Zimbabwe - the art, the fuel, the rocks and the pool.

[onlyMark]

Hang on a minute. What’s that? -






Aha! A bit closer now -




Moving on -








Jeez. How fast can these things run?
If I can run faster than Mrs M I’ll be ok. She’ll get pecked and kicked first -




It’s coming for us!! -




Phew, it veered off at the last moment.
I think I scared it by looking mean -




That was about it for excitement and we exited and took a walk around the hotel grounds on the way back to our room -






This was Richard by the way. The gate guard at the hotel. Every time we entered or exited, he gave us a salute. I think he did it anyway to all the people/cars.




He would march forward a couple of steps and salute. I asked him if he was ever in the Zimbabwe Army or some other force. He said he hadn’t been but thought it polite to salute. He asked me if he was doing it right. We then had ten minutes marching a few paces, stopping and saluting until he felt he had it down pat. One problem was he was saluting with his palm down (as USA) and he was going longest way up and longest way down instead of longest way up and shortest way down. Plus, on the last step he wasn’t lifting his knee high enough so that the thigh was horizontal.
I’m sure you appreciate how I offer assistance wherever necessary.

The next day we came down from the hills and due to a contact, mainly the husband of a woman who runs a hairdressers that a friend of Mrs M goes to, owns a petrol station! Convoluted but nevertheless, he’d instructed his manager to open up and supply us with enough fuel to fill up!
Well well well, what a turn up for the books.
We thanked him profusely and in fact over the next couple of days he regularly contacted us and said that as he knew other owners he could maybe help us further during our travels. It turned out we didn’t need to, but it was a nice offer.

Our next night was at Norma Jean’s Lake View Resort.

www.normajeaneslakeviewresort.com/

[mossie]

Didn't know you had been a DI Mark.

For those who did not do their National Service, DI is Drill Instructor, an evil person who chased recruits round the barrack square, and insulted and shouted at them.

[onlyMark]

It was my ambition because I like insulting and shouting at people. It's cathartic.
But no, I learnt it elsewhere and weirdly enough, always enjoyed the mindlessness of marching. It was like going out for a walk and not having to decide where you're going.
At my police passing out parade we had to do a bit of a marching show for the relatives and parents who had come to see us.
One lad couldn't march for toffee, couldn't keep in step, so he was put between me and an ex-squaddie called Taff who'd fought in the Falklands. Supposedly to keep him in line.

This day was the first day he'd actually got it right, but me and Taff decided we'd cock him up a bit. So just as we marched on to the parade square and past the steps where everyone was waiting, we loudly whispered to him "Step, step" meaning for him to throw in a short one to get back in step with everyone else.
He was so used to obeying this he did it automatically.
Unfortunately for him it meant he was then out of step with everyone else when he passed his parents and the higher ups. But the best bit was he'd not altered his arm movements so he was also tick-tocking at the same time.
Me and Taff had real trouble keeping a straight face.

[bjd]

What a great place to walk around. Ostriches are really odd-looking. I rather wonder why they were designed like that. I like zebras and when I saw the thorn trees, I knew there would be giraffes there somewhere.

Even not well-maintained, the gardens are nice. It looks a bit as though the founders wanted to recreate an English park using local plants and putting in some imported ones. Was this dry season? The grassy areas look brown.

My favourite photo is the one with the grounds in front and the rows of blue hills behind. Just beautiful.

[onlyMark]

Very dry bjd. The rains are due any time from now on and we've had a few spits from time to time but nothing substantial. After the rains, let's say March/April, everywhere is more green than green and extremely beautiful.

[onlyMark]

I'm running out of time before I nip out into the bush tomorrow and still have a fair bit to post. So I'll slip a bit more in now and maybe another post in the morning. then I'll tidy up when I get back, probably Thursday afternoon, and answer any comments made whilst I was away.

[onlyMark]

Norma Jean's was quite a letdown. It looked good on paper and we decided to take a self-catering room to give us flexibility.
The garden was nice and the view over the lake -






Our room though, which was in the gardens, was basic even though it had a sitting room, bedroom, small kitchen and bathroom. The problem was the insects. Obviously I’m quite used to them but in this case it was way over the top. It was as though they’d left the windows open for a month or two and the creepy crawlies had taken residence. Plus, the price.
In the area we wanted to be there was a limited choice and this seemed reasonable value for money. It would have been if not for the standard. We actually left the place as soon as the sun came up.

