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Matobo Hills

The area exhibits a profusion of distinctive rock landforms rising above the granite shield that covers much of Zimbabwe. The large boulders provide abundant natural shelters and have been associated with human occupation from the early Stone Age right through to early historical times, and intermittently since. They also feature an outstanding collection of rock paintings. The Matobo Hills continue to provide a strong focus for the local community, which still uses shrines and sacred places closely linked to traditional, social and economic activities..

The Matopos is an area of incredible beauty with a mythical history and a proud people, the Matebele. The Matobo Hills were so named because they looked like the bald heads of indunas (chiefs). The entire region is a complex of bizarre and exposed granitic formations.

The ancient granite formations of the Matobo Hills, situated about 20 minutes by car from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, are of great historical and spiritual significance, with art and artifacts dating back thousands of years.

Matobo Hills

Taj Mahal India The extraordinary Matobo hills are full of hidden caves, sacred places and Bushman paintings. Archaeological digs have found artefacts over 35,000 years old. Today the hills are the spiritual home of the Matabele people and a visit to a local village will bring you up to date with present day tribal culture in this area.

The massive rock formations of Matobo are awesome in their grandeur and create a unique atmosphere. Giant lichen-streaked boulders have weathered in place to create tremendous sculptures, which balance precariously in defiance of gravity. Cecil Rhodes - businessman, imperial visionary and colonial statesman of British colonised Southern Africa,

Most of the time it is peaceful and scenically beautiful with distant purple hills of the Zambian escarpment on one side and wooded slopes leading to the interior of the national park on the southern banks.

Along the river's edge are wide green flood plains tramped by elephants and buffalo who take little notice as you drift silently by on your two-man canoe.

At the public entrance to this park you are strictly warned that it is offence to take citrus fruits in with you. Elephants have a craving for oranges and will trample your tent or upturn your car just to get to them!

The rock art of the Matobo Hills compares with the best anywhere in southern Africa, and is predominantly the work of Bushmen who lived in this region for thousands of years. What distinguishes these paintings are their incredible diversity and animation – human beings are depicted playing, running, hunting, dancing lying down and sitting. Animals are anatomically correct, making identification easy, while trees, birds, insects and reptiles are accurately rendered.

A number of these caves are within easy reach of the road. Nswatugi Cave has some excellent paintings, although it does involve a 500-m climb up a steep slope. A short climb will take you to White Rhino Shelter, which also has some good paintings, as does Gulubakwe Cave, which is the nearest to the road.

ANIMALS AND BIRDS

Matobo is the domain of the impressive Black Eagle and is their chosen breeding ground. These powerful birds have no trouble targeting their main diet of rock hyrax (rather like a very large guinea pig but genetically closely related to the elephant)! These comical little creatures scuttle around the rocks in large numbers and there are plenty of small buck including rock-hopping klipspringers.

This is perfect leopard country and although many live here, they are seldom seen. You should however, be able to see giraffe, zebra, jackal, and perhaps caracal, porcupine, civet and genet. Ancient rock paintings showed that rhino used to live in this area, so the Whovi rhino sanctuary, adjacent to the park, reintroduced them and both black and white rhino are doing very well.

Birds to watch out for are a whole host of eagles, hawks, falcons and other raptors, plus colourful purple-crested louries who prefer the cover of dense foliage.

Matobo Hills

It’s hard to believe that this area of giant granite domes and precariously balanced boulders was once a flat and featureless landscape. Subsequently, over a period of two thousand million years, rock and sand on the surface were washed away by wind and water, to reveal the hard granite below. The balancing boulders are the result of natural faults along the weakest lines, and weathering and erosion did the rest.

Although the granite outcrops are the most outstanding features of the region, the Matobo National Park – within which the Matobo Hills lie – is an area of immense botanical variety with wooded valleys, grassy marshlands and streams between the hills. Most of it is accessible only on foot or horseback, except the Whovi Wilderness Area Game Park, where you have to stay in your car to view some of the larger mammals such as white and black rhino.

Animals are plentiful throughout the park and include leopard, monkey, baboon, impala, zebra, klipspringer, dassie, porcupine, red hare and many smaller mammals. Visitors may be less pleased to know that 39 species of snakes flourish here, particularly the deadly black mamba. The high cliffs and craggy outcrops are a favourite haunt of various raptors which help to keep the snake population in check. In fact, the Matobo National Park boasts the world’s largest concentration of black eagles. Other raptors include Wahlberg’s eagle, tawny eagle, secretary bird, snake eagle and Peregrine falcon. The dams, too, boast a wide variety of denizens – 16 fish species in all, including exotics such as bass, barbel and salmon.

Z imbabwe has some of the oldest rock formations in the world and some of the most exposed. This is especially dramatic in the Matobo National Park south of Bulawayo where spectacular examples of these primitive granitic formations are to be found. The Matobos were named by Mzilikazi the 'Ama tobo', after the bald heads of his indunas (chiefs). The entire region is a complex of bizarre and exposed granitic formations providing one with endless days of exploration. Once inhabited by the bushman, today one can find magnificent examples of rock art in and amongst the caves. Today the Matobo National Park is one of Zimbabwe's prime wildlife sanctuaries with a large population of white rhino, the elusive black rhino, a variety of antelope species, baboon, rock hyraxes and a large population of leopard and black eagle.

Getting There

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