November 10th
We had a good breakfast and boarded the coach at 8 o’clock for our departure to Great Zimbabwe. This was a journey of 2 1/2 hours over roads that were not great.
Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in the south-eastern hills of the modern country of Zimbabwe. It is thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom during the Late Iron Age, about which little is known. Construction on the city began in the 11th century and continued until it was abandoned in the 15th century. The edifices were erected by ancestors of the Shona people currently located in Zimbabwe and nearby countries. The stone city spans an area of 7 square kilometres and could have housed up to 18,000 people at its peak. It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Great Zimbabwe is believed to have served as a royal palace for the local monarch. As such, it would have been used as the seat of political power. Among the edifice's most prominent features were its walls, some of which are 11 metres high. They were constructed of "dry stone" (that is, without mortar). Eventually, the city was abandoned and fell into ruin.
Once there we were divided into three groups, one for those who did not want to walk too much and would have the tour in a minibus: this had approximately 12 takers, the next, where is those who wanted to walk to the great enclosure, not up to the Royal Palace, which was at the top of a considerable hill: only 4 did this. The rest of us about 20 took the full tour. Our guide Stephen, who was obviously not used to elderly walkers, made no concession for my slow pace. We climbed up to the Royal Palace via the gentle route. This still included quite difficult steps. Very narrow at times. The view from the top was quite magnificent and David, and most of the others climbed up to the lookout called the balcony.
There were lots of school children there who were very excited at seeing white visitors. We then walked to the museum, but this was in darkness, so a complete waste of time.
From here we proceeded to the great enclosure where the walls were rounded and up to 6 m thick really - very impressive. After this, we went to the hotel and had a pleasant non-gourmet lunch under the trees near the swimming pool. I then had a swim in the pool which was not too warm. Several others just lazed beside it. Next stop was a craft market, but interestingly nobody wanted to visit it, so we just drove back under two hours to the train which had moved during our absence.
Back on board I had a short siesta and we then went down to the bar for a drink before dinner.
Click on any of the thumbnail photos for a larger version
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