Matobo Hills

CategoriesMust See, Nature, Rocky Features

LocationBulawayo

Huge granite masses – seamed, split, shaped and sculptured by time and the elements – form an array of giant whalebacks and castellated kopjes that cover 3000 square kilometers of Matabeleland South Province.Much of the country’s history has been written and played out within the confines of the Matobo Hills – from the time thousands of years ago when ancient bushmen used the granite faces as a canvas for their unique and extraordinary art, to more recent times, when black and white met in war and peace.

These are the Matobo Hills, located south of Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo. Forty thousand years ago the caves and crevices carved out of these rocks became home to Zimbabwe’s earliest inhabitants, the “San”. Twenty thousand years later “San” artists began painting on the walls of caves and rock shelters, using special pigments and natural minerals that have survived the onslaught of climate and time.

Matobo Hills

Many caves contain superb galleries of Bushman paintings, one of which is Bambata, located no more than 10km from Big Cave Camp. Other Bushman paintings may be seen on the private wilderness in secluded caves and rock shelters.

Today the Matobo Hills are a place of peace; however this area is still held in reverential awe by local communities and ceremonies continue to be performed to assist in the making of rain.

Activities

Game Viewing
Rhino Tracking
Mountain Biking
Adventure Races
Yoga & Wellness
Cultural Activities
Bird Watching
Rhodes Grave
Worlds View
Rock Art Galleries

Accomodation Facilities

Events

The Matopos 33 Miler was first run in 1963, along much the same route as being used today, and is the only ultra-marathon in Zimbabwe. The race starts in the magnificent Matobo National Park, in the heart of the Matobo Hills World Heritage Site. In the cool early morning light, the runners will wind deeper into the hills along the Circular Drive, no doubt startling a few klipspringer and possibly a rhino or two! They will pass around Malindidzimu, otherwise known as “Worlds View”, and then swing north before exiting the park and leaving the hills behind them. The remainder of the race sees the runners pass over from the Limpopo to the Zambezi escarpment, and then onto the City of Bulawayo. Avoiding the CBD, the race will finish at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), with athletes completing the 33 miles, or 53 km ultra-marathon.The original Matopos 33 Miler was organised by the Raylton Rovers Running Club (RRRC), and was won by Mr Charlie Chase (Germiston, South Africa) in a time of 3hrs, 44 minutes and 56 seconds. Following the successful re-launch of this event in 2013, PPC Zimbabwe will again sponsor this truly historic marathon once again in 2014. In conjunction with the main ultra-marathon, a half marathon of 21 km’s, a relay (6 runners by 9km’s each) and a 5km Fun run, will also be run along the route, all finishing at NUST. Nearly 300 runners took part in 2013, with 20 sponsored water points en route. The race will be run in accordance with the regulations of the NAAZ.

The Matobo Hills, Zimbabwe’s ancient landscape full of mystery and fascination is Zimbabwe’s largest World Heritage Site, in excess of 3,000 km2 and is the country’s only UNESCO Cultural Landscape Site.The Matobo Hills is over 3 billion years old, and has hosted mankind for the past 400,000 years. Within the historic area is found the greatest concentration of rock art to be found anywhere in the world – and this will feature in the Heritage Ride. The hills have been a retreat not just for the bushman, but for various Bantu tribes, culminating in the 1896 Uprising. The hills are a burial ground of Kings and Heroes, and a tapestry of forts and battlefields, through which we will pass. The Hills also posses the greatest variety of tree species south of the Zambezi, a diffusion of plant species, and a rich legacy of rare and unique plants. It also plays home to the greatest variety of birds of prey in the globe, the largest population of black eagle and the longest running bird study anywhere in the world. It is reputed to have the biggest leopard population to be found anywhere, and contains both black and white rhino. The largest black mambas are also found here – but we’ll do our best to avoid those! And of course at the bottom of the food chain is a huge population of dassie (rock hyrax) that sustains so much of the predator pyramid. The Rhodes Matopos National Park, or Matobo National Park, is one of the oldest in the country, with its origins in the will of CJ Rhodes who Left his Matopos estate to the benefit of the people of Bulawayo. Today we will take up that legacy and use the hills for three days of hard recreational activity as we cycle through this special place.