Old Palapye
Old Palapye, known as Phalatswe, was the capital of the Bangwato people under Kgosi Khama III for thirteen years in the late nineteenth century, before water shortages forced another move to Serowe. Its most striking survival is the roofless red-brick shell of a London Missionary Society church, left standing when Khama had the rest of the settlement burned. The site lies at the foot of the Tswapong Hills in eastern Botswana and is a national monument.
The Capital That Lasted Thirteen Years
The story of Phalatswe is a story about water, and it repeats itself.
Khama III had been based at Shoshong, roughly 80 kilometres west, and moved his people because water there had run short and the site was poorly placed for controlling trade. He established the new capital at Phalatswe.
The name means the place of impalas, borrowed from hills on the northwestern rim of the Tswapong range.
The attraction was water. The Tswapong area has a wet, well-watered microclimate, with perennial springs and waterfalls in the Photophoto valley, which in this part of the world is worth building a capital around.
Thirteen years later the same problem arrived. Water supplies dwindled and proved insufficient for the population, and the Bangwato left for Serowe, where the capital has remained since.
Before leaving, Khama sent a regiment to dismantle and burn the settlement. The church was spared.
Khama III moved his capital twice for the same reason and burned it behind him on the way out. Only the mission church was left standing, which is why it is what visitors see today.
The London Missionary Society Church
The church is the reason most people come and it is a genuinely striking thing to find in open country.
It was built by the London Missionary Society across the early eighteen nineties, in a Gothic style, from locally quarried red mudbrick fired on site. The front and back walls still stand, roofless and open, giving a clear sense of the effort that went into building it.
The commission came from Khama III himself. He was the first Bangwato chief to convert to Christianity and wanted a church at his new capital as part of converting his people, setting himself against Tswana customary practices including initiation rites.
That combination makes the building unusual. It is a European mission church commissioned by an African chief as an instrument of his own policy, built in local materials by local labour.
Graves surround it, including European burials and the grave of Khama’s wife Mmabesi, who died during the Phalatswe years and was greatly revered.
The brick itself is worth a moment. Fired mudbrick was not a Bangwato building material, and producing enough of it for a Gothic church in this country meant quarrying clay locally, firing it on site and organising labour on a scale the settlement had not previously needed. The walls that remain are the physical evidence of that effort, and the reason they survived a deliberate burning while everything around them did not.
The Deeper History of the Site
The Bangwato capital is only the most recent layer here.
The site holds artefacts from the Middle Stone Age, the Late Stone Age and the Early Iron Age, which makes it a multicultural historical site rather than simply a nineteenth century ruin.
Stone remains of rondavels, grain silos and rock engravings survive around the church, some of the engravings thought to be extremely old. Paintings occur at the Motetane gorge.
The occupation of Phalatswe also carried strategic weight, and it has been described as playing a role in restricting Ndebele expansion northward into what became Rhodesia.
When Khama arrived to establish the capital he encountered a group of Batswapong people who resisted the occupation, and they were moved to another site on the southern edges of the area.
Layers of this kind are common across eastern Botswana and rarely interpreted for visitors.
The Country Around Phalatswe
The setting is a large part of why the site is worth the detour.
Old Palapye sits at the foot of the Tswapong Hills, and the surrounding country holds gorges, springs and waterfalls including Photophoto, Motetane, Bakwena spring and Boretalatshwene, with pools that were the original reason for settlement.
The gorges are used as sacred and ancestral places, and the water is regarded as spiritual and used for healing.
Photophoto Gorge is less dramatic than Moremi Gorge elsewhere in the Tswapong Hills, though considerably more accessible.
Wildlife persists here. Baboons, vervet monkeys, porcupines, rock dassies and leopard all inhabit the area.
Two Cape vulture breeding colonies exist nearby, with the larger at Gootau holding more than 200 breeding pairs, which makes this a site of genuine conservation importance for a species in decline across the region.
The church ruins. Roofless red-brick Gothic shell built by the London Missionary Society at Khama III’s request. Front and back walls standing. The most photographed feature and a national monument.
The settlement remains. Stone foundations of rondavels, grain silos, rock engravings, graves including European burials and that of Khama’s wife Mmabesi, spread across the site.
The wider area. Tswapong Hills gorges, springs and waterfalls, sacred pools, Cape vulture breeding colonies and resident wildlife including leopard, baboon and dassie.
