Bulawayo 2 (8-27)

Friday we went to Khami, ruins of a city that was thriving from the 15^th to 17^th centuries. The largest ancient site is Great Zimbabwe, which is older. Reading about Great Zimbabwe had instigated my interest in ruins here. However, it is too far away from Victoria Falls and isn’t easy to get to. In researching, I then learned about Khami in Bulawayo; so along with Matapos that made Bulawayo my destination. It is believed that people migrated to Khami from Great Zimbabwe. As with most of Matopos, Albert had never been to Khami and was very interested in learning the history and seeing everything. I purchased the small booklet about it so we could read about what we were seeing as we walked around. Albert ended out carrying it most of the time and read everything. He made sure we saw everything there was to see. On Saturday he told me that he had told his family all about Khami. When I left, I gave him the booklet so he can use it when he takes them there or with other tourists.

Khami was home to about 9000 people. The ruins are remains of housing and buildings used by the elite. Common people had houses on the plains without the stone walls, which are what remains now. The houses were round, mud dhakas, they typical houses of the region. 

The walls are retaining walls, as the buildings are on hills—both natural and man-made, making them high to show the importance of the residents. They are constructed with granite blocks, some of which have dirt or small stones between them to hold them in place. 

No mortar was used. 

Some have decorative patterns at the top of the wall—blocks laid in a decorative style or a line of black stones. The structures are called platforms, perhaps because they are on the flat top of a mound. 

The museum has a picture and diorama of what a platform would have looked like.

The Main Platform, which is the king’s residence is, of course, the highest and largest platform. 

Like most of the platforms, there are walled steps leading up. 

This one has parts of some of the round structures that would have been meeting rooms or houses.

Nearby is the Cross Platform, 

which has a Dominican cross on top of a large, flat-topped boulder. 

It has been cemented to the rock to prohibit further vandalism. People put offerings of coins in the center, and we had fun looking at the coins from different countries. I didn’t have any coins to add, but there was an American nickel.

We walked to the dam on the Khami River. An interesting item there is the gong rock, a rock that sounds like a gong when hit with a smaller rock. It would probably have been used for ritual purposes.

A platform that is a little different is Monolith Platform which is built with a large monolith on its back side. It is far from the Main Hill; so it would have been for a member of the lesser elite.

Gold was mined in Khami. Europeans came looking for gold and the people traded gold for items such as beads and Chinese porcelain.

We had an enjoyable day wandering around the site. 

On the way back we stopped briefly at a market so I could see it. We also walked around a shopping center that was about 80% empty, as most stores had closed due to the economic crisis. At the end of the day, I was a little tired from the walking in the sun and was glad to return to the guesthouse garden to relax.

Roads, other than the main roads, are in bad condition and have lots of pot holes. The final road to Khami has had the middle repaved; so it’s essentially a one lane road with cars pulling over if there are two. On the road to Khami we saw several donkey carts. There were many people walking along the road.

We stopped briefly at a grocery store where I picked up a drink and a small package of mixed vegetables. I asked the cook to prepare them for me for dinner, and she agreed. I hadn’t had vegetables like that since leaving Ompundja and realized how much I missed them. I had the rest of the veggies Saturday, and the cook surprised me with a bowl of the spinach-like big leaves as a good-bye present. She told me she’ll miss me when I leave.

Saturday Albert and I went to the Natural History Museum. On the way we stopped at a craft store to see if they had a hat since I’d lost mine at Matopos. They did. I also bought a few more baskets since they were much cheaper ($3 compared to $7 or $10) than in Victoria Falls. We spent several hours at the museum. Albert hadn’t been there before and was very interested in everything. I’m slow in museums, but he was even slower. He read every sign and sometimes told me the information. While I might have skipped over some of the exhibits of items I’d seen before, he didn’t skip anything, which was OK since he was enjoying it and there was nothing else on the agenda that day. The first exhibit on the ground floor is live snakes, including several of the really big ones. There are history and cultural exhibits. 

I always enjoy the pottery exhibits. 

An item that surprised me is a stagecoach that was brought from the U.S. 

When we finally came to the carved ivory figure that was pictured in the Khami booklet, Albert was very excited. It is beautiful. He was also excited that we had seen the cave paintings that were reproduced in the museum. Sharing his excitement was worth paying his admission. 

We enjoyed the pictures of what Great Zimbabwe would have looked like since Khami is the same on a smaller scale. It helped us visualize what we saw.

The museum also has extensive exhibits on rocks, shells, and animals—mammals, insects, birds. Of course, we saw all of these very thoroughly. It was another enjoyable day.

Random info:

Cars have their registration and insurance stickers on the windshield. We drove through several checkpoints where the police were checking to make sure these were in place. Also to make sure seat belts were fastened.

Products are made in Zimbabwe. I purchased Zimbabwean sweets for the teachers and Kowmongwa and Helena.

Money is the U.S. dollar. South African rand are also accepted, but the dollar is the main currency. I had read that Zimbabwean currency was withdrawn because of the economic crisis. In Victoria Falls, men on the streets try to sell bills for 1 million or 1 billion as souvenirs. There are demonstrations in Harare, the capital, but the rest of the country is fine and quite safe.