Days 38 thru 40

(Rhia’s comments are italicized)

What I find so fascinating about Africa is its huge range of ecosystems and biology. We have taken thousands of photos of around 100 different animals during our safaris, and seen a hundred more that we did not take pictures of. Another example is that UNESCO cites Africa as home to 43% of the 701 species and subspecies of primates in the world. And as far as cool plants go, Bulawayo’s parks, and neighborhoods have provided some interesting experiences. For example, I had no idea that poinsettias grew into trees!

To our delight, we found a working fountain in Central Park; though, if you look closely, you’ll see how worn out it looks. However, it was lovely to see many locals sitting around it, enjoying the sun and the calming sound of falling water.

I think they are trying to restore this park because some workers were performing maintenance. But they have a lot of work to do!

Southern and eastern Africa is so similar to Tucson in terms of its winter weather, being cold in the morning and after sunset, and beautiful during the day. This means that we still get bursts of beautiful flowers; and it means we can practice being artistic with this new camera 😂

The big news is that we’ve hired a car for a couple of weeks! There’s no holding us back now.

Outside of Bulawayo, is Mapoto National Park, a World Heritage site and the site of Cecil Rhodes’ grave. Rhodes willed this land to Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) to establish a park. He also willed that his body be laid to rest in his favorite spot called World’s View.

On the way to World’s View, one passes the MOTH Shrine Historical Site which was created and consecrated to remember the soldiers killed in the great wars. Again, the place had seen better days; yet, there was peace and tranquility there.

I found myself torn between feeling serene and sad here. Soldiers of all ages, nationalities, religions, and economic status gave their lives that we may be free; but are we? We had an ethical responsibility to the Sunset Call, which states in part, “…At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them”; but do we? Just a thought!

And a little bit down the hill, a monument was constructed to honor the fallen of a battle in 1893 that had killed 35 soldiers that Jameson, a friend of Rhodes’, was in charge of.

But something I found much more interesting was the beauty of Matopo. The landscape of this national park rivals that of the Chiricahua National Park in Arizona.

As you rounded each bend, you were met with yet another stunning view of huge granite boulders!

Scattered throughout Matopo and the surrounding countryside are over 1,000 caves full of stone age cave paintings, some dating back  25000 years. It’s exciting to see cave paintings in the place they were done…but why are caves always up steep hills???

Sadly, in 1947 in an effort to preserve the cave paintings, those in power decided that rubbing linseed oil on them would be a good idea. The experiment failed miserably and actually destroyed many of the paintings!

Although Mapoto is host to a wide range of animals, our car has such low clearance that we had to stick to the paved roads so saw very little.

Tomorrow we leave Bulawayo and head eastward toward our next adventure…