Rondavel

A rondavel is a style of African hut described in the literature as cone on cylinder or cone on drum, its English name derived from the Afrikaans rondawel. It is typically circular or oval in plan, with walls built from stone bound with a mortar of sand, soil or cow dung, and floors finished with the same dung mixture for hardness and smoothness. The conical roof is formed from wooden poles arranged radially from the apex down to the top of the wall, and thatch is sewn onto these poles with grass rope, a labor-intensive process that a skilled builder might complete anywhere from a single weekend to as long as a year. Rondavels are found across Southern Africa, including South Africa, Lesotho, where the same form is called a mokhoro, Eswatini and Botswana, with wall height, roof pitch and decorative finishing varying by region; modern versions increasingly use cement blocks and corrugated roofing while keeping the traditional conical silhouette.