Pictures of Zimbabwe

Dumi and Me, Great Zimbabwe, Nyanga, Waterfall
Harare, Balancing Rocks, Mr. Africa, African Party

Zimbabwe history and politics

Dumi

Dumi is a musician friend of mine from Harare. He joined me and my friend Kays on a trip to the Great Zimbabwe ruins.

The Great Zimbabwe ruins are the only city built from stone discovered in subsaharan Africa by Western colonialists. British imperialists would rather declare them to be remnants of King Solomon's mines than to admit that Africans had cities too.

Conical Tower, Great Zimbabwe

Take a close look at the backside cover of Bob Marley's album "Survival". You will find a picture of the conical tower, in the Great Enclosure section of Great Zimbabwe, the only difference being that the trees were shorter then and that Dumi and I weren't on that picture.

The Great Enclosure probably was the palace of a king. The function of the conical tower is as yet unknown. There are no doors or windows in it and its contents is unknown.

Nyanga

Inyangani Mountain in Nyanga National Park in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe is the highest mountain in the country (about 2500 metres). It is only a few kilometres from the border to Mozambique. At the time there were still occasional attacks by RENAMO bandits in this part of the country.

The top of Inyangani Mountain is almost permanently covered in clouds, which looks like mist to hikers. It is easy to get lost up there and there are a number of stories of people who have disappeared on the mountain.

Waterfall on Inyangani Mountain
This is Bukhozi, a friend of mine who was an officer in the Zimbabwean army at the time. This waterfall on Inyangani Mountain was as cold as ice, which was very welcome after a four hour march to the top and back.
Bukhozi had been across the border a couple of times, in the "Beira corridor", through which a railway line, road and pipeline connected Zimbabwe to the Mozambiquean port of Beira on the Indian Ocean. The Zimbabwean army was retraining the Mozambiquean army for the fight against South African backed bandits at the time.

Harare

Harare (known as Salisbury in Rhodesian days) is the capital of Zimbabwe.

It lies on a high plateau in northern Zimbabwe amid good farmland owned by wealthy commercial farmers. Despite being the capital it has something of a small town atmosphere. You will bump into the same people all the time.

Balancing Rocks

The Balancing Rocks near Harare also appear on Zimbabwean coins. They are hard rocks left standing when soft sediments had been eroded away by wind and weather.

Nearby is a squatter camp without running water and electricity and a couple of maize fields.

Mr Africa

We went to see Thomas Mapfumo in the garden of Queen's Hotel, Harare, his regular spot. It was an unforgetable experience.

Thomas Mapfumo was the first Zimbabwean artist to amplify traditional mbira music and combine it with Shona lyrics to spread a cultural and political message.

Hi unrelenting criticism of corruption and nepotism has earned him the hatred of many politicians.

African Party

This was my friend Kays' moving in party as well as my farewell party on that trip. I visited again the following year.

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