A stop in Mafikeng or place among the rocks is a must for history buffs traveling in the North West. The area’s volcanic rocks provided shelter to the SAN bushman more than 8000 years ago, the Khoikhoi migrated through the region roughly 3000 years ago, and the Sotho-Tswana introduced crops and settled the area more than 2000 years ago. Yet the town is noted for the siege lasting 217 days that occurred here at the outset of the second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 and Sol Plaatje, author of the ‘The Boer War Diary of Sol T Plaatje: an African at Mafikeng’. The museum and area monuments provide an insight to the area’s history both white and black.