Great Zimbabwe Ruins

Today was our day off. On Sundays, we get to go on optional trips or we can choose to sleep in and have the rest of the day at leisure. I decided to go on a trip. I went to Great Zimbabwe, which are Africa’s 2^nd oldest ruins besides the pyramids of Giza. It is from these ruins that Zimbabwe got its name, meaning “House of Stone” in the local Shona language. As we spent the day trekking around the ancient ruins, we learned about the kings of the past and ancient Zimbabwean culture. The ruins were in a strategic location for trading and protection, as the king had his place on the top of a hill overlooking the valley below. He would have been able to see people approaching from all directions. To this day, the Great Zimbabwe ruins are a symbol of unity because the name from Great Zimbabwe ruins became the name of the country after the country’s independence. 

Below is a picture of the hill we hiked up. We took the “ancient path” which was made up of steep, wobbly stones.

About halfway up, we could see the valley below where the wives and commoners would have lived.

At the top, we walked around what would have been the king’s area. There isn’t much in tact, but there were pretty rock formations and bases of buildings.

I was very happy to go back down the mountain!! Not only was the route super steep and with wobbly rocks, at times it was so narrow you had to turn sideways and so short you had to duck your head. The passage was probably short in height on purpose, because it was a way of bowing down to the king when you entered through that passage.

From there, we headed to a local Shona village where we saw some traditional dancing and heard traditional music. The locals were selling jewelry and wood and soapstone carvings, and were putting on a show in the hopes of earning a few bucks from tourists. Below is a picture of some of the huts the locals live in.

From there, we went to where the wives and commoners would have lived. At this point, we were very tired and overwhelmed with information so we mainly took pictures around the area. It was interesting to see how social structures were organized in the ancient times. Our guide told us that there were four entrances based on social hierarchy—one for the wives, one for the girls, one for the boys and men and one for the king. There was also a compass on the ground, marked with stones standing upright, which I thought was pretty clever. All the stones were different heights, and the locals would have been able to tell the time of day based on the shadows on the ground.

As we headed out, I had my friend take this photo since I hardly have any pictures of me!!

More later...