Pandas in Africa: Day 100: 23/07/2011 – Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

100 Days on the road

I had a really bad night; I have pulled a muscle in my leg and couldn’t get comfortable in the tent. We lazed around this morning enjoying the garden, the view and the resident trumpeter hornbills, which sound like crying babies.

Around mid morning we set off to Great Zimbabwe – formerly known as the Zimbabwe Ruins and the place from which present day Zimbabwe derived its name, after its independence in 1980.

Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which existed from 1100 AD to 1450 AD during the country's late iron age. At its peak it housed up to 18 000 people. Great Zimbabwe acted as a royal palace for the Zimbabwean chiefs and would have been used as the seat of their political power. One of its most prominent features is its walls, some of which, in the Great Enclosure, are over 11m high and which were constructed without mortar.

Eventually, the city was largely abandoned and fell into ruin, first being encountered by Europeans in the early 16th century. The most important aftefacts recovered from the ruins are the eight Zimbabwe Birds, made mainly of soapstone. One ofwhich is depicted on the Zimbabwean Nationa Flag.

It was truly a humbling experience visiting these amazing ruins and we spent three hours exploring the various complexes, the most impressive were the great Enclosure and the Hill Complex. The Great Enclosure is surrounded by 11m high walls, and housed many smaller complexes, including the conical tower. The mostly square stones were made by heating rock and then pouring water over them to weaken and shape them. No concrete type material was used. Walking through the narrow passage way of the great enclosure, clearly none were overweight, made one feel a little nervous. I guess if the high walls have survived the last 6 centuries, we were ok. In order to reach the hill complex, 450 m up a hill, overlooking the valley of ruins below, we took the ancient route up (sore leg and all). It was even more exciting to explore all the nooks and crannies of the walls and rocks, knowing that the rocks had to be carried all the way up the mountain. Gareth decided to climb up one of the boulders at the top, his slops slipped on the smooth surface and he just managed to stop on the narrow wall below, or we might have been scraping him up from the bottom of the mountain – clearly no Health and Safety rules had been put in place.

After exploring the area, we headed down for a well deserved cooldrink and back for lunch. I eventually gave in and took an anti-inflammatory and for the first time this trip had an afternoon snooze. Gareth made dinner and we all had an early night.