Great Zimbabwe National Monument (ruins)

We drove west across the country and stopped for the afternoon at the ruins just outside Masvingo. In the distance you could see a part of Lake Mutirikwe, just as we could from our camp that night. We were also treated to a meteor shower while lying down next to the camp fire.
The ruined city is on a 722 hectare site and is the largest stone structure ever built south of the Sahara. It was a base for a succession of kings and rulers spanning four centuries and has subsequently had the whole country named after it. In Shona words it means 'houses of stone' referring to this and the hundreds of other smaller sites in the area. The first houses were built around AD1100 and in its heyday around 20,000 people lived there. Eventually the population outgrew the local resources necessary to sustain it.Read more