African Cultural Hotels

Photographing Prominent Cultural Hotels

Under their comprehensive portfolio, African Hotels & Adventures (AHA) feature 2 prominent Cultural Destinations – namely Lesedi Cultural Village near Magalieberg in Gauteng, and Shakaland near Eshowe in KZN. It was first time visits to both of these destinations for me and thus, I was pretty eager to see what they were all about, and of course, photograph them!

Shakaland gives one an insight into the lives of the Zulu tribe, how they live, how their home structure works, and of course, an insight into their culture. Experiencing everything from dancing, cultural ceremonies, weaving demonstrations and even locally brewed beer! It is a great destination to learn about one of South Africa’s more dominant tribes.

Lesedi Cultural Village focuses less on one tribe, but gives a basic overview of several tribes found in the Southern African region – from the Pondo’s, to Pedi’s, Sotho’s, Zulu’s and Xhosa’s. Each tribe has built a village which showcases their cultural style of living, and then in each village are guest rooms created in their own particular style, so one feels immersed in their culture the whole time you are there. Overall, it offers a fantastic experience to all interested to know more about these tribes.