A City of Stone

The Great Enclosure of Great Zimbabwe near Masvingo, Zimbabwe.

The walls of the Great Enclosure are as high as 36 feet (11 meters).  The height is overwhelming and awesome.

Inside the Great Enclosure is the Conical Tower.

If you look at the first photo above, the Conical Tower is just visible in the left corner of the enclosure.

The tower's purpose is unknown but there are some theories: representation of a grain bin, symbolizing

harvests and prosperity; a chief's residence; a court for the chief's wives; or a premarital initiation school (whatever that means...)

The Hill Complex as seen from just outside the Valley Complex.

For some photos of the Hill complex, go here.

How amazing is this?!! The Hill Complex blends so very perfectly into the landscape that if you didn't know there was an entire fortress and city at the top of this hill, you'd never know.  So very impressive.

Some more information on Great Zimbabwe: a really interesting article.

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The ancient ruins of Great Zimbabwe

The Hill Complex of the Great Zimbabwe ruins near Masvingo, Zimbabwe.

Construction of Great Zimbabwe's stone buildings began in the 11th century and lasted for over 300 years.

The Hill Complex is the oldest part of the ruins, occupied from the 9th to the 13th centuries.

The view from one of the entrances of the Hill Complex onto the Valley where the Great Enclosure is.

These ruins were absolutely amazing.  I was stunned and freely admit it is one of the most amazing places I've ever visited.

After Rhodesia gained independence in 1980 from the British,

the country's name was changed to Zimbabwe and Great Zimbabwe has been adopted as a national monument.

It is also an UNESCO world heritage site!!

The Hill Complex was the palace.

The walls of Great Zimbabwe are as high as over 5 meters and are constructed without mortar.

There is literally nothing adhesive on these stones.  It is amazing and awe inspiring engineering.

It is the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert and spans over 1,800 acres.

It was believed that the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe flourished from 1200 to 1500

although the area was settled as early as the 4th century.

In more recent colonial times, there was great controversy surrounding the ruins in the archaeological world as archaeologists were put under political pressure by the Rhodesian Government to deny that it could have been designed and built by indigenous Africans.

For more information on Great Zimbabwe.

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Balancing, Balancing Rocks!!

Zimbabwe's Matopos area is famous for its balancing rocks!

This one made me think of someone kneeling to pray.

Matobo National Park, an UNESCO world heritage site, is absolutely breathtaking, with granite scenery like I've never seen before.

It was a beautiful place simultaneously so desolate and so alive with life.

One of Matobo's dams--I think it's Togwana Dam.

One of the lakes formed by the dam.

Fishermen rest near a stork at the dam's lake.

More balancing rocks on a dwala ("whalebacks"...the gray granite hills rising above the landscape.)!
One writer wrote that to describe Matobos as "a place of natural beauty is something of an understatement."

A teaser for the next post,

we climbed one of the most beautiful granite hills to Malindidzimu ("Place of Benevolent Spirits") or the View of the World.

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Nswatugi: Ancient Cave Paintings

While staying at Camp Amalinda in the Matobo National Park (UNESCO World Heritage site), Zimbabwe, we hiked up to Nswatugi Cave.

The unassuming entrance to Nswatugi Cave.

The cave paintings are between six and ten thousand years old.  That's right: 6,000 - 10,000, as in the Late Stone Age.  Insane.

Here's a scene that includes giraffes, hunters, and kudu.

Ancient cave paintings in Africa very, very rarely include images of women.  Many believe this woman is a healer or rare female leader.

This is a close up of a scene of men, some with bows, hunting.

Kudus and a man.  In 1975, excavations found the oldest known skeleton in Zimbabwe:

a bushwoman, dated 9,500 years ago,

A better image of a man carrying a bow, just to the center of the image.

The view of Matopos from the entrance of the cave.  Nswatugi means "place of jumping" because according to legend

God made his earthly home in Matopos at Njelele Hill, landing from His first leap at Nswatugi hill, leaving a footprint in the hill's granite.

The footprint is a natural mark in the hill that has sadly been slowly destroyed by individuals.
And anyone who knows me in person knows I have a slight obsession with jumping photos.
Seems the perfect cave for me to have visited.

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