Great Zimbabwe…

I got up early, got my stuff squared away to collect later, and then after a quick breakfast with Mike, I headed out for Great Zimbabwe… I had always wanted to stand on the site of these ancient ruins, and this was one of the items on my list of “Top Twenty in Africa”, which I wanted to see… With only the tank bag and the Top Box, the Big Fella handled like a 250 cc, and we covered the 30 km to the ruins in quick time… After paying the US$15.00 entry fee, and agreeing to pay a further US$ 6.00 for a guide, I parked the bike under a huge Jackal-berry tree, and walked up to the museum at the top of a low hill, about 400 metres away… I quickly regretted having not packed in a pair of shorts and some sandals, as walking around in my riding pants and boots had me sweating profusely in no time at all…

A monument of this importance deserves better signposting, methinks...!!

I was taken on a tour of the museum by Steve, the curator, who after a short while got used to carrying my Dictaphone around and speaking into it… I had earlier told him that I wanted to remember EVERYTHING, and in order to do so, would require him to use my Dictaphone.. He explained that Zimbabwe meant “big structure or house of stone”… Steve got especially excited when I told him that while the Shona (or Karanga as they were then known), might have provided the labour for the building, I thought that another race had been responsible for the design and supervision of the building thereof… His eyes widened at my comment, and he launched into a long and detailed explanation of why my statement was incorrect, that had me biting my lips to stop myself from laughing out load…

The ghosts of past kings will roll rocks down on those who do not believe that the Shona people built this place...

The ruins are divided into two main areas, one is up on a hill, where the king and his closest advisors lived, called the Sate House, and the other is the Great Enclosure, which lies in a valley below the hill. This is where the Queen lived with her entourage… The Hilltop was closely guarded and permission was required for any person to walk the 300 odd yards up to it’s summit, to see the king…

The last section of the climb to the top is through a narrow passage between two huge boulders...

I must assume that the first few minutes of any conversation with the King, was punctuated by much gasping and panting for breath, as it is a steep climb… But then, not many of his subjects would have been wearing a Rally 2 suit and Santiago boots…

My guide, Regina, was very knowledgeable, but got in the way of almost every photo I took, and whenever I asked her to take a photo of me, she squeezed the shutter button as if it was the trigger on an AK 47… Not one of the photos she took was even close to being in focus, despite me giving her a five minute lesson on how to depress the shutter button…

We were the only people up on the hill, and the views from up here are spectacular… I am particularly interested in history, so my visit here was well worth it… At one point I asked her to stop her recital of the history of the place, so that I could sit quietly and try and get a picture in my mind, of what it must have been like 700 years ago… I climbed up onto one of the highest points that I could find, and sat looking down at the walls around me… I am not sure how much time had passed, when Regina’s voice came floating up over the granite boulders…

“Sah..!! Are you still there…? Please don’t fall…!!”

The Great Enclosure, as seen from the King's State House, up on the hill above. It is quite a long walk to get there, which gives you an idea how big the Great Enclosure is...

Shaken from my reverie, I slowly made my way back down the rocks to where she sat, patiently waiting for this strange Mazungu, who wanted to be alone for a while… I resolved to come back here one day, without a guide, (now that I had a basic knowledge of what went on where !), and spend some quiet time wandering about, getting a better feel for the place… Those stones have thousands of stories, and I think if you listen carefully, you might just hear a few, coming to you on the wind…

We clambered back down the hill, Regina warning me about the Mambas and Cobras that were common on the slopes leading down to the Great Enclosure… By the manner in which her eyes darted left and right while we walked, I knew that she was not joking…

Regina my guide, poses at the entrance to the outer passageway of the Great Enclosure...

The walls of the Great Enclosure are 11 metres high, 5 metres thick at the base, and 2 meters wide at the top… It must have taken decades to build, and is the third largest ancient structure on the planet, after the Great Wall of China, and the Pyramids of Egypt… No mortar was used between the stones, and each one has been packed to fit as snugly onto the one next to it, as possible… The walls were built for defensive purposes only, and within the enclosures were the mud hots that the Shona people lived in…

There are many other stone structures around the two main structures here at Great Zimbabwe, and over 200 other sights in Zimbabwe itself, all attributed to the Shona… Mapungubwe in Limpopo Province pre-dates Great Zimbabwe, and it it said that the Shona began building there, and then abandoned the site and moved north to where the present day ruins are situated…

The Shona were not an overweight lot... The Passage gets narrower as it gets closer to the centre, making it easier to defend...

The sun was beating down on us by the time we completed out tour, and although I had enjoyed the few hours spent clambering around these immense monuments, I wanted to feel the wind whistling through the vents of my jacket again, if only to cool me down… It was HOT, folks !!

It's big, Dudes...

The history of this amazing place is too long to relate here, suffice to mention that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to trade with the Shona Kings and their people, and visit Great Zimbabwe… And that is all I have to say about that…!!!

I rode further south, away from Masvingo, on the winding road that skirted the Kyle Dam, one of the largest dams in Zimbabwe. Water from it is used to irrigate the large plantations of sugar cane which is grown south of Masvingo. Before setting off, I got the Head-cam plugged in and filmed my ride down this 15 km stretch of road, on which a miscalculation will do both the bike and it’s rider a serious mischief…!! Watching the footage later, gave me the willies…

First we'll throw in an S-bend or two, then narrow it down to one lane before plunging over the dam wall...

It was a great ride, and the road signs were a constant reminder

They are not kidding !! There are a few very good reasons why the word "Hazard" is pre-fixed by the word "Deadly" !!

not to get too clever…!! I nevertheless zoomed over the wall in one long lean, and felt the adrenaline pumping though me as I took all the turns on the way back past the turnoff to the ruins…

I rode back to Masvingo, and popped in to see Mike at his workplace, to change some Rands into US Dollars, and to thank him for his hospitality… He advised me that Gavin Rennie was not available in Harare and that despite his best efforts, could not seem to find a suitable place for me to stay in the capital… I assured him that I would work something out and after a short ride back to his house, got the rest of my kit loaded onto the Big Fella, before he got too used to riding “light”…

I bid Moira farewell, and took a photo of her next to the bike, which I promised to email to her as soon as I could find a decent Internet connection… Then it was back in the saddle for the dash to Harare, which lay 300 km to the north of us…

Moira Rice of Masvingo... Thank you for a wonderful stay, and keep dreaming of Spain...!!!

© GBWT 2010