Matobo Hills

The Matobo National Park forms the core of the Matobo or Matopos Hills, an area of granitecastle kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 kilometers south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Matobo Hills has to be one of the most spiritual and beautiful places in Zimbabwe. The gravity-defying boulders scattered all over the countryside has created a quite unique and distinctly mysterious 'balancing rock' landscape. Meaning 'Bald Heads' in Ndebele it's from this incredible landscape Matobo Hills derives its name.

The Matobo Hills cover an area of about 3100km², of which 440 km² is National Park and home to a healthy population of Black Rhino as well as a variety of antelope species (kudu, sable, eland), leopard, baboon, lizard, and a plethora of birdlife, including the highest concentration of nesting sites of the black eagle in the world.

The Matobo Hills has a great deal of historical relevance in Zimbabwe. The estate of Cecil John Rhodes was once located at Matobo Hills and his grave is at a site called World's View, on the summit of one of the hills. The graves of Sir Leander Starr Jameson and Sir Charles Coghlan are also at Matobo Hills, along with the memorials to Major Allan Wilson and the Shangani Patrol. The Matobo Hills had been fought over in 1893 by members of the Ndebele, a group of Africans that regarded the site as sacred. It is still seen as sacred ground, as among the cracks and crevices of the Matobo Hills is the Ndebele's rain shrine to Mwari, the god of their ancestors.

The rocky granite topography boasts more than 2000 sites of the San (Bushman) tribes and is probably the richest source of San rock art known. This area and several famous rocks hold spiritual significance of bygone rituals. The Matobo Hills continue to provide a strong focus for the local community, which still uses shrines and sacred places closely linked to traditional, social and economic activities.