The last troglodytes: how do they survive and where are their caves?

In the twilight of the cave, 67-year-old Mamotonoshi Ntefane shakes his animal skin. This is one of the last troglodytes in Lesotho, a country in the south Africa whose story says they took refuge in caves to escape cannibals two centuries ago.

At an altitude of more than 1800 meters, in the mountains of this small kingdom, located in South Africain the morning mist, only a few shepherds are visible, covered with long woolen bedspreads.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, hundreds of people have lived in clod caveamong them are some families, direct descendants of the tribes that established the borders of this old protectorate, which became independent of kingdom United in 1966.

During breakfast, thin white smoke escapes from a rock ledge: a refuge, about 50 kilometers from the capital, Maseruwell guarded.

The traditional “dad” – corn cream – boils over the firewood in a black cauldron.

“I feel good here. We grow our vegetables and I can pray as much as I want,” Mamotonoshi Ntefane tells AFP with a rosary around his neck.

From the open door of her cave, the woman watches the distant plains.

Most of the 2.2 million people in this rural country still live off Agriculture. They grow corn, sorghum and green beans. But there are also poultry and cattle.

Some of the residents, the elderly, receive assistance from Condition. The rest earn some money by showing their caves to a few tourists.

Settlers and Zulus

The grotto is divided into several round dwellings attached to the basalt rock. The walls and floors are made from a mixture of clay and animal droppings. How often do you have to restore them?

Main furniture: sheepskin cow lying on the ground, it serves as a bed, and water taken from a nearby town is in pots and plastic buckets.

Mamotonoshi Ntefane washes himself with a small bar of soap, which he keeps in metal box.

“There is no electricity here, no refrigerator, but this is our home, this is our story,” he explains. coma cable, 44, for AFP. He is a descendant of the first inhabitant who gave this place its name.

At that time, southern Africa was suffering from a severe drought that destroyed herds grain stocks are depleted. In their transcripts, the missionaries who converted the country to Christianity portray the destructive effects of cannibalism.

The Sotho, the main ethnic group in the country, unite after the arrival of European settlers who decided to establish their farms on fertile land, and attacks by Zulu warriors from South Africa in search of livestock and food.

thus born Lesotho.

Mamatsaseng Khutsoane, 66, has taught all her life at the nearest school, an hour away. The job allowed him to build a house in the town in mountainabove grottoes. But he still comes to eat with his grandchildren, he says.

Bells ringing in the distance livestock this paste sounds in big stones.

(According to AFP)