6/13/98: Arthur had to work, but Sylvia, determined to show us even more adventure, took us to the Matobo National Park…
NOTE: The photo above is a detail of the cave paintings that we saw in Matobo National Park.
6/13/23: Besides being a beautiful national park with unique geologic features, Matobo was another interesting spot for a history nerd like me. The land had been “owned” by Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902), a colonial who dug his fortune out of the “Dark Continent” in the diamond mining industry of southern Africa. The national park was established in 1926 as a bequest from the Cecil Rhodes estate. In a sort of bitter twist for indigenous Shona and Ndebele tribes, Rhodes is buried in the park, his tomb carved into the hard granite of the monolithic stone outcroppings that are all over the park. The tomb is in his favorite spot, what he called the “View of the World,” and is overlaid with a bronze plaque. I could appreciate the historical significance, but I was also thoughtful about how different his view of the world was from men like Robert Moffat, and David Livingstone, or the indigenous Zimbabweans, and even myself.
As we entered the park, we invited a couple of Aussies to follow along in their car, since Sylvia knew her way around so well. She said she was too old to go hiking around, but pointed us in the direction of a brief hike where we found some fantastic cave painting sites.
We headed home late in the afternoon and packed up once again. Before they dropped us off at the train, we took Arthur and Sylvia out to dinner at Capri, a nice little Italian place in downtown Bulawayo. Then they saw us off on another overnight train, heading back to Harare and more work with TEAM.
