Matopo Mountains

Grave of Cecil Rhodes in the Matopo Mountains

The Matopo Mountains (also Matobo Mountains ) is a mountain range in Zimbabwe south of the city of Bulawayo . The Matopo Mountains are home to one of the most extensive sites of stone age art and cave paintings in southern Africa . Since 2003 it is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites .

The area is considered to be the center of the Shona belief in the god Mwari , who speaks from the rocks there. There are still places in the mountains of particular cultic importance, such as Njelei and Dulu . In the mountain range lies the grave of the founder of the Matabele Kingdom , Mzilikazi .

The British-South African entrepreneur and politician Cecil Rhodes , whose troops had conquered the kingdom in 1893, was buried at his own request at the so-called "World's View" in the Matopo Mountains.

The area of ​​the Matopo Mountains is about 100 × 30 km and is 30 km from Bulawayo. It consists of granite hills with large weathered boulders that lay on top of one another and ravines overgrown with bushes. It is a difficult to survey area in which the people who live there could hide their cattle, their wives and their children in times of war so that the enemy cannot find it.

The Matobo National Park is also located in this area .

Web links

Commons : Matopo Mountains  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: Matobo Hills. Accessed August 21, 2017 . 

Coordinates: 20 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  S , 28 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  E