Visiting Old Palapye
This is a site that rewards arranging properly rather than turning up.
The village headman must be approached before visiting, which reflects the fact that this is community land with active local authority and a place regarded as holding ancestral force. Some areas are closed to human presence entirely.
The site is a declared national monument, and a project involving archaeologists, architects, historians and the local community at Malaka has worked toward revitalising the area.
The Cape vulture colonies need care. Visitors are asked not to disturb the birds, which are sensitive at breeding sites.
Old Palapye sits near Palapye in the Central District, on the eastern corridor between Gaborone and Francistown, so it is reachable from the main road.
Bring water and sun protection, and treat the site as an active cultural place rather than an abandoned ruin.
Old Palapye and Khama III
The site cannot be separated from the man who built it, and Khama III is a major figure in the country’s history.
He ruled the Bangwato across a long reign spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, converting to Christianity and pushing a programme of change that set him against many customary practices.
He is best known internationally for travelling to Britain with two other Tswana chiefs to petition against their territories being handed to Cecil Rhodes’s British South Africa Company, which contributed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate remaining under Crown administration rather than company rule.
That outcome determined much of what Botswana became, and Phalatswe was his capital during part of that period.
After the move to Serowe he commissioned a further church there, and the Khama III Memorial Museum in Serowe covers the family and the period.
Serowe sits within reach of Old Palapye and the two make a natural pairing for anyone following the history.
Shoshong deserves a mention too, since it completes the sequence. Khama’s capital before Phalatswe lies around 80 kilometres west, in hills that gave it defensive value and, for a time, water. Standing at all three sites in order gives you a clear picture of a people moving twice within a generation because the springs ran dry, which is as good an introduction to the constraints of this country as any national park can offer.
Sources give the Phalatswe population as either around 30,000 or around 300,000. The lower figure is far more plausible for a nineteenth century settlement in this region, and the higher one appears in several places including official material, so treat any single number with caution.
Frequently Asked Questions About Old Palapye
What is Old Palapye?
The site of Phalatswe, capital of the Bangwato people under Kgosi Khama III for thirteen years in the late nineteenth century, at the foot of the Tswapong Hills in eastern Botswana. Khama moved there from Shoshong because of water shortages and left for Serowe for the same reason. The most prominent survival is the roofless red-brick shell of a London Missionary Society church. It is a declared national monument.
Why was Old Palapye abandoned?
Water. The Tswapong area’s springs and waterfalls in the Photophoto valley were what attracted settlement in the first place, but supplies dwindled and proved insufficient for the population. The Bangwato moved to Serowe, where the capital has remained since. Before departing, Khama III sent a regiment to dismantle and burn the settlement, sparing only the mission church, which is why so little else survives above ground.
Who built the Old Palapye church?
The London Missionary Society built it in the early eighteen nineties in a Gothic style from locally quarried red mudbrick. The commission came from Khama III himself, who was the first Bangwato chief to convert to Christianity and wanted a church at his new capital as part of converting his people. The front and back walls still stand, roofless and open, giving a clear sense of the effort involved in its construction.
Do you need permission to visit Old Palapye?
Yes. The village headman must be approached before visiting, since this is community land with active local authority and the site is regarded as holding ancestral force, with some areas closed to human presence entirely. Cape vulture breeding colonies nearby also need care, and visitors are asked not to disturb the birds. Treat the site as an active cultural place rather than an abandoned ruin.
What else is there to see at Old Palapye?
Beyond the church, stone remains of rondavels and grain silos, rock engravings, and graves including European burials and that of Khama III’s wife Mmabesi. The site holds artefacts from the Middle Stone Age, Late Stone Age and Early Iron Age. The surrounding Tswapong Hills contain gorges, springs and waterfalls used as sacred places, alongside resident wildlife including leopard, baboon and dassie, and two Cape vulture breeding colonies.
Where is Old Palapye and how do you get there?
Near Palapye in Botswana’s Central District, at the foot of the Tswapong Hills, on the eastern corridor between Gaborone and Francistown. That places it on the main A1 route, making it one of the more accessible historic sites in the country for anyone travelling overland through the east. Serowe, where the Bangwato capital moved and where the Khama III Memorial Museum sits, is within reach and pairs naturally with a visit.
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