My apologies for not getting back to this blog much sooner! I've been reminded of the many field trips that would be planned for classes near the end of the school year at Clay High School ~~ it seems like that is what is happening here at AU!!! A trip last Fri. and another on Sat., and now another trip is planned for tomorrow!! Exams begin on Nov. 11, so they are designed to give students a break before the grueling two weeks of writing their exams.
Last Sat. I was able to join a group of students as we visited The Great Zimbabwe. This is a very historic site, and though I had hoped to visit it, I wasn't sure there would be an opportunity. It is located 4.5 hrs. south of Mutare, and is a National Park. This community goes back to the 1100's when approximately 25,000 people inhabited this area. They were highly skilled, as their structures still stand today!! It is an area with lots of granite, which they chiseled into brick-size shape to build their huts and fortify their community ~~ all without mortar!!!
With help from three younger gentlemen, I was able to climb to the top of The Hill where the King resided! There were many loose rocks along the way, and some very narrow passageways, but we made it!! From there we could see the partial ruins of the area where many of the King's wives lived, surrounded by a high granite wall. In the other direction were some small huts depicting a typical village of that day, complete with cattle grazing nearby and walking right through "the neighborhood!" A monkey played along a fence, curious about all these foreigners!!!! Several of the area residents donned hats and hides before showing us some dances to the beat of African drums!!! I was reminded of my experience attending a Cherokee celebration gathering when one of my former students was the first woman elected as Chief of the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi! Lots of similarities!!!
After easing our way down and having some cooling refreshments, we hiked on to The Enclosure ~~ again a very high wall built with granite and no mortar! There are actually two walls, one inside the other for great fortification. This community lasted until the 1500's, when they began moving further north to escape intruders from the south, establishing smaller "Zimbabwes" as they moved. Cecil Rhodes explored north from South Africa, thus the former name "Rhodesia." Southern Rhodesia is the current Zimbabwe, and Northern Rhodesia is currently Zambia.
Every effort was made by Cecil Rhodes and the British to totally wipe out the indigenous people because they were thought to be savages. Much research has shown that it was indeed the indigenous people who had built The Great Zimbabwe ~~ over a 300-400 year time span!! They were hunters and gatherers who survived off the land. I can better understand the Zimbabwean people wanting to reclaim the original name of their country when they won their independence from Britain in 1980.
Last Friday I accompanied some students from the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources on a trip to Nyanga ~~ about 1.5 hrs. from AU and higher in the mountains. Two of our students had worked in the National Park there as interns this past summer, so they guided us first to see the area where trout are artificially bred and raised for fisherman to catch in the surrounding lakes. Once again, the British tried to make the area into a semblance of Scotland!! The Cecil Rhodes Hotel/Museum and the Troutbeck Hotel are very British in structure and cater to the wealthy who can afford this lifestyle, enjoying golfing, fishing, horseback riding, canoeing, and hiking! The surrounding area is beautiful, with lush forests of various kinds of pine and indigenous trees, waterfalls, and hiking trails.
Interesting to me that "downtown" Nyanga reminded me of downtown Plains, GA, where Jimmy Carter grew up!! Mostly one-story buildings, a number of "general stores" with a little of almost everything, including some groceries, but no small shops with souvenirs as you might expect in a "resort" area!! No British influence there! Mostly just poor people trying to eek out a living by selling whatever goods they have or can get to sell for $1.00 or a little more. Our lunch of sadza, chicken and veggies was cooked by three women over an open fire "out back!" It seems to me that we have not learned from history to value indigenous people, their way of life and their environment. Most people and nations have been too interested in conquering and taking for themselves.
Tomorrow I will go on an overnight bus trip to another National Park about 5 hrs. southeast of AU! The Gonarezhou National Park borders Mozambique and South Africa and is the first tri-country Transfrontier Park with much unspoiled wilderness. It is recently being developed for safaris, etc., and features Africa's BIG FIVE ~~ lions, elephants, rhinoceros, leopards, and Cape buffalo! Hopefully we will arrive early enough (leaving campus at 4:00 AM!) to see some of these before it gets too hot and they hide in the bush!
What an amazing world of birds, animals, and people God has given us to enjoy! I pray we don't contribute to the extinction of any. Thank you, God, for the amazing diversity we experience in all of Your creation!
