Zula Ilala Palm Herb Basket
To create these traditional baskets, weavers use strips of naturally waxy palm fronds wrapped around coils of wild grasses. Some baskets can still be used for holding liquid. Watertight baskets are readied by rubbing wet cornmeal inside. When liquid is added, the coils swell. Some liquid leaks through, evaporates, and cools the contents.
Collection of these baskets in Zululand, South Africa is done by driving hundreds of miles on dirt roads going village to village and hut to hut to collect baskets from individual weavers.