Tucked away just a few kilometres south of Polokwane, Bakone Malapa Open-Air Museum stands as a vibrant testament to the enduring legacy of the Bakone, a subgroup of the Northern Sotho (or Basotho ba Leboa) people. More than just a museum, it is a living cultural landscape, a place where the wisdom, traditions and artistry of an ancient people are preserved, performed and passed on to future generations.
The name “Bakone Malapa” translates to “the homestead of the Bakone people” and it could not be more fitting. Established in 1972 by the Department of Arts and Culture, the museum was designed to recreate an 18th-century Northern Sotho village, offering an authentic experience of traditional life as it was before.
The site’s carefully restored thatched rondavels, clay-walled huts and wooden kraals form a beautifully preserved tableau of a time when communities lived in harmony with the land and each other. Each structure is built using indigenous materials and age-old techniques, smooth red clay walls polished with cow dung, circular courtyards laid with stone and roofs woven with grass in intricate symbolic patterns.
What sets Bakone Malapa apart from conventional museums is that it is alive. Here, history is not displayed behind glass, it is demonstrated, sung and lived. Visitors are welcomed by guides dressed in traditional attire who not only tell the stories of their ancestors but show them in action, demonstrating skills like pottery-making, beadwork, fire-starting, wood-carving and traditional beer brewing. Each demonstration carries meaning, connecting the practice to its spiritual or social role within the community.
The rhythmic beat of drums and the melodic hum of indigenous songs often echo across the homestead, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in Northern Sotho music and dance.
Through storytelling sessions, elders recount folktales and myths that once formed the moral fabric of Bakone society, tales where nature spirits and humanity coexist in delicate balance.
Bakone Malapa is not only a celebration of culture but also an educational and preservation centre. The museum plays a crucial role in teaching young South Africans about their roots and inspiring pride in indigenous knowledge systems. School tours, research programmes and cultural workshops are regularly hosted on-site, bridging the gap between ancient wisdom and modern understanding.
For scholars, it serves as a living archive of Northern Sotho life, a place where social organisation, architecture, spirituality and art can be observed in their original, authentic context. For visitors, it is a journey through time, revealing how deeply intertwined daily life was with respect for nature, ancestors, and community.
Surrounded by the rolling grasslands and acacia-dotted landscapes of Limpopo, Bakone Malapa is more than a tourist destination, It is a bridge between past and present, reminding us that heritage is not static but a living, breathing part of who we are.
