Boulders balance precariously on Matopos Hills
‘View of the World’ as Cecil Rhodes called it, or ‘Worlds View’ is on the summit of a rocky outcrop of the Matopos Hills. near Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, or Rhodesia as it was called then, was a favourite place for Cecil John Rhodes which eventually became his resting place. Africa’s Matopos Hills are granite outcrops that rise out of an almost otherwise flat landscape. Here on the summit of the hill known to the Ndebele people as ‘Malindidzimu’ the ‘hill of spirits’ are the tombs of Cecil John Rhodes on the hill along with the tombs of Leander Starr Jameson and Sir Charles Coghlan. Nearby is the Allan Wilson Memorial which commemorates the men of the ‘Shangari Patrol’ who died in action. Major Allan Wilson and his 30 men were killed there in 1896 by the Ndebele during armed struggles over land ownership. Matopos Hills, also known as the Matopo, are located in Matabeleland; the hills cover an area of 3,240 sq km. The topography of the area is mixed with desert-like terrain, low swamps, and densely wooded slopes. The hills have been inhabited for over 40,000 years and are sacred to the Ndebele people of the region and hold an important place in their folklore. They believe the hills are the dwelling place of the spirits of their dead chiefs and use the caves for ritual ceremonies.
Size: 5237px × 3488px
Location: Zimbabwe Matopos Hills
Photo credit: © Adrian Page / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, africa, barren, biodiversity, blue, bulawayo, castle, ecology, environment, form, format, granite, hills, horizon, kopjes, landscape, matopos, outcrop, planet, rhodesia, shape, sky, travel, whalebacks, zimbabwe
