incentive idea CULTURAL EXPERIENCE
By Jacinda Kab
Sales and Marketing Manager
Lesedi African Lodge and Cultural Village
Lesedi is a Sotho word that means “light”. It was
made famous by the great leader and founder
of the Southern Sotho nation, Moshoeshoe.
During the terrible Mfecane wars, refugees from many
nations joined him and were saved. Each morning
Moshoeshoe would awaken and walk out into the
new day with this expression on his lips …. “Ke Bona
Lesedi” (I see the light). Our culture is the light of
our nation. Whoever walks amongst the cultures in
Lesedi can also see the light.
In keeping our diverse cultures alive in our
country, Lesedi is a multi-cultural village set among
the pristine bushveld and rocky hills less than an
hour’s drive north of Johannesburg. Situated at
Lesedi are five traditional homesteads – the Zulus
with their fighting sticks and cosy beehive huts, the
Xhosa with their perfectly thatched rondavels and
distinctive white blankets, the rhythmic drums and
whistles of the Pedi tribe and the conical straw hats
18 incentiveworld.com Vol. 9 No. 4 2009
Lesedi offers an
unforgettable
taste of Africa
and thick, coloured blankets of the Basotho and the
Ndebele, with their beautifully painted homes.
In our commitment to cultural heritage, Lesedi is home
to many families peacefully living their traditional lives.
Additional huts for each village have been constructed
in each homestead offering the unique opportunity of
staying with a traditional rural African family. However,
all home comforts have been catered for, including cosy
beds and beautiful en-suite bathrooms.
In the cultural build-up to 2010, from the land of the
Losi people who have their origins in the great Lunda-
Luba Empire of the Congo basin and now reside on
the Zambezi River’s Barotseland flood plain, the
traditional Mkishi dancers have arrived! They’ll enthral
you with their drums and xylophones, their huge
tasselled masks, colourfully woven costumes, tall stilt
dancers and enormous snake and crocodile figures. In
a cultural exchange with East Africa, the Nilotic redochred
Masai have also been invited to participate in
the cultural events.
In attempting to teach and share ancestral traditions
for the conference delegate, Lesedi offers an
unforgettable taste of Africa with novel teambuilding
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