Matobo National Park
Template:Short description Template:Infobox Protected area The Matobo National Park forms the core of the Matobo or Matopos Hills, an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some Template:Convert south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe. The hills were formed over 2 billion years ago with granite being forced to the surface; it has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Matopo/Matob was named by the Lozwi. A different tradition states that the first King, Mzilikazi Khumalo when told by the local residents that the great granite domes were called madombo he replied, possible half jest, "We will call them matobo" - an Isindebele play on 'Bald heads'.<ref name="burrett_etal_2016">Template:Cite book</ref>
The Hills cover an area of about Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is National Park, the remainder being largely communal land and a small proportion of commercial farmland. The park extends along the Thuli, Mtshelele, Maleme and Mpopoma river valleys. Part of the national park is set aside as a Template:Convert game park, which has been stocked with game including the white rhinoceros. The highest point in the hills is the promontory named Gulati (1,549 m; Template:Convert) just outside the north-eastern corner of the park.
Administratively, Matobo National Park incorporates the Lake Matopos Recreational Park, being the area around Hazelside, Sandy Spruit and Lake Matopos.
The national park is located within the southern Africa bushveld ecoregion.
History
The national park is the oldest in Zimbabwe, established in 1926<ref name=wice/> as Rhodes Matopos National Park, a bequest from Cecil Rhodes. The original park borders extended well to the south and east of the current park. These areas were redesignated for settlement as part of a compromise between the colonial authorities and the local people, creating the Khumalo and Matobo Communal Lands.<ref>Pitman, D. 1979. You must be new around here, Books of Rhodesia. Template:ISBN</ref> The park area then increased with the acquisition of World's View and Hazelside farms to the north.
The current name Matobo reflects the correct vernacular pronunciation of the area.
The Matobo Hills were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The area "exhibits a profusion of distinctive rock landforms rising above the granite shield that covers much of Zimbabwe".<ref>UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Matobo Hills</ref>
Features
Fauna
Matobo National Park has a wide diversity of fauna: 175 bird, 88 mammal, 39 snake and 16 fish species.<ref name="travel">Template:Cite web</ref> Game include white rhinos, sable antelopes, impala and leopards. The park contains the world's densest population of the latter,<ref name=bike>Mountain bike safaris in the Matobo hills Adventure trails Template:Webarchive</ref> due to the abundance of hyrax, which make up 50% of their diet.<ref name="siyabona">Zimbabwe - The Spirit of Matobo (Matopos) Siyabona Africa Template:Webarchive</ref> The game park in the west has been restocked with white and black rhinos, the former from KwaZulu-Natal in the 1960s and the latter from the Zambezi Valley in the 1990s. It has been designated as an Intensive Protection Zone for the two species,<ref>Du Toit, R. 2000 Zimbabwe Task 1.2-1.5 Rhino Resource Center</ref> as well as hyenas, hippopotamuses, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and ostriches.<ref name=park>Matobo National Park Undated pamphlet by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority</ref>
Matobo National Park contains the highest concentration of black eagles, and breeding pairs of these birds, worldwide.<ref>Chiweshe, N. 2007. Black Eagles and hyraxes — the two flagship species in the conservation of wildlife in the Matobo Hills, Zimbabwe. Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology, 78, 381-386.</ref><ref name=vicfalls>Matobo National Park Victoria Falls Safaris Template:Webarchive</ref>
A limnological research centre has operated since 1950 at Maleme Dam<ref name=fish>Round-table meeting on research needs in aquaculture and culture-based fisheries in Zimbabwe, 1991, FAO document repository.</ref> and researched species such as the yellow-fish, Barbus mattozi.<ref>Donnelly, B.G. and Marshall, B.E. 2003. The biology of Barbus mattozi Guimaraes (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in a Zimbabwean reservoir. 2. Growth. African Journal of Aquatic Science, 28, 43-48 [1] Template:Webarchive</ref>
Flora
The Matobo Hills is an area of high botanic diversity, with over 200 species of tree recorded in the national park, including the mountain acacia, wild pear and the paperbark acacia.<ref name="siyabona" /> There are also many aloes, wild herbs and over 100 grass species.<ref name="travel" /> Many types of rare endemic plants have been recorded.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
Fungi
