Granite Tombstones vs. Moriti wa Lebitla (Shade Covers): What’s Right for Your Family’s Memorial in Botswana?

If you’ve walked through a cemetery anywhere in Botswana, you’ll know our graves don’t always look like the ones in films or overseas cemeteries. Many are covered by small shade structures made of green mesh roofs over a metal frame, sometimes fenced in or lined with stones. Others carry a solid granite tombstone with the name, dates, and a message engraved for good.

Families choosing between these options are usually asking the same practical question: what will actually hold up over time, and what will still look right, and stay standing, five or ten years from now?

Here’s an honest comparison, based on what we see across cemeteries in Botswana every day.

Why Shade Covers Are So Common

Shade covers exist for a genuine reason. Botswana’s sun is intense, and a shade cloth roof over a grave keeps the space cooler and well put for a resting place of a loved one, not just decorating it. They usually sit on a light metal frame, often fenced, and carry a metal plate with the deceased’s name and details, which doubles as identification when a permanent tombstone hasn’t been placed yet.

What families like about shade covers:

• Lower upfront cost, especially as a first step after burial
• Quick to put up, useful in the months before a full tombstone is ready
• Provides visible identification through the metal plate

Where shade covers fall short over time:

• The frames and mesh are lightweight, which means Botswana’s weather; wind, sun, seasonal rain wears them down faster than most families expect
• Animals are genuinely drawn to the shade these structures create. Goats and other livestock will rest, lean, and shelter underneath them, and over time this bends frames, tears the shade mesh, and can knock the whole structure out of shape
• The metal name plates can fade, rust, or come loose
• They generally need repair or full replacement within a few years, which means returning to the cemetery for maintenance the family may not have planned for

Why Families Move to Granite Tombstones

Granite is the material most families eventually settle on for a permanent memorial, and for straightforward reasons: it’s solid, it’s heavy, and it does not move.

What granite offers:

• A single, reinforced structure that animals may lean or rub against without knocking it over or damaging the engraving
• Names, dates, and messages that stay legible for decades, not seasons
• No mesh, fabric, or frame to tear, fade, or need replacing
• A permanent, dignified marker that reflects the weight of what it represents

The trade-off:

• Granite tombstones costs more upfront and takes longer to manufacture and install than a shade structure
• It is a bigger decision, and rightly so, families often want time to choose the design, wording, and finish properly

So Which One Should You Choose?

For many families in Botswana, this isn’t really an either-or decision, it’s a timeline. A shade cover, sometimes with a simple fence or ring of stones around the grave, is often used in the period right after burial, while the family observes the mourning period. The granite tombstone then becomes the lasting memorial, usually placed and unveiled around a year later, in line with how many families in Botswana mark that milestone.

If you’re deciding what to do right now, ask yourself:

• Do you need something in place quickly, with a full tombstone to follow later? A shade cover with a name plate can serve that short-term purpose.
• Are you ready to install the permanent memorial? Granite is the option that will still be standing, and still legible, years from now  without needing repairs after every dry season.
• Is the grave in an area with livestock or animals nearby? This matters more than people expect. If animals are common in or near the cemetery, a granite tombstone will hold up in a way that a shade structure simply isn’t built to.

Our Advice, Plainly

We manufacture and install granite tombstones across Botswana, so it would be easy for us to simply say “always choose granite.” But we’d rather give you the full picture. A shade cover has a real, practical place especially in the months before a permanent tombstone is ready. Where we do encourage families to think carefully is the long term: a grave near livestock, exposed to Botswana’s sun and seasons year after year, is far better served by a structure that was built to last.

If you’re planning a tombstone whether it’s your first step or the permanent memorial after a shade cover has done its job, we’re happy to walk you through materials, designs, and timelines, and help you choose what’s right for your family and your budget.

Get in touch with us