Going Global: Africa Immersive African Adventures

The Republic of Zimbabwe, bordered by Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia, is easily accessible, has a developed infrastructure, uses the American dollar as standard currency and boasts several of Africa’s most significant historic and natural attractions and there are five UNESCO World Heritage Sites within its borders. https://zimbabwetourism.net

The area has been an important trading center since 900 AD when the Mashona people traded their primary trade item, gold, with other cultures. Zimbabwe’s “stone houses” were the traditional homes of the rulers and although more than 180 of these ruins exist the most significant was the capital of the Kingdom, Great Zimbabwe. Legend has it that this was the Queen of Sheba’s capital. The 1,720-acre complex, located between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, at its height housed more than 15,000 people and is the largest sub-Saharan collection of ruins on the continent. There are two main complexes, the Valley Enclosures and the Great Enclosure and at some points the walls, constructed of granite blocks without mortar, reach a height of 37-ft.and a width of 20-ft. Eight soapstone Zimbabwe birds were carved here atop a series of columns and are now depicted on the country’s flag. The birds have lips and feet instead of a beak and claws. Artifacts found at the site are featured in an on-site museum and feature Chinese, Persian and Indian trade items. The monument, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, is open Mon-Sat. http://www.greatzimbabweruins. com

The largest of Zimbabwe’s parks is the 5,657-sq, mile Hwange National Park, once the hunting province of a Ndebele king, designated in 1929 the Wankie Game Reserve. Hwange has a variety of landscapes and more than 105 mammal and 400 bird species including 20,000 endangered elephants and the world’s largest population of wild dogs. Game drives here are spectacular because you are virtually guaranteed to spot some of the abundant wildlife, among them the giraffe, cheetah, brown hyena, zebra, leopard, lions, rhinos, wildebeest and buffalo. The park is on the edge of the Kalahari Desert and some of the animals move from there to graze in the parks natural saltpans. http://zimbabwe.com/st_location/hwange-nation-

By Renée S. Gordon History & Travel Writer