Monday, October 18, 2010

Great Zimbabwe

With our fill of city under our belts and dear Brettski behind the wheel again, we were off to track down history in Zimbabwe. Well fed, showered and up to date with letters and curio-shopping, we stepped back in time. Our destination was Masvingo, where we planned to visit Great Zimbabwe, a ruined city that was once the capitol of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe.
Having toured through Europe the previous year, my sense of history had vastly enlarged in scale. Back home in Canada, old houses were 80-150 years old, but massive trees easily beat out on any man-made historical sites around. In Europe, I had been awed by buildings that had been in existence for hundreds to over a thousand years, many having seen many uses through the ages. A quiet respect filled me to walk through solid rock structures that had seen members of the Roman Empire walk through these same rooms. History became tangible and reachable in ways I had never experienced. We had not seen many old structures thus far in our African journey, so I relished this taste of their history.
The history of Africa is written in the people’s songs and stories. We know that some of the oldest human remains have been found on the continent, but they have typically been societies of hunters and gatherers. That equates to temporary mud and grass huts that are abandoned to follow herds of migrating animals or to escape times of drought. The rondavels I had seen might have been decrepit looking and old, but it was relative and of a people’s ancient history, they gave little story.
Great Zimbabwe was different though. Here was a landmark built entirely of stone and without mortar, that had begun construction in the 11th century. It existed and thrived as a city from 1100 to 1450 AD, during the country’s Late Iron Age, at which point it was abandoned and fell into ruin. As we wandered through the stone structures, we were given a view of an organized people where upwards of 18 000 people may have lived in its heyday. Now sections of walls were gone and towers were only envisioned through pictures provided by the site. An amazing amount of the walls and towers were still intact though, highlighted by the Conical Tower, which is 18 feet in diameter and 30 feet high.
This was a kingdom ruled by the Shona people long before white faces invaded the lands. With the grounds covering a radius of approximately 100-200 miles and encompassing 1800 acres, I could not help but be impressed by this ancient black civilization. The relatively recent end to apartheid in South Africa had not dispelled the feeling of a racially motivated social tier in the communities we had wandered through. This monument must have felt like a slap in the face of apartheid’s belief that blacks were simple and inferior. Of course we were not in South Africa anymore and quite a bit of the racial tensions had eased just in crossing the border, but they were still in evidence. Spending the day wandering along walled passages and ducking under ancient stone lintels was an interesting experience that gave another picture of time in this land that made me feel more at home with its history in trees and rocks.
After being treated to another home-cooked meal at Clovelly Lodge life was looking pretty sweet. Feeling closer to the people and their land, Miki and I decided to explore further on horseback. We galloped along behind our guide with grins plastered to our wind-swept faces. A big home-cooked breakfast stuffed us again with the delightful taste of leisure. This must be how the other half lived, I surmised with happiness as the sun set on another glorious day in Africa.

9 comments:

  1. Ok, my first post was all messed up with its html and it wouldn't let me back in to fix it. I decided to just repost the same thing over again, but of course now had a comment. Not to hurt my poor commentator's feelings, I saved the comment before deleting the old post. Brian being one of my most frequent and prolific visitors, I have to share his 2 cents worth.

    So Brian Miller said;

    nice. i was taken aback...you did europe too...i am oficially beyond jealous at this point...cool to learn the history of the places you travle it puts you more in touch with what you are seeing and the people you are meeting...

    hope you had a great day!

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  2. And not to besmirch his comment without a response;

    I am a well travelled girl my dear :)
    * I have journeyed across the country on a few occasions (Toronto/London area to BC and back via US for parts of both trips).
    * I backpacked through Europe at the tender age of 20 with a girlfriend for 2 months
    * I flew to Africa and flitted from one country to the next in a super-cute kombi van for several months, before... oh, that story is still continuing. Gotta wait to hear tell where I went and what I did. :D

    and Great Zimbabwe was kind of neat. I have to admit after touring Europe, I was marginally jaded and probably not as impressed as I could have been if I was just coming from NA, but it was still neat to see a really old historical site.

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  3. I LOVE when you share stories about your time in Africa, and so look forward to them because it's like reading a book with such vivid pictures, yet through your words!

    Interesting to read about the differences between Rome and Africa, and how their histories vary in tangibility’s. I too love the old historical buildings in Europe. They seem to speak the history in feelings, don't they?

    FAB post, Katherine!

    P.S. Like your new template!

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  4. i am not feel besmirched...and i dont even know if i spelled it right...but i had to use the word...and yeah beyond jealous...smiles

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  5. * Thanks Ron. I always find I could add more, but try to keep the posts manageable size-wise. The ruins were neat because you could walk through pretty much everything, but they certainly weren't as austere as most places in Europe. A completely different feel. They did display some archeological finds too, which gave the site more vibrancy (ex. pottery, soapstone birds, tools, etc.) though. European money helps to keep history alive though doesn't it? ah well. Thanks for popping by my friend and I have been tinkering a bit as of late, but felt for a change of background with the change in seasons.

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  6. Perhaps you can tour the world when you retire Brian. We must always dream, yes?!

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  7. I always think of the animals when I think of visiting Africa. It never occurred to me that there might be such important historical buildings.

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  8. Lovely post about the country of my birth..
    ...very evocative.

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  9. * Hi Jen. I didn't get to see that many historical sites, so this was an interesting visit. There is a lot of history in Africa you just have to find it.

    * Hi Possum. Nice to meet you! I found the people of Zimbabwe to be wonderfully friendly and I quite liked the country. It is heartbreaking that Mugabe has helped to throw the country into such turmoil.

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