A heritage walk through the Tswapong Hills
Staff Writer | Thursday June 8, 2017 15:41
The three-day walk began with a preliminary exposure and terrain familiarisation 5km guided tour around the Old Palapye Heritage site to see and learn about the Bangwato ruins including the old London Missionary Society (LMS) church ruins, Khama III’s open pit well and his big four-cornered house.
To the walkers’ amusement, this short walk sparked a lot of interest and debate later at the campfire as one of the Malaka village elders gave a historical and cultural background of the village.
His narration of the somewhat ugly history of the abandoned Bangwato capital was carefully told to avoid offending the Gods of these hills.
Questions were asked and clarifications sought on what drove away Bangwato from Old Palapye and the relationship between the Europeans and the Tswana tribes in the area.
After a lively narration on the history of Malaka and Palatswe, the old man left but the bonfire gathering and coffee continued in anticipation of the next day, with many made-up stories about the walk before they disappeared into the comfort of their tents. An early rise and shine wake up call by the Y Care lead walker Sheila Camm marked the beginning of second day of the walk where walkers would tackle 25km of adventurous trail. In numbers, the 25km sounded very easy but proved a difficult task during the walk because of the terrain and the many excursions done to access the sites. On the remains of the Old Tshekedi Road, walkers retraced a very sandy and rocky terrain towards the Motetana Gorge, Ancestral Shrine, Borotelatshwene Cliff, MmaBesi’s grave, Prison, Market place, stone walls before heading back to the base camp.
Upon arrival at base camp, the walkers were received by the ‘heavenly sent’ support team with a refreshing aroma of the welcome coffee, blazing campfire and warm salty water to soak away the worries of the day’s walk whilst recapping on the day’s “torturous” activity.
On the third and last day of the 65 km journey on foot, still determined to walk for charity, the walkers were already accustomed to the grueling demands of the walk and by the end of the day they had walked, learned and discovered the European graveyard and up to level three of Moremi Gorge.
Having nothing to express Y Care’s gratitude, the chairperson of the Board of Trustees awarded the humanitarian men and women with medals for their commitment towards charity.
The success of this heritage charity walk was a joint effort by walkers from Botswana Oil, Bryte Insurance Company, Letshego Financial Services and four individual walkers, two guides from the National Museum and Phothophotho Community Trust, support of Malaka chief and the villagers, the catering company from Makoro, media partners from GabzFM and sponsors in kind from Fine Wines, Medswana, Boitekanelo Emergency Medical Services and the Y Care Support Team members.
Tswapong Hills Walk was the first walk of the 2017 Y Care Charitable Trust walking season. Next up during the President’s holidays scheduled for July 14-18, 2017 would be iconic Makgadikgadi Pans Walk.
For details on how one could be part of the Y-Care Charity adventure walks contact: 71784212 or info@ycare.org.bw