MAKULEKE CULTURAL VILLAGE

​Makuleke Village is a home to the Shangaan people, since their relocation in 1969. Recently over 25 000 hectares of land in the Pafuri Region has been returned, offering them the opportunity to re-establish their cultural roots. The area's rich cultural history and abundant wildlife offers great tourist potential to empower the community.

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Traditionally, the chief held court under a 1000-year old Baobab Tree. When we engaged with the community it became clear that there was a desire to honour this important part of their cultural history by defining a place in the village centre where elders could meet.

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Cultural tourism initiatives based on local values and traditions offer an effective and sustainable base for community economic empowerment, as well as potentially generating a sense of communal pride. Among many initiatives was designing and constructing a craft and interpretation centre, where exhibitions and oral histories would present local heritage and culture. Also part of the initiative is the design and construction of a guesthouses that reflect the vernacular architecture. The guesthouses provide overnight accommodation for tourists and visiting scholars to interact with the community. Just as the community members became the client, they became the builders of the project using their traditional skills. The buildings, therefore became an inventory and demonstration of local building techniques as well as an illustration of how new technology can extend and enhance traditional methods.

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The project will serve as a site for community functions as well as being an interpretation centre used by many visitors to the region. The visitor will experience the “living culture” of the Shangaan and will witness a community in the process of reclaiming its identity by the use of a new public space.