Matobo National Park is home to a diverse array of fungi, which play a critical role in the ecosystem. These organisms, including saprophytic and mycorrhizal species, decompose organic matter, recycle nutrients, and support plant health through symbiotic relationships. Fungi enhance soil fertility and structure, contributing to the stability of the park's unique granite landscapes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Additionally, they serve as a vital food source for various insects and small mammals, further enriching the park's biodiversity. Certain species of fungi found in the park are also collected and consumed by local communities, showcasing their cultural and ecological significance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The presence of fungi underscores the interconnectedness of flora and fauna in this ecologically rich environment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Geography and geology
The Matobo Hills are composed entirely of granite, making up the Matopos Batholith.<ref>Macgregor, AM 1951. Some milestones in the Precambrian of Southern Rhodesia. Proceedings of the Geological Society of South Africa</ref><ref>Pye, K., Goudie, A.S. and Thomas, R.S.G. 1984. A test of petrological control in the development of bornhardts and koppies on the Matopos Batholith . Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 9, 455-467.</ref> The granite weathers into fantastic shapes, such as the balancing rocks known as Mother and Child Kopje. Between the granite mountains, narrow valleys form. These are often swampy valleys known as dambos or vleis, due to runoff from the whaleback mountains.<ref name=siyabona/> These valleys form the headwaters of the Maleme, Mpopoma and Mtsheleli rivers, and the source of the Thuli River is just east of the park.
Archaeological, historical and cultural sites
San (Bushmen) lived in the hills about 2,000 years ago, leaving a rich heritage in hundreds of rock paintings. There are over 3,000 registered rock art sites,<ref name=siyabona/> with the main periods of painting being between 320 and 500 C.E.. In the many crevices and caves, clay ovens and other historic artefacts have been found,<ref name=vicfalls/> and various archaeological finds date back as far as the Pre-Middle Stone Age, around 300,000 B.P.<ref name=cooke>Cooke, C.K. 1963. Excavation at Pomongwe Cave, Matopo Hills. South African Bulletin of Archaeological Research, 75–151</ref><ref name=garlake1>Garlake, P. 1987. The Painted Caves, an introduction to the prehistoric art of Zimbabwe. Modus, Harare.</ref> The following major sites have been developed for tourist access:
Bambata Cave is a major archaeological site,<ref name=NMM>Information from site museums, maintained by the Zimbabwe Department of Museums and Monuments</ref> located in the west of the national park, north of the game park on the Kezi-Bulawayo road. The frieze includes elephants, giraffes, warthogs, tsessebe and mongoose.<ref name=cities>Zimbabwe's cities. Zimupdate.com Template:Webarchive</ref>
Inanke Cave has the most extensive paintings, located in a remote cave accessible by a three-hour hike from Toghwana Dam. Along the route of the hike is an Iron Age furnace.<ref name=NMM/>
Nswatugi Cave contains friezes of giraffes, elephants and kudu.<ref name=NMM/><ref name=cities/> Access is from Circular Drive, west of Maleme Dam. A human skeleton was found here dating 42000 BC belonged to Middle Stone Age.<ref name=":0" />
Pomongwe Cave,<ref name="burrett_etal_2016" /> near Maleme Dam, was damaged by a preservation attempt in 1965, where linseed oil was applied to the paintings.<ref>Taruvinga, P. 2003. Salvaging Vandalised Rock Art at Domboshava National Monument in North-eastern Zimbabwe. In: ICOMOS World Report 2001-2002 on Monuments and Sites in Danger. International Council on Monuments and Sites [2]</ref> Archaeological digs within and downslope of the cave revealed 39,032 stone tools, several hearths, with the main fire-making areas were in the centre of the cave floor. Bone fragments showed that hyrax formed a major part of the meat component of the diet of early human inhabitants of the cave, which also included tortoise, baboons and larger game animals. The oldest material on the site is probably pre-Middle Stone Age.<ref name=cooke/><ref>Brain, C.K. 1983The Hunters of the Hunted? An introduction to African cave taophonomy. University of Chicago Press. Template:ISBN [3]</ref>
White Rhino Shelter is a small site near Gordon Park, on the main tarred road through the park. The frieze includes the outline of large rhinos, which is said to have inspired the re-introduction of the species in the 1960s.<ref name=Onweb/>
The grandeur and stillness of the hills has contributed to their hallowed reputation, especially to the Shona and Ndebele people. Many rituals and other religious activities are performed in the hills. Before the colonial era, it was the headquarters of the spiritualist oracle, the Mlimo.
