The GREAT ZIMBABWE

Very few ancient structures have caused more controversy than the ruins of the "Great Zimbabwe".

Situated between Lake Mutirique and the town of Maswingo, they were built sometime within the 11th Century.

Walls, up to five meters in height, in some locations up to 3 meters thick, they were erected without mortar or any other kind of binding agent.

The former Government of Rhodesia pressured archeologists to deny that these structures were erected by the Shona people, a local, indigenous tribe, living in southern Africa, predominatly in the area formerly known as "Southern Rhodesia", now known as Zimbabwe.

Should it have been established scientifically, that local Africans had erected this complicated, sophisticated series of structures, the Rhodesian Government's claim regarding the intellectual inferiority of the black population would have been difficult to sustain.

In fact, it has been established with carbon dating and other scientific means that these structures were in deed built by the Gokomore culture, ancestors of the current Shonas.

Time and neglect have contributed to the deterioration.

Well built stairways lead from ground floor areas to upper structures.

In the morning, after our arrival at the "Great Zimbabwe Motel"

 in Maswingo

we found our car washed and cleaned to a shine.

This young lad had done it before we got up, in the hope of

some kind of remuneration. I paid him the amount I would have had to pay in a Car Wash in Toronto.

The young man, who told me his name was  Joshua, 

could not believe his luck.

I had paid him the equivalent of 5 Canadian dollars, when he expected not more than 25 cents.

Naturally he offered to carry my camera gear throughout our visit to the "Great Zimbabwe"

I accepted his offer and was glad of it since it was a hot day and again I paid him approximetely what I would have had to pay for this service in Toronto.

My Zimbabwean friends chasticed me severely, since, they assumed, such amounts would totally spoil this boy and make him unhappy with anything he could earn  afterwards, and that such an amount would feed him and his family for a month.

I asked: "So what ?"

Please do not ask me how they moved 

this huge round boulder into place.

Maybe it was there and they built around it.

Question #2: How did the boulder get so round ?

Nature did not do it.

The doorway, (centre right ) leads to a now roof-less area, 

the size of a fairly large banquet hall.

Below the "Upper Section" there is the "Great Enclosure" which,

it is assumed, housed the Kings private quarters.

Here, leaning against the wall of the "Great Enclosure" is Gladys and Joshua

The decorative course of stones atop the wall is a "fertility snake"

Gladys, however, is not hoping for any benefit from this symbol.

(She is just studying a map of how to get from Maswingo to Harare) 

A close-up of the "fertility snake"

Joshua, with one of my cameras slung around his neck,

stands in front of a tower, which is solid throughout and has no storage capacity nor any other explainable use.

There are now,of course, assumptions, surmises, theories, guesses:

It is to tell any visitor, friend or foe, that this is such a rich community that it must build such a huge Grain Silo.

Others insist that it was a phallic symbol, telling of the strength and virility of the builders.

I say it was built for Joshua, my camera bearer, to lean against.

The Queen of the "Great Zimbabwe"