VENDA SACRED WALK
A hike into cultural mysteries and spectacular scenery
Those hilltop villages in Venda seemed like a parallel universe to the throb of Johannesburg — but it is also a world in transition
It is perhaps the closest we have to the Camino de Santiago, the popular pilgrimage in northwest Spain. The Venda Sacred Walk is shorter, wilder, stranger and without any western religious significance. It does, though, offer a powerful spiritual adventure. This week-long quest plunges those who take part into cultural mysteries, spectacular scenery, warm village welcomes and the wonder of encountering a way of life about which most of us know little. The Venda hike in the north of Limpopo, not far from the Zimbabwe border, involved climbing mountains, traversing forests, exploring — and showing respect for — sacred sites, sleeping in the huts of villages on cow-dung floors and eating traditional Venda food. Our only bathing was a couple of dips in icy rivers. One night some of us slept out by the fire, with a star-spangled sky and drumming from a distant village: a parallel universe of extraordinary spiritual beliefs and generous rural hospitality. These ventures are led by Jeffrey...
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