Matobo National Park
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The Matobo or Matopos Hills are an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 kilometres south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe. The Hills were formed over 2000 million years ago with granite being forced to the surface, this has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Mzilikazi, founder of the Ndebele nation, gave the area its name, meaning 'Bald Heads'.
The Hills cover an area of about 3100 square kilometres, of which 440 km² is National Park, the remainder being largely communal land and a small proportion of commercial farmland. Part of the national park is set aside as a Fun Park, which has been stocked with game including black and white rhinoceros. This covers some 100 km² of beautiful scenery including some spectacular balancing rocks and impressive views along the Mpopoma river Valley.
The Matobo Hills were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The area "exhibits a profusion of distinctive rock landforms rising above the granite shield that covers much of Zimbabwe". [1]
[edit] History
San (Bushmen) lived in the hills about 2,000 years ago, leaving a rich heritage in hundreds of rock paintings. In the many crevices and caves, clay ovens and other historic artefacts have been found.
The hills were the scene of the famous indaba between white settlers and Ndebele leaders in 1896 -- the Second Matabele War -- which ended with the assassination of Mlimo by Frederick Russell Burnham in one of the Matobo caves. Cecil Rhodes and several other leading early white settlers, including Leander Starr Jameson and the members of the Shangani Patrol, are buried on the summit of Malindidzimu, the 'hill of the spirits' this is a great source of controvercy as this is considered a sacred place by many of the indigenous groups in the area. This mount is also referred to as the World’s View. (Not to be confused with the World's View, Nyanga). Even today, a great deal of the pottery and artefacts found on cave floors and most of the clay grain bins in the hills are remnants from the 1896 rebellion era. There are other reminders too - bronze plaques dotted here and there in the bush mark the location of armed forts or brief skirmishes.
The hills are regarded as sacred by the Shona and many other peoples of Southern Africa. Many rituals and other religious activities are performed in the hills. Legend has it that until as recently 50 years ago a voice could be heard in one of the hills' cave (Njelele).
The name of the park was used for the name of the fictional Democratic Republic of Matobo in the film, The Interpreter.
The national park is the oldest in Zimbabwe.