The hills were the scene of the famous indaba between white settlers and Ndebele leaders in 1896—the Second Matabele War, known in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga—which ended with the assassination of the Mlimo by Frederick Russell Burnham, the American scout, in one of the Matobo caves.<ref name="nyt25jun1896">Template:Cite journal</ref> Upon learning of the death of the Mlimo, Cecil Rhodes boldly walked alone and unarmed into this Ndebele stronghold and persuaded the impi to lay down their arms.<ref name="farwell">Template:Cite book</ref> During the indaba it was also in these hills that Robert Baden-Powell, the Founder of Scouting, first learned woodcraft, the fundamentals of scouting, from Burnham.<ref name="proctor">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="forster">Template:Cite web</ref> Today much of the pottery and artifacts found on cave floors and most of the clay grain bins in the hills are remnants from the 1896 rebellion era. There are other reminders too - bronze plaques dotting the area mark the sites of armed forts or brief skirmishes.
Cecil Rhodes, Leander Starr Jameson, and several other leading early white settlers, including Allan Wilson and all the members of the Shangani Patrol killed in the First Matabele War, are buried on the summit of Malindidzimu, the 'hill of the spirits' -- this is a great source of controversy in modern Zimbabwe as this is considered a sacred place by nationalists and indigenous groups.<ref>Maylam, P. 2002. Monuments memorials and the mystique of empire: the immortalisation of Cecil Rhodes in the twentieth century. African Sociological Review, 6 (1) [4] Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Block, R. 1998. Now in Bad Odor in Zimbabwe, Rhodes Isn't Safe in His Grave. Wall Street Journal, Dec. 9, 1998: 1, 6</ref> This mount is also referred to as the World’s View. (Not to be confused with the World's View, Nyanga). Mzilikazi is also buried at Matopos Hill.
A memorial shrine, erected by the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (MOTH), an organization that seeks to commemorate the sacrifice of Rhodesian servicemen and women during World War One and World War Two, can be accessed in the Park.
Accommodation and camping
Maleme Camp
This is the main camp in the centre of the park, and hosts the park headquarters. All accommodation is self-catering. There are eighteen lodges and six chalets, the former fully equipped and the latter with communal ablutions and without crockery or cutlery. Three of the lodges, Imbila, Black Eagle and Fish Eagle, offer views over the Maleme Gorge. Imbila Lodge offers a higher standard of luxury with ensuite bathrooms and teak furniture.<ref name=Onweb>Matobo National Park Africa-Onweb Template:Webarchive.</ref> Camping and caravan sites are situated along the eastern shores of Maleme Dam.
Mtsheleli Camp
Located in the south, this camp offers campings and caravan sites.
Mwesilume Camp
Located on Circular Drive, west of Maleme Dam, this camp offers campings and caravan sites.
Toghwana Camp
Located in the east, this camp offers campings and caravan sites.
Arboretum Camp
Located in the west of Lake Matopos Recreational Park, near the Hazelside Office, this camp offers campings and caravan sites.
Sandy Spruit Camp
Located in the east of Lake Matopos Recreational Park, this camp offers campings and caravan sites.
Lake Matopos Camp
Located in the north of Lake Matopos Recreational Park, this camp offers campings and caravan sites.
Privately operated camps and sites
The Boy Scouts Association of Zimbabwe operates a camp called Gordon Park, in the north of the Mtsheleli Valley. Gordon Park is a 115 ha lease from the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and is maintained as far as possible close to natural conditions. In addition to camping sites for Scout Troops there is a small cottage.<ref>Camping at Gordon Park Boy Scouts Association of Zimbabwe: Matabeleland Province Template:Webarchive</ref> The Girl Guides Association of Zimbabwe maintains a camp site at Rowallan Park, in the north of the Mtsheleli Valley.