To give an idea, here we paid $100 for the room. Dinner was $22 each, making $144. Breakfast, which we didn’t have, was an extra $16. There was no choice for dinner, just one dish of chicken and rice. The first course was tomato soup, which when it was brought to the table turned out to be butternut, which Mrs M doesn’t eat as a soup (too sweet). Desert was a scoop of ice cream of dubious origin.
So we paid $144 for an insectary with a rubbish dinner and to top it off they went against the norm in Zimbabwe of giving a discount for USD cash.
Compare it to the Leopard Rock - rooms, buildings and maintenance were far in excess and we paid there $150 for a room, dinner and breakfast which were included. I tell a lie though, we got a standard 25% discount for USD. Even the drinks bill was discounted. So we paid $112.50 plus $10 for drinks.
There was no comparison.

[onlyMark]

Before we went to the hotel though we had a long walk around the Great Zimbabwe ruins. There is a lot of info here. Too much to go through unless you have a particular interest -

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Zimbabwe


This was the gate guard, making sure you paid -



Map of the ruins -

[onlyMark]

“It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the country's Late Iron Age. Construction on the monument began in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century. The edifices were erected by the ancestral Shona. The stone city spans an area of 7.22 square kilometres (1,780 acres) which, at its peak, could have housed up to 18,000 people. It is recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. Great Zimbabwe is believed to have served as a royal palace for the local monarch. As such, it would have been used as the seat of political power. Among the edifice's most prominent features were its walls, some of which were over five metres high. They were constructed without mortar (dry stone). Eventually, the city was abandoned and fell into ruin.”

I know of no other civilisation in Africa around the equator and below that built anything like it. Apparently there are enough stones here to build one of the Egyptian pyramids.

“Construction of the stone buildings started in the 11th century and continued for over 300 years. The ruins at Great Zimbabwe are some of the oldest and largest structures located in Southern Africa, and are the second oldest after nearby Mapungubwe in South Africa. Its most formidable edifice, commonly referred to as the Great Enclosure, has walls as high as 11m (36 ft) extending approximately 250 m (820 ft), making it the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert.”

We’ll have a walk up to it -

[onlyMark]

I’ll leave you to look at the site as we walk round. Eventually, like I did, you begin to take the same photo twice or get overwhelmed by the amount of stones. Persevere though and you’ll come out at the end -

[onlyMark]

I have no idea of the significance of this -

[onlyMark]

I'll let you take a breather and will continue round tomorrow.

[kerouac2]

Visually, Zimbabwe is outstanding. I loved all of the vegetation and gardens, but those scenes were not unexpected. Nor were the glimpses of various animals. But this last bit of Great Zimbabwe is totally incredible. I have never read anything about it and I can't imagine why it is not more famous (except maybe.... racism?).

I confess that I think of African architecture as being things like the mud mausoleums and mosques of places like Timbuctu, or else of course the great Egyptian constructions or those incrusted cathedrals of Ethiopia. I had no idea that this place existed, so I thank you immensely for revealing it to us.

[onlyMark]

Saharan Africa, has some stunning architecture. Like Mopti, never mind the other stuff well documented.
Ethiopia too. Gondor etc.
Or the Sudan pyramids close to the Nile.
Great Zimbabwe - why little known, especially if someone like yourself doesn't really know of it?
Historically I haven't got a clue. But it is a one off and that is what makes it quite unique. There is nothing at all of this nature in the vast swathes of land south of line through Ethiopia, South Sudan, C.A.R. and Cameroon.
I don't think so anyway.

No big civilisations? Difficulty of movement of peoples? Lack of long lasting peace?
The weather not harsh enough?
*Gallic shrug*
The ruins have not been a secret, that's for sure.

[mossie]

I vaguely think I had read something about the place, but never seen any pictures. That dry stone walling is remarkable, somebody should have lent them a bit of string and shown them how to get regular courses.

