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 2nd
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...
No comments:
Post a Comment