Masorini Village Museum
Masorini Village Museum
Masorini Village Museum (12 km from the Phalaborwa Gate, Valley of the Olifants, Limpopo) — Evidence of early man from the late Iron Age can be found at a site on a prominent hill just 12 km. from the Phalaborwa gate on the tar road to Letaba rest camp. The site was inhabited by the Sotho-speaking BaPhalaborwa during the 1800s, who developed advanced methods of mining, smelting iron ore and trading in these iron products.
During excavations, various implements were discovered underneath the exposed hut floors, dome-shaped furnaces which were used to smelt the ore were uncovered, and the weapons they became were unearthed. Spears, farming tools and arrowheads were traded for beads, food, ivory and animal products with other tribes and the Portuguese.
Dome-shaped clay furnaces used to smelt the iron ore are found at the Masorini site, which has been reconstructed as closely as possible to the original iron works. This living museum can be explored with a field guide. Admission (into Kruger Park complex): R372 (foreign adult), R186 (adults from SADC countries), R93 (adults from South Africa); R186 (foreign child), R93 (child from SADC countries), R47 (child from South Africa).