[onlyMark]

Mossie, I think when it was built the lines were a lot straighter. But with a dry stone wall a thousand years later, I'm sure there will be quite some movement.

Mrs M and I were discussing religion as we walked round. We were trying to think of places where big stuff was built that was done without at least a nod to some gods or deities.
Any ideas?

She was asking me if I thought this place was built because of religion or just because of a powerful king who wanted a nice place.

[onlyMark]

As it is somewhere unusual I'll finish off this section so you can see the other bits. I hope it isn't too overwhelming and repetitive but it will give you the full picture.


Carrying on -










The top of the outside wall had a simple decoration all the way round. Unfortunately when it was restored this detail was not included and only the unrestored parts still have it -






Dry stone walls. That is how it was built. I’m sure you are quite familiar with them as it is common in most countries. Just as a reminder though, as it was constructed, each side was made properly and the middle was infilled with all the loose rocks you had with you -






We walk away from the main area and explore the surroundings. It was all one complex with numerous enclosures both big and small.
It is not accurately known what the place was really for, only conjecture and guesstimates as little archeological finds were made. Supposedly it was a palace, but where are the kitchens, the bathhouse, the toilets, the water etc etc?
I’ve walked around this a few times and I can only, as a layman, come to one conclusion, especially as they areas are all termed ‘enclosures’.

The central area may have been a palace of sorts, but a palace for the cows/cattle of the king.

All the other enclosures, though fancy enough, served only as other places to keep the cattle of others.
Ok, they say thousands of people lived here, but with the absence of proper archaeological evidence showing what you would always expect to find, i.e. rubbish pits, drainage, bits of stuff on the floor to show evidence of occupation, I’m not convinced.
Things were found, notably large bird carvings but also some pottery. The information about the place states, “Other artefacts include soapstone figurines (one of which is in the British Museum), pottery, iron gongs, elaborately worked ivory, iron and copper wire, iron hoes, bronze spearheads, copper ingots and crucibles, and gold beads, bracelets, pendants and sheaths. Glass beads and porcelain from China and Persia among other foreign artefacts were also found, attesting the international trade linkages of the Kingdom.”

In effect, evidence of trade, of it being a centre for doing so, but bugger me, where did they all live then?
Maybe later we’ll have a clue. But for now we’ll move on -

[onlyMark]

This is what I’d spied from high up in the ruins. A village of sorts -




Walking closer to it -






It turns out it is a reconstruction of a native village of the era. I wasn’t about to get caught by a tourist trap of dubious authenticity, where you are given the hard sell. I know these places from ‘authentic’ Masai villages of further north and the like. They are built, maybe to offer some insight, but mainly as a way to remove money from tourists. I may be being somewhat cynical, but I have experience of them and avoid them if at all possible. Mrs M has too independently of me and also in South America. So we turned back -




The public toilets followed the theme quite nicely -




One further thing, on the site is a museum. We entered and had a look round. There were information boards in various places. We both noticed how the information, especially when referring to recent times, painted a different picture to what was the truth. There were no out and out lies, but bending the events to put the authorities in a good light was the norm.


That'll do for now.
New topic tomorrow so you better pay attention because it will be in the exam.

[questa]

Oct 22, 2018 14:08:45 GMT kerouac2 said:

Visually, Zimbabwe is outstanding. I loved all of the vegetation and gardens, but those scenes were not unexpected. Nor were the glimpses of various animals. But this last bit of Great Zimbabwe is totally incredible. I have never read anything about it and I can't imagine why it is not more famous (except maybe.... racism?).

This goes for me as well. I am filled with awe and (as usual) questions. The cliff face in some pictures now looks like it was a quarry. What sort of stone is it? How was it transported to the building areas? How far from the quarry to the buildings?

(Aside) An architect told me that the tallest buildings indicate who has the most power in a civilization. Ancient times it was the god-kings, Middle Ages - the Church with its Cathedrals, then the Palaces of The Royals who held the strings of Trade, to early skyscrapers of Business and now the towers of Finance)

I cannot believe such an edifice would be built for keeping cattle in. Maybe the villages were made from timber and thatch and just rotted away as time passed?
I think I will spend some time with Professor Google and see what I can find.

