Masitise Cave House Museum

David-Frédéric Ellenberger, a Swiss missionary who wrote one of the first histories of the Basotho, built himself a house at Masitise in 1866 by walling in a sandstone overhang, so that the rock forms the back and roof of the rooms. It survives with his furniture and papers and functions as a small museum, and San paintings and dinosaur footprints occur on the same outcrop. Ellenberger spent more than fifty years in the country and his history of the Basotho, written from oral testimony he collected, remains a standard source.

The main sights

• The cave house - rooms built into a sandstone overhang with the rock as their roof.
• The Ellenberger material - the furniture and papers of the missionary historian.
• The rock paintings - San work on the same outcrop.
• The dinosaur prints - fossil tracks in the sandstone nearby.

When to go

September to April is the milder season. The museum keeps limited hours and the keyholder must be found. Winter is cold inside the rock.

What to expect

Opening depends on the keyholder being present and hours are irregular. The museum is very small. Interpretation is thin.

Nearby

Quthing is nearby, and Mount Moorosi is east.

Key facts