Big Cave Camp is a privately owned camp, bordering the Matobo National Park.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Camp Amalinda and Matobo Ingwe Lodge are commercial lodges.
Tourism
Access
By road from Bulawayo: Take Robert Mugabe Way in the city centre; this turns into Matopos Road which continues south some 30 km to the park boundary. This is a two-lane tarred road. A single lane tarred road continues to Maleme Dam and Rest Camp. The remaining roads in the park are gravel or earth, but suitable for most vehicles. However, access to Toghwana Dam during the rainy season may require four wheel drive.
The park can also be reached from Gwanda: taking the Thuli-Makwe road towards Kezi and turning north on the main Kezi-Bulawayo road.
Game viewing
Some game can be seen throughout the park, with regular sightings of white rhino, sable antelope and impala. However, the best viewing is to be had in the 105 km2 Game Park, in the west of the national park. The game park, also known as Whovi or Hove Wild Area was established with animals translocated from the border areas of Hwange National Park.<ref>Davison, T. 1967. Wankie, the Story of a Great Game Reserve, Books of Africa. ASIN B0007JZPIQ</ref> It has been restocked with white and black rhinos.<ref>Rachlow, J.L., Kie, J.G. and Berger, J. 2001. Territoriality and spatial patterns of white rhinoceros in Matobo National Park, Zimbabwe. African Journal of Ecology, 37, 295 - 304 [5].</ref> Other animals to be seen include sable antelope, giraffe, zebra, impala, wildebeest and ostrich. On rare occasion in the late afternoon to early evening visitors, can be lucky enough to spot leopard, with many nights being disturbed by the ruckus of baboons screaming due to leopard attacks. There are two game viewing hides.
Hiking
With its scenery, climate and safe environment, Matobo has a number of hiking trails. Shorter hikes and walks include:
- Lakeside walk, Maleme Dam, from Fish Eagle lodge
- Mount Pomongwe, near Maleme Camp
- Maleme Camp to Pomongwe Cave rock paintings<ref name=map>Matobo National Park Undated map, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority</ref>
Longer hikes include:
- Climbing mount Shumbashawa, near Gordon Park
- Climbing Nyahwe mountain
- Hike from Toghwana Dam to Inanke Cave and rock paintings.<ref name=map/>
Accompanied hikes, with an armed game scout are available from Maleme Rest Camp<ref name=Onweb/>
Running
The 33 miler road race is run annually in the park.<ref name=Onweb/>
Trail riding
Supervised horse trails are arranged by the Parks and Wildlife staff.<ref name=map/> There are two routes:
- From Maleme Camp and visiting scenic locations in the Maleme valley and environs.
- From Whitewater Office into the game park for game viewing.<ref name=Onweb/>
Fishing
The many dams in the park allow for pleasant fishing, notably for Tilapia and bass. Bass were stocked into seven of the parks dams from the research station at Maleme Dam.<ref name=fish/> The park entry fee includes a fishing license.<ref name=park/>
Boating
Boating is possible on the larger dams, such as Maleme, Mtshelele, Toghwana and Lake Matopos. Privately owned boats are permitted subject to approval of the parks' officials.<ref name=park/>
In popular culture
A Zimbabwean cheese has been named Matopos, after the hills.<ref>Matopos Cheese Dairiboard Zimbabwe (Pvt) LtdTemplate:Dead link</ref>
The name of the park has been used twice in films: According to director Stéphanie Machuret, the title and landscape in her 2007 film Matopos, about a traditional healer, were inspired by the park.<ref>Stéphanie Machuret Matopos International Museum of Women Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Matopos, listing at Internet movie database</ref> The name was also used for the fictional Democratic Republic of Matobo in the film The Interpreter.
See also
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- National parks of Zimbabwe
- Bornhardts
- World Heritage Sites in Zimbabwe
- Prehistoric Africa
- Geography of Matabeleland South Province
- Tourist attractions in Matabeleland South Province
- 1926 establishments in Southern Rhodesia
- Protected areas established in 1926
- Archaeology of Eastern Africa
- Archaeological sites in Zimbabwe