[onlyMark]

Reply 38, third photo down, cliff face?
Nope, not a quarry. Natural granite feature. Don't have much idea about the stones used as there is little information about it other than they were also from granite. I have a guess that they used all the rocks laying around and then moved out further, but not far. I can't see them doing what the Egyptian pyramid builders did and transporting large blocks down the river.
The sparseness of information means there is little knowledge of what tools were used and all that sort of stuff.

There are various other enclosure type buildings dotted around Zimbabwe plus in South Africa and what is believed to be an associated one in Mozambique, called Manyikeni and made out of limestone, as this was the prevalent stone of the area. None are on the scale of Gt. Zim though.

[cheerypeabrain]

What a glorious thread, fabulous images and excellent commentary Mark. I haven't got any questions for you meduck...but I'm enjoying every post.

[bixaorellana]

So much to see and marvel at here, Mark. I really love all the terrain shots & of course the animals. But the stone walls are astounding! I can see why you took so many pictures -- their perfection and the monumental task of building them is hard to assimilate.

[onlyMark]

Ta muchly Cheery. More in a bit now I'm nearly back from a secluded location.

Bixa, I used to camp near the ruins but moved on the next day. I always wanted to spend nearly a whole day there to get the different light as time passed. I'll put it on my list of things to do again.

[onlyMark]

As for painting a picture...... we made our way the next day to Bulawayo. We were to have a night here in a nice hotel, but we called for a late breakfast first at a cafe called the Indaba Book Cafe. “Indaba” means conference, where/when things of importance are discussed, that sort of thing.
It was interesting and had good decor with numerous pictures from local artists. A place students would hang out -












The experience was soured somewhat, though the food and drink was good, in that no sooner had we finished nearly, the waitress came and started clearing up and cleaning/wiping the table. Mrs M asked her if she’d been instructed to do this. Yes, was the reply, standard procedure from the (white) owner. She didn’t want anyone hanging around all day one on cup of coffee.
Considering Mrs M had not finished hers anyway, she told the waitress to come back when she had. We could see though the girl watching us and as soon as Mrs M put the mug to her lips for a final slurp, the waitress moved towards us. It was not her fault at all, she was just wanting to keep her job.

I, as usual, wanted to ‘speak’ with the owner woman who I could see behind the counter to clarify her policy. Mrs M dragged me away.

The hotel we stayed at, built in a Tudor style, was the Cresta Churchill -

www.crestahotels.com/hotels/cresta-churchill/

[onlyMark]

Quite a reasonable hotel, it had a dress code for dinner, and not that old but well maintained. Part of a chain. I only took a quick picture of the pool -




Our room was room only, no breakfast, and as it was $25 USD each, we gave it a miss and went to another cafe in Bulawayo. Friendly and good food, called Middy’s. I’d go there again.
I’d managed to fill up with fuel again after looking all doe-eyed at a woman petrol station attendant. Mrs M wasn’t with me, she was having a snooze at the hotel whilst I nipped out to see if I could get any.
I saw the station was empty of cars but there were two female attendants standing and chatting near the pumps. I pulled up and asked if they had any fuel. They hesitated.

They had seen me in a Zambian registered car as I slowly pulled in.
I told the one who looked more in charge the following story -
I’ve just this morning driven down from Zambia as my wife is in hospital here (Bulawayo) because she was hit by a taxi. She is being released tomorrow and I need to get her home where she wants to be, back to our family, but I don’t now have enough petrol to get all the way there and across the border - pause for sad expression.
Where can I get some? Do you have any? I will pay with American dollars.

It worked.
She unlocked the pumps and filled me up.
I’m shocking really.

Next stop, next day, was a hilltop. Made of granite.
Cecil John Rhodes........ you’ve heard of him?
One of the most controversial figures in history. Born in 1853 and died in 1902 and was buried in Zimbabwe.
Apparently he did well to live forty eight years as he was often sickly, but he was a proponent of the Cape to Cairo railway, going through British territory, which was one of his objectives. He lived in the times of when the British Empire in Africa was at its height and the railway was only a small part of what he achieved and wished to achieve. There is far too much written about him that is able to be summarised other than to say he was a mining magnate, a businessman and a politician. Any of these fields could have been minor but he always thought big, for example, he established De Beers mining company which at one time had control over 100% of the diamond market. Currently it is at 35%.

