Bushmen Caves, 40,000 year old art, Cecil Rhodes and white rhinos.
The train stopped for the night at the border town of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
After breakfast we transferred by bus to the Matobi National Park to see bushmen caves and San People’s 40,000-year-old art and drawings on cave walls and rock shelters.
At the Park entrance we again transferred from one bus to five Range Rovers. The game tracker’s seat was open so I became the “official” tracker. At least it had the best place for taking pictures.
Our first stop was the rock shelter art of the bushmen or San people that has been traced to 40,000 years ago.
Our guide said the San People are referred to as “Adam Generation”, the cradle of human civilization. They were small family units of 6-8 people who were hunters/gatherers and who, following the game, seldom stayed more than 2 weeks at any cave or rock shelter. They were small people, no more than 5’1”tall.
On our way to the grave site of Cecil Rhodes (who founded De Beers Diamonds at age 27 and was the richest man in the world when he died at age 48 in 1902) we stopped for a talk about Rhodes.
The place was also popular with campers who recharged their electronics with sun powered generators.
Valentine, our guide/driver, demonstrated use of local plants as tooth brushes…
…and soap:
Cecil Rhodes wanted to be buried on top of a steep rugged granite mountain in the Matapos (in what used to be the country of Rhodesia) where he spent some of his adult life:
The climb to his burial tomb was steep over rounded granite hillsides.
Lichen of various colors covered the rocks:
The view from on top is spectacular:
The road into the area is surrounded by hills covered with giant boulders that could tumble down and close the road at anytime.
On the way back to the rendezvous area we spotted two white rhinos (white at another time of year) guarded against poachers by two armed game rangers. The,rangers have the right to kill poachers on site. The poachers, who kill elephants and rhinos only for their tusks and horns, (considered an aphrodisiac in the Far East) have decimated the rhinos herds in southern Africa. This pair was imported from South Africa to repopulate the species in Zimbabwe.
A farmer’s cattle and a gazelle joined us along the route:
Every street corner provides opportunity:
We arrived back at the train for lunch at 1:30.
During a stopover at a small village of Gwanda…
some little kids came to our window and we tossed them cookies and a candy bar:
Oh, and by-the-way, I became a billionaire today. Yes, it’s true and here’s the proof:
Pay no attention to the fact I paid only $1 for it at the market we visited or the fact that the bill has long since expired, I’m still a billionaire (in my mind at least).
I understand the inflation rate in Zimbabwe 20-30 years ago rose so quickly and steeply (often daily) that the government had to print larger and larger bills just to keep up.
We shared a lovely dinner with Anita English.
She and her husband Ramon are from Perth, Australia. He was not feeling well so she joined us for a dinner of smoked kudu (antelope family), chicken breast stuffed with sun dried tomatoes and feta cheese, Williston cheese and pineapple pudding for dessert.
Half way through the meal the train manager informed us that during the last stop someone got under one of the cars and disconnected several cables. The repair was easy but they would have to stop the train and turn off the generator. That meant dinner by candle light and no air conditioning. The repair stop turned into a real positive as the candle light dinner was delightful, and the repair was made quickly.
Tomorrow-our last day aboard the train-would be spend traveling towards Pretoria with two stops for Zimbabwean immigration and South African immigration.
Our South African Adventure 