Great Zimbabwe National Park, Zimbabwe (Oct. 24, 1998)
Great Zimbabwe is the largest medieval city in sub-Saharan Africa. Several soapstone
birds at the site, one of which is depicted on Zimbabwe's flag, which are thought
to represent the royalty. Most of the place is a mystery -- it was
cleared out around 1400, but there's no evidence of fire, riot, war,
or disease. Our guide's theory on it was that they'd all been
told by some religious leader to clear out. It makes as much sense as
anything to me.
It's not such a huge place to be awesome like the Forbidden City,
but it's pretty impressive. Pictures don't really do it justice, since
they can't really convey the sense of mystery of the place.
The site has two distinctive features -- The Great Enclosure and the
Acropolis -- along with some smaller buildings between the two.
The Great Enclosure
The Acropolis
This picture is a view of the Great Enclosure from the Acropolis, which
is one reason to climb the stairs.
For something somewhat different, a picture from a nearby lake...
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Tom Loos