But, just to point out where he stood and his principles, he stated that the Anglo-Saxon race was, "the first race in the world" and, "the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race" plus that he describing the black population as largely "in a state of barbarism" and should be governed as a "subject race".
He never married, pleading too much work to do so, however, I bet he liked kittens, so he couldn’t be all bad.

He is buried in the Matopo Hills in Zimbabwe, to the south of Bulawayo, as per his wishes in his will at a place on a hill he called the “View of the World.”
A few times demands have been made for its removal, once citing that it caused bad weather in the area, but even when Mugabe loyalists also made the demand, Mugabe himself refused due to its historical significance.

On a more personal note, I stood in the footsteps and actually the motorbike tracks of my father.

I was in Bulawayo many years ago, I went a few times, but had never been to Rhodes grave site. I phoned my parents to tell them I was fit and well, as I did periodically but as my mother said, “Not often enough.”
That time my father answered the phone and I told him where I was. He asked if I’d been to the grave. I replied in the negative and he happened to then drop into the conversation that he had. I expressed surprise. Not wanting me to use up a lot of money on the call he said he’d tell me about it when I next came home.

So when I did, I asked him about it.
Towards the end of WWII my father was in the Royal Air Force. He had joined in Kenya and part of his training was done in Bulawayo (by the time he eventually did complete his training the war had just ended).
He borrowed a friend’s motorbike one weekend and rode to the grave site. Seeing as it was up a large hilly rock, which he couldn’t be bothered to climb, he rode up it to the top and parked his bike next to the grave. Apparently he then had a cigarette and rode back down again and back to the city.
I always remembered this and when I managed to visit a few days ago, I made a pretence of looking for his tyre tracks. Mrs M thought I was mad. Made me feel better though.

Two other men are buried up there, contemporaries of Rhodes. Sir Leander Starr and Sir Charles Coghlan. I found one of the graves but not the other. Both were also historical figures from Zimbabwe’s past -

[onlyMark]

At the bottom of the rock, and it is a big single rock, a granite dome, is a bench to contemplate whatever but probably the short sharp climb ahead of you -




On we go -










Halfway up -



And on -










We were accompanied by these lizards/geckos -




But got to the top easily enough to the grave -

[onlyMark]

And so a general wander round and give my camera some activity -






One of the other graves -






More wandering and then I spied something else -






This is a memorial to the fallen of the two Ndebele (Matabele) Wars which saw the defeat of the Ndebele (Matabele) by the British South Africa Company. You know of the British East India Company? Well that was the African equivalent with also government backing and an army -






Continuing on my photo expedition -














No matter the interest of the big picture, the small picture has also its attractions -

[onlyMark]

I then had to look up because a cacophony had attracted my attention.
A gaggle of school kids (two coach loads from a school in Mutare).
Is the collective term a gaggle? Maybe a cacophony would actually be better. Anyway, on they came -
















And of course, the first thing they do is congregate on the grave after their strenuous exercise and take selfies. It didn’t bother me as there is no way they’d do any damage and they are just being like school kids on an outing anywhere -

[onlyMark]

The graves are in a National Park and there is a circular route of 25km you can drive, so we did, and took some photos of the scenery.
You would have noticed at the grave site the rather large rocks. As far as I know they have not been moved up there but are natural. You will see more of the ‘balancing rocks’ as we go round that also look like they’ve been deliberately placed.
My theory is that the rocks were always there, as well as many, many more. But as the eons progressed and wind, rain and climate wore away the softer earth, the rocks were left there. I’d suspect that most had tumbled down just leaving the precariously balanced ones behind. In time they may well fall as well -
















The whole area is known for these rocks, all in a haphazard manner, and we made our way slowly to where we would spend the night.

[bixaorellana]

Continuously fascinating report. I really really love the pictures of the lichen covered hills and the boulders. The ugly memorial commemorating the defeat of the Ndebele pretty much sucks. I'm surprised some group hasn't managed to get up there & shove it off the mountain. The lizards! I never knew there were any that changed colors in that iridescent way. The school kids are cute and seem to be genuinely interested in their excursion.