Serowe

On Friday, the plan was to see Serowe, as we had not had a chance to do that last time we visited the KRS. Checkout time at the KRS is 10 am and, indeed, we were on the road by 10. First stop was the Khama III Memorial Museum, on the way back into Serowe from KRS (which is actually on the road to Orapa). The museum is like many of the delightful small museums in towns all over Botswana: three to five rooms that tell an important piece of the history of that place, usually going back 100 or 150 years. There is often an exhibit of old and newer photographs as well as artefacts and displays that depict aspects of life in the past. Serowe has been the capital for the Bangwato, the largest and most prominent of the Batswana ‘tribes,’ since 1902 – before that Palapye and before that Shoshong (abandoned because of wood, grass and water depletion). The Khamas, of course, are the Ngwato royal family. Also at the museum, one will find the Bessie Head papers and a room that replicates the small house in which she lived and wrote for many years in Serowe. That room is full of photographs that chronicle her life, especially her years in Serowe and Botswana.

After a couple of hours there we headed into town to find some lunch. There is a pedestrian mall that begins with a blue clock tower that somehow resembles other clock towers we have seen in Botswana. Eventually we found a Chicken Licken’ and sated our hunger there. From town we set off for the Serowe kgotla. This is a pretty famous kgotla – the one at which on numerous occasions the Bangwato appealed to keep Seretse and Ruth Khama from being sent into exile, or appealed to have him back, and from where Seretse made the same unsuccessful bids. Our goal was to find a police escort up the hill to the Khama burial grounds that overlook Serowe. Indeed, that is the only way that one is allowed up the hill. But when we got to the kgotla and spoke with the police, they informed us that we needed the kgosi’s (chief’s) permission first. So we crossed the road and went to seek permission from the chief which he duly granted us. With our police escort we then climbed the hill, past the fat dassies or rock rabbits, sunning themselves on the rocks. The burial grounds is very cozy and intimate up there on the hill, containing the resting places of Khama chiefs and regents (and their wives) including Khama III, Tshekedi Khama and Seretse Khama. From there one also has a view of the vast village of Serowe.

After that visit we passed by a not very well taken care of and not very well done statue of Seretse Khama. From there we found the Serowe Hotel, where we stayed the night. The hotel does not look like much from the road, but is quite nice in the back where the rooms look out on a nice grounds, swimming pools, bar and tables. We were told that the Serowe Hotel has the best restaurant in town and, indeed, Moses was happy to finally enjoy some seswaa and pap.