Day 25 Great Zimbabwe

Today was all about history. We visited the ruins of Great Zimbabwe.

Great Zimbabwe was a great kingdom of the Shona people from the 14th century, stretching from Mozambique to Botswana. We visited the ruins of the king's palace from that time. Great Zimbabwe gave the country its name, Zimbabwe, in 1980 after gaining independence from England. Zimbabwe means "stone house" in the Shona language, and the houses of that time were all built of granite stone. The stones were simply stacked on top of each other with no mortar or cement. The roofs were made of straw and grass. The Shona people were the best builders of that time.

The king, who had his castle at the top of a hill, had around 200 women living in houses in the valley.

The path up to the castle was very narrow. The narrow passages were intentionally built so that the slim Shona people could pass through while potential enemies could not.

The king also had his ancient telephone booth to call his women up the hill. Up to 10 women would be in the castle at a time. The cave acted as a resonance chamber, and the echo would bounce back from the surrounding mountains.

In the heyday of the dynasty, more than 20,000 people lived in the vicinity of the castle. The dynasty had 8 kings, all of whom were of the same bloodline.