Botshabelo lies 12 km from Middelburg in the province of Mpumalanga and started as a mission station in 1858. Its name means “Place of Shelter” and many Pedi converts once flocked to the station to escape persecution by Chief Sekwati. The community soon became self-sufficient, even making its own bricks, cultivating its own food and operating its own postal service, bakery, school and mill. Today, the whole town is a museum and nature reserve.The South Ndebele Open-air Museum is an extension of the Botshabelo Museum Complex and lies in the Botshabelo Nature Reserve. The museum provides a historical overview of the development of Ndebele architecture. The earliest style featured is the thatched beehive-style hut of the 17th century, the second style is the round rondavel and the third style is the more recent rectangular dwelling.