A Cheetah or Lion?

 

One of the main reasons we visited the Matobo Hills in Zimbabwe was to see rock art sites. The art here was created by the San people, over 13,000 years ago. They depict wildlife along with spiritual beliefs, shamanistic visions, and rituals. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between one type of image and another., or even between a cheetah or a lion.

In Botswana, we met people at a rock art site who only interested in art over 10,000 years old.  I could never set such a limit but, it made me think about how much of a privilege we had to reach so far back in time.  There were still echoes that could be sensed in the caves.  That the people could take the time to create art is a testament to a creative spirit.

The lodge could only accommodate us for a short period of time, but we were lucky to have a room that had a small pictograph. Our guide did an amazing job in packing as much as we could into our trip, including a few geocaches. He did not even let fires set by poachers stop him, literally driving through flames from a fire they set.

Zimbabwe was a complicated country. Almost everyone we met wanted us to understand corruption of the government.  We could even consider that people poached in order to survive.  And we gave a tip to the guards who protected the rhinos. It is a beautiful country but I cannot begin to describe it here.

My Log

We came to Matobo Hills to see a few of the ancient rock art. In a way we came full circle — starting our trip at the Tsodilo Hills petrographs in Botswana and ending it here.

We primarily went to two of the rock art caves but our excellent guide Edward from Amalinda Lodge knew this location and we stopped before returning so that we could do this cache  

We were told that this is called the Cave of the Lions.  We certainly would not argue wire either lions or cheetahs if we had seen them here  

I normally do not spend much time trying to figure out the meaning of rock art. As Edward stated, the images here were done in the context of ritual, ceremony, and community. It is not just a lion, but something overlaid with meaning we can never fully know.

It is a glimpse of a people from thousands of years ago. We can see some if ourselves in the images, we can recover part of our collective consciousness, but to fully understand what it meant to those who created it us beyond our reach

Edward stated that some cave paintings were lost when people attempted to restore them. Others remain secret because they are still used for ceremony or to protect them. I’m only glad to have experienced something from the ancestors.

Rocks and Rhinos 

 

We came down here in the afternoon to look at Rhinos and for me to complete this cache. Poachers had started a fire that had spread to both sides of the road but our excellent guide (Edward from Amalinda Lodge) was determined to get us here for the earthcache.

So we passed through fire and smoke to enjoy a beautiful sunset.. tbe cache was near tbe graves Cecil Rhodes, but saw no reason to honor him.  His remains should be returned to England. Colonialists and economic power should not be celebrated. There should instead be a monument to those who rebelled against rule by Rhodes and the South Africa Company. Some have called his grave an insult to the African ancestors and blamed some of the country’s misfortunes upon it. They have a point.

The area, however, is remarkable. We walked up just before the sun set. The rocks at the top of the hill had their own power. I thought of a poet from Senegal who wrote about how the voices of the ancestors could be found in the grass, the leaves, and the rocks. The echoes of that can be heard herr.

Motobo was important to us because of the rock art, thousands of years old. Perhaps that also put us in the presence of the ancestors.   But we were also stunned by the beauty of the rock formations which brought to mind other magical areas.  Sometimes rocks are all you need  

 

 

09/18/2023