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Kraal

In June 2021 while spending a week at the Izintaba Game Lodge in Limpopo, I discovered some overgrown grave sites protected by a kraal fence. There were four graves with head stones, two very weathered and almost illegible, and at least three graves that I could see with simple local stone borders. They had clearly been cared for at some stage as evidenced by an enamel cup near one of the headstones, and most shared the same surname.

I returned to the site three times, trying to capture the ambience of the simple graves watched over by the striking kraal fence, its reaching arms at once sheltering the people buried here and pulling them back into the bush.
 
The current owner told me there are thirteen non-tribal graves at this site dating back to the time when Izintaba was part of the original 145 000 hectare farm known as New Belgium. The area that Izintaba now occupies was a cattle camp. The people buried here were the labourers from this camp and have relatives still living in Vaalwater, the oldest of whom used to go quite regularly to tend and visit the graves. He died recently; the remaining family do not visit.

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