the rolling hills just outside of Middleburg. In it's day is was largely self sufficient with 1,315 inhabitants.
As you enter the reserve, the tall grasses obstruct your view to some degree. It was Mari who spotted a couple of zebra quite a ways from the road! Yes, I've seen zebra's at the zoo as we all have. But to see them in the wild is much different. You get a better idea of the majesty of the animals! Mari and I sat some some time just watching the kids graze in the grasses. After several minutes we continued on dirt road to the village of Botshabelo. I'm not sure how many still live there and tend to the village but it's far from the 1,315 inhabitants of 1873! The law now requires that the village be maintained and restored (as funds are available) to it's original state. Not an easy task when you consider that the large church was built with 300,000 bricks and stones! Even the buildings that both house the residents and those who that were used for everyday life when the village was alive with the business of everyday life. In those early days they maintained a large small mill run by a full time miller, planted fields, a bookbinder and a blacksmith. Although we are spoiled with modern conveniences, I would love to use the "Way Back" machine (a cartoon devise from many years ago) and see the town in all of its glory!
On driving into the village you see, on the right side a large school built in the early 1900's. It is still known as the "Practice School". This school house was used up until 1979 as a training college. If I'm not mistaken, this would be a trade school. It is well maintained from what we could see from the road. Again, due to fiscal issues, not all of the buildings were open with a guide. We went on a Monday and I'm not sure, but I would assume that there are more tourists there on the weekends, it appeared to be only a skeleton staff on duty.
Not long after passing the school and residences, in a shaded area near the river that runs through it, there was a large group of vervet monkeys! The group was so large, even I couldn't miss it! Because this is more of a tourist area, not to mention it used to be used quite a bit for weekend picnics by locals from Middleburg and beyond, these monkeys are not as skittish as some you would see in some lesser traveled reserves. We didn't get out and play with them, but when i got out of the van, they didn't panic either. I won't tell you how many photos I snapped off while watching them play and carry on with their lives!
One of my favorites (besides the monkey who looks like he's laughing at the tourist..) I think one of my favorite photos is the first, with the mother and her child, cuddling while the baby nurses. The mother is holding the baby close to her while watching the monkey next to her. These Vervet monkeys are as common as our squirrels are! From the Picasa album photos you can see the number of monkeys and I dare say that was all of them! Another favorite has to be the monkey that appears to be laughing at the tourist! There is so much expression on their faces that you feel you know what they are thinking!
Once we pried ourselves away from the monkeys we proceeded to the center of the village. One of the first buildings we came close to was the seminary, another older building that has been well maintained over the years, and unfortunately not staffed. The entire area is peaceful and beautiful. There are many trees that provide shade and a cooling breeze that blew through area. Although it was a warm day, the breeze felt wonderful and as long as we were outside, it felt much cooler than it was.
There is a bridge that takes you to the old village where the locals lived. There is a beautifully, brightly colored set of building across the bridge. Each symbol on this building means something. Mari and I tried to get a book about the area but there were none there. I guess I'll do an online search and see what I can come up with. To get inside of the buildings/huts you have to basically crawl in through the open door way. Considered what I have heard about the "lovely" varieties of spiders, I peeked in and decided that was about as far as I wanted to go! Mari laughed and agreed at the same time! More fascinating were the huts that were built which represent better the types of housing used by the native tribes. These were a semi-migrant society so not much time was spent building when they knew they would be moving along sooner or later. I guess the way I would compare it to US history would be our own Native Americans who used tents as their homes when they would follow the game in order to live. I'm still looking for a map of the area tribe who inhabit the area to this day.
I am a history lover. I feel you can get a better understanding of your own family history and get a feel for how your ancestors lived, but working on Genealogy. You can't get far or any kind of a feeling if you don't look at history and what was Politically Correct at different times in history. You really cannot appreciate the type of life they lived. Even 100 years ago, things were so different that I don't think I could live the type of life they had! Can you imagine (seriously) walking to the creek or river to collect the water you needed for the day? Can you imagine collecting the water and filling a tub for a bath but having to boil the water to make it warm enough to hop in there? Although I'd like to stand back and watch through the "Way Back" machine, it's not a life I'd like to live! As the family historian for my family, I can stand back and watch the evolution of our own country, see how the values changed as modern machinery came into use.
Enough of my philosophising. I've said this before, this blog is not only for my friends and family, it is also for me. The only way I can understand what I see is to compare it to what I know. Peter and Santi showed me my first Rugby game on TV the other night. Poor Peter is trying to explain the rules to me. The rules seem to come from both soccer and American football (I know, what came first, the chicken or the egg in sports!). I have a simplistic handle on the game now though.
Here, as well as in the album "A Day With Mari", we found local artisans at work. Though the traditional garb hasn't changed much, the colors have moved to more vibrant shades with the advent of new and better ways to add color. Early on the dyes were natural, those found in fruits and berries, (consider what handling blue berries does to your hands) but as dying techniques because more easily accessible the people were able to add the rich colors we see today. Each article they ware represents something from their culture. The metal bands around the neck and legs do not come off and as other levels are reached (in marriage for example) more are added. The beaded cuffs around the lower leg are all hand beaded. Those cuffs take at least a week to make. In the little curio shop I didn't find any for sale, so my assumption was that they were for personal use. These artisans do make trinkets available in the gift shops, all by hand. It is interesting to watch them work. I do not have the patience to pick up those beads one at a time and apply them to the project! I also wonder what they used for beads, say 100 years ago?
Liese came in last night as I was editing photos for the albums (I use high resolution for shooting but those files are too large for the Internet), she saw the photos of the colorful grasshopper that did go into the album! She said something about, "you and your bugs!". Well, one of the reasons I am fascinated by the "bugs" are their bright colors! If you look closely at the photo I think you can understand where the desire for the colors come from! So, laugh at my bugs but I took the photos for a reason :) As time goes on, you will find even more bugs that I will be adding!
For more information on the indinous, I found this link most informative: http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_ndebele_p1.html
Now on to tag the photos!
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