Ha Kome Caves - Berea District, Lesotho

Perched beneath a broad sandstone overhang in the Berea district, the Ha Kome (Kome) Caves are one of Lesotho’s most evocative living heritage sites: a row of beehive-shaped mud dwellings built into a natural rock shelter and remarkably still occupied by descendants of the original families. The settlement’s distinctive rounded huts, soot-darkened ceilings and woven corral fences make for a scene that looks unchanged by time, and visiting feels less like touring a museum and more like stepping into somebody’s home.

History here is layered. Oral histories and local research link the cave village to Basia (and related) clans who sought refuge from the turbulence of the early nineteenth century, the Lifaqane/Mfecane period of warfare, displacement and famine and from bands said to practise raiding and, according to some accounts, cannibalism. Local chiefs organised the cliff dwellings as a defensible refuge; the site’s name, Ha Kome, comes from the founding Kome family. Over time the shelters were finished with plastered mud, small hearths and built-in sleeping platforms so they functioned as comfortable year-round homes.

Ha Kome’s importance runs beyond its photogenic appearance. It is officially recognised in Lesotho’s cultural-heritage discussions as a National Heritage Site and is frequently cited in studies of heritage and community tourism: the caves are a rare example of an inhabited historic site that still actively transmits traditional building techniques, domestic routines and clan stories to younger generations. That living quality makes Ha Kome invaluable to anthropologists and to Basotho people keen to preserve vernacular customs that are otherwise vulnerable to urban migration.

Contemporary reportage underlines both the poignancy and the pressures of life at Kome. Photo essays and features in international outlets show older residents who split their time between the caves and nearby villages, and they highlight practical challenges, limited running water, few modern amenities, and the tension between conserving an authentic way of life and improving living standards. Those same stories have helped draw responsible, small-scale tourism to the site, giving local guides and families an economic incentive to maintain the dwellings and tell their histories.

For travellers: Ha Kome sits roughly an hour’s drive from Maseru and only a short drive east of Teyateyaneng (the Berea district centre). Visits are usually brief, a guided walk and a chance to step inside a hut, meet residents and learn about construction methods and clan history. Roads can be rough and access is best in dry weather; as with all visits to living heritage sites, go respectfully, ask before photographing people or interiors, and consider hiring a local guide so your visit benefits the community.

Why visit? Ha Kome rewards anyone interested in vernacular architecture, Basotho culture or human stories of survival and adaptation. It’s not a recreated set but a place where past and present meet: the cliff face that sheltered people two centuries ago still shelters their grandchildren today, and that continuity is rare and quietly moving, exactly the kind of place a traveller remembers long after the journey.