Spirits come alive in the hands of Limpopo artists

The Ribola Art Route in Limpopo is a self-drive guided route that takes visitors into the home galleries of Tsonga (Shangaan) and Venda artists around Elim in the Vhembe district. The name Ribola comes from the distinctive peak which juts out in the Soutpansberg mountains, southeast of Louis Trichardt.
We meet Betty Hlongwani, our guide, at the busy crossroads in Elim, which is jammed with taxis and buses and the inevitable skorokoro being push-started in the rush-hour traffic.
The art route is not new, explains Hlongwani. Venda artists, as they were dubbed somewhat misleadingly, rose to…