Mahikeng

Mahikeng is the capital of North West province, a government and university town on the upper Molopo River close to the Botswana border. Few overseas visitors plan a trip around it. The ones who do come for history: this is Mafeking, besieged by Boer forces for 217 days during the Anglo-Boer War, the siege that made Robert Baden-Powell famous and fed into the start of the Scout movement. It is also where Sol Plaatje kept his siege diary, and there is a decent game reserve on the edge of town.

Getting there

The town is about 260 km west of Johannesburg, and driving is the realistic way to get here. There is an airport and a railway station, but check what is actually running before you plan around either. Locals still often say Mafikeng; the official name became Mahikeng in 2010, and road signs and maps may use either. The name comes from the Setswana for a place of rocks.

When to go

The climate is warm and semi-arid, at about 1,500 m. Expect hot summers and mild, dry winters. The cooler months are the more comfortable time to walk around the siege sites.

What to do

Start at the Mafikeng Museum on Carrington Street. It has been in the old town hall, pressed-iron ceilings and all, since 1960, and the siege is still its core subject. Give the Sol Plaatje section proper time. His siege diary is the first from that war known to have been kept by a black writer. His home, office and printing works can also be seen.

The siege story is not only a British one. The kgotla of the Barolong boo Ratshidi has a monument to Barolong men and women who died during the siege, one of very few war memorials of its kind. Older still are Kanon Kopje and Warren’s Fort, built on either side of the Molopo during the 1885 Warren expedition; shell fragments remain at the site.

Mafikeng Game Reserve starts just east of town. It is open, thorny country with the Molopo running through, and people go for white rhino, giraffe, buffalo and gemsbok. For a longer outing, Botsalano Game Reserve is 48 km north, with rhino and plenty for birders (around 200 species are recorded).

Good to know

The Barolong chief Montshiwa signed a treaty with the British here in 1884, and the town was briefly a capital in the 1970s before neighbouring Mmabatho took that role in 1977. Mahikeng became the capital of North West in 1994.

Last updated 6 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, SA-Venues (Mafikeng), South African History Online.