12 Sep 2018

Lying in the north western part of the country’s second city, Nyangabgwe Hill is one of the famous historic hills in this country and the largest in Francistown and surrounding areas.

Its history ranges from healing powers to the endowment of fitness.

Ms Gasemotho Gaolathe, now aged 97 has lived long enough to tell the story of this magnificent hill.

Ms Gaolathe has been a resident of Monarch, a famous location at the root of Nyangabgwe Hill since 1947.

She said tales have it that long time ago, two hunters were hunting near the Nyangabgwe Hill and one of them saw something that looked like a grey hare and asked his friend to lie down so that they did not scare it away.

Ms Gaolathe narrated that one of the hunters started secretly tip toeing towards the hare with an arrow in his hand and when he was nearer, he threw the arrow towards the hare and to his surprise the wild animal did not move.

She said the hunter quickly ran towards it only to find that there was no hare, but one of the grey rocks of Nyangabgwe Hill, and he said in Ikalanga language, “Nda nyangabwe ndi ti e shulo,” which means “I secretly tip toed towards a rock thinking that it wa s a hare.”

The nonagenarian said the two hunters laughed at each other and decided that from that day, they would keep the hill holy and would never hunt there and since that day, the hill had been called Nyangabgwe, which is an Ikalanga word meaning ‘tip toeing towards a hill,’ or ‘go ratela lentswe’ in Setswana.”

Ms Gaolathe also said that the hill had been regarded as holly from long time back as it is believed to be a home to ancestors.

“Many people used to visit the hill for prayers and were mostly church followers from different churches including those outside Francistown,” the 97-year-old added.

She also said even now, the hill is still used for worshipping and church services by different churches, adding that it was also used by Bakalanga to ask for rain from their God Ngwale, who they believed had the powers of making it rain.

Further, she said those rain seekers would climb Nyangabgwe Hill singing Ikalanga traditional songs, and then slaughter a goat on top of the hill and pour out traditional beer there for Ngwale so that he would be happy and then bring rain.

Ms Gaolathe added that the management and workers of the Monarch mine, which was operating in Monarch back in the days used to camp near the hill during the 1940’s. She added that tourists, especially from overseas who visited Francistown used to climb the hill for sightseeing because when atop the hill, someone can see the west side of Francistown as a whole.

Ms Gaolathe further narrated that the hill also used to be a training area for soldiers and the police.

Apart from interesting history stories, Nyangabgwe Hill is useful to people, companies and even the government as some security companies are using the hill to train guards, and sporting personnel also climb the hill for training purposes.There is a clear road paved with concrete ascending the hill and was constructed by telecommunications companies who own the towers erected on top of the hill and is open enough to be used by vehicles.

Individuals can also go atop the hill to see the beauty of the western side of Francistown well, where the new Francistown Sports complex, Francistown International Airport and Area S Botswana Defence Force (BDF) camp are visible, providing a beautiful view whichever direction one looks.

There is also now the annual Nyangabgwe Hill cultural festival hosted at the foot of the hill, with this year’s edition slated for this month.

Apart from the hill, the name Nyangabgwe has been adopted by the local referral hospital and a primary school. ENDS