Basotho healers in southern Africa have used a local psychedelic mushroom for generations in secret ritual practices.
April 24, 2026
Original Paper
Psilocybin use among Basotho healers and non-healers in southern Africa
SocArXiv · 429dw_v1
The Takeaway
Traditional use of psilocybin was long thought to be a practice exclusive to indigenous cultures in the Americas. Researchers have now documented the use of Psilocybe maluti among traditional healers in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. These healers mix the mushrooms with other psychoactive plants to create traditional medicines. This discovery reveals a rich, undocumented history of psychedelic use in Africa that predates modern global interest. It changes the historical narrative of how humans across the planet have interacted with hallucinogenic fungi.
From the abstract
Reliable documentation of the traditional use of serotonergic psychedelics has long been confined to the Americas. Prevailing narratives often overstate the global prevalence and uniformity of traditional psychedelic use, extrapolating from a limited set of well-documented cases. Here, we report evidence of psilocybin mushroom use among Basotho traditional healers and non-healers in Lesotho and South Africa. Through semi-structured interviews with 26 healers (one subsequently excluded) and 8 non