MATOBO & MORE

MATOBO NATIONAL PARK is an excellent place to see both black and white rhino, do some hiking, and maybe see some leopard.
Not far from Matobo, the vast Great Zimbabwe ruins are the archeological highlight of southern Africa. And scattered here and there are some other bits.

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona kingdom 15th century ruins Gokomere history culture UNESCO Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — Our final Zimbabwe destination was the remarkable Shona kingdom ruins known as Great Zimbabwe.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park san painting rock art granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel hiking — We'd begun our trip a month earlier in the granite hills of Matobo National Park.

ZIMBABWE Lake Mutirikiwi Kyle Dam backroads to Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — In between we covered over 3000kms, on roads which were potholed, sandy, rocky, dirt, cratered, isolated, populated, spectacular.

ZIMBABWE Karoi supermarket beans shopping food camping travel — Fortunately we had brought plenty of supplies from SA. Yes, that is an aisle full of baked beans. No, there were no others tinned vegies.

ZIMBABWE Surrey Pies beef stew and sadza pap food roadtrip brai travel — But the food served up at highway stops was usually pretty good. Surrey Pies outside Harare is an institution.

ZIMBABWE highway town grilled chicken food eating chef camping travel — I found Zimbabwean people quite reluctant to be photographed.

ZIMBABWE Chinhoyi street stall smiling family market blue cave Shona travel — This family selling food in Chinhoyi were quite keen though.

ZIMBABWE Chinhoyi blue cave Shona travel — Chinhoyi roughly marked the half-way point of our trip, as we left the dry, bush game parks of the west, bound for the green hills of the east.

ZIMBABWE Chinhoyi blue cave Shona travel — We broke up a two day drive here, staying in a hotel instead of a tent, and eating greasy Chicken Inn.

ZIMBABWE Chinhoyi blue cave Shona travel — While I wouldn't detour to see it, the blue of the Blue Cave is other-worldy and the caves worth a stop.

ZIMBABWE Lake Mutirikiwi Kyle Dam backroads to Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — We approached Great Zimbabwe by the southern back-road passing traditional villages via Lake Mutirikiwi (aka Kyle Dam).

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona kingdom 15th century ruins Gokomere history culture UNESCO Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — Ancestors of the Shona peoples built here from the 11th to 15th centuries.

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona kingdom 15th century ruins Gokomere history culture UNESCO Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — "dzimba" means house in Shona, and the word "zimbabwe" means either "stone houses" or "venerated houses".

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona kingdom 15th century ruins Gokomere history culture UNESCO Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — 20,000 people may have lived here, the wealthy kingdom trading gold with coastal merchants from as far as China.

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona kingdom 15th century ruins Gokomere history culture UNESCO Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — Over 150 smaller "zimbabwe" sites scatter southern Africa. Great Zimbabwe would be packed with bus-hoppers if it were in Asia.

ZIMBABWE Great Zimbabwe National Park Shona kingdom 15th century ruins Gokomere history culture UNESCO Masvingo rocky outcrops travel — And the adjacent Zim Parks campground was all ours, as usual.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park lake campground granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Great Zimbabwe is just 4 hours from where we'd begun at Matobo National Park.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park san painting rock art granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Despite being just 30km from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, Matobo is home to the highest concentration of leopard in Africa.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park lake campground granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Apparently, the park "gets quite busy on the weekends". It didn't. We did see visitors. Perhaps 6.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park san painting rock art granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Matobo has been inhabited for millenia. Cave and rock paintings can be seen a few kms from the central Maleme Camp.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park san painting rock art granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — There are some expansive views to be enjoyed uptop the hills too. And some godawful roads behind.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park san painting rock art granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Another set of rock paintings are in the southern Togwana Dam area.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park hiking granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — The hiking in this area is fantastic, too.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park lake campground granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Mutsheleli Dam is a third alternative for camping, with similar settings and (lack of) facilities, but further from the game.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park kingfisher eats fish birds twitching granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — We made a second foray into the Whovi Wilderness Area on our final morning, yet to bag any big game ticks.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park rhino trekking walking with rhinoceros rangers guide camping granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Guides, rangers and other tourists are great sources of game sightings. We asked a patrolling ranger what he had seen.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park rhino trekking walking with rhinoceros rangers guide camping granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — He jumped in our car, and soon spotted a black rhino, which we then spent an hour following on foot.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park rhino trekking walking with rhinoceros rangers guide camping granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Not done yet, he took us in search of the larger white rhino, and soon we had two rangers leading us through the bush.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park rhino trekking walking with rhinoceros rangers guide camping granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — Unlike the black, white rhino are not aggressive, and our ranger friend had us running after them.

ZIMBABWE MATOBO National Park rhino trekking walking with rhinoceros rangers guide camping granite outcrops wildlife nature conservation travel — This was certainly one of our more memorable experiences in this unforgettable country.

ZIMBABWE highway man rides van transport minivan minibus dangerous roads travel — Zimbabwe is not without its challenges, but the people will go out of their way to make it a trip worth making.