Our wonderful trip through Southern Africa involved careful planning, endless research, a large dose of wanderlust and a bit of luck.

Sure, even without the extra bit of luck, we would have had a fantastic time, but arriving in Harare while HIFA (Harare International Festival of the Arts) was in full swing was just about the luckiest thing that could have happened to us.

We were not expecting to spend much time in Harare. I had wanted to stop by the city briefly to visit my friend from Macalester, but I expected to remain in Zimbabwe’s capital for a short overnight in transit from Masvingo to Lusaka. However, when I told my friend, Ana, that I would be in Zimbabwe toward the beginning of May and that I would love to pay her a visit, she informed me that I would be in the country in perfect time to experience one of Africa’s greatest festivals–HIFA.

It did not take a lot of persuasion to convince my friends to spend a few days in Harare for the festival. Two of my travel companions majored in art and one was heavily involved in theater at her university, so the prospect of visiting one of the greatest gatherings of artists on the continent was certainly appealing to all of us.

We left Masvingo on May 4th, after spending a few hours wandering around the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. The bus ride to Harare took us along windy mountain roads, through green hills and past traditional villages. It took about five hours to reach Harare.

When we arrived in the capital, my friends and I were surprised to see such a cosmopolitan and modern city. The city center contained tall skyscrapers and everywhere, people scurried around the streets in a frenzy that I had not seen since my afternoon in New York City six months prior. I was certainly a bit overwhelmed by the chaos and disoriented by the sheer number of people around me.

When we arrived at the bus station, my friend and her boyfriend picked us up and drove us to Ana’s family’s house in a quiet residential suburb of the city. Her house is a beautiful, white villa, complete with a green lawn, tennis courts and blooming flowers.

We spent a few hours at Ana’s house, chatting, sipping coffee and washing off the layer of grime that had accumulated on our bodies over the course of our travels.

After a few hours’ rest, we met with a group of Ana’s friends and went to downtown Harare for HIFA, where we spent an evening enjoying beautiful art, listening to music and dancing.

HIFA is an annual event that lasts for roughly a week each May. The festival highlights the beauty of Zimbabwe and seeks to shed the negative stereotypes of the country.

HIFA began in 1999 and has endured a tumultuous decade of political instability and deteriorating living standards. It weathered the devastating cholera outbreak that claimed thousands of lives in 2008 and witnessed a faltering economy that saw hyperinflation at 6.5 sextillion percent. The glitz and glamour of the festival has often been at odds with the reality that many people experience in the country. Yet, HIFA provides a break from the harsh realities of life and an excuse to experience the other side of Zimbabwe–a side that is beautiful and artistic and creative.

As writer Petina Gappah put it, “HIFA shows a Zimbabwe that works.” It shows the Zimbabwe that could have been, had it not been for the decades of colonial rule and government mismanagement of resources and funds.

It shows a Zimbabwe that is vibrant, colorful and integrated into the international community.

In fact, one of HIFA’s missions is to reveal this side of Africa to visitors. It takes the common acronym TIA (this is Africa) and turns it into TINA (this is new Africa). The festival aims to illustrate the wealth of art that has been produced on the continent and overseas–from handicrafts to spoken word and from theater to music.

Over the course of the festival, there were nearly 200 performances from over 30 countries.  These ranged from Senegalese pop music to Japanese theater.

On our first evening at HIFA, my friends and I attended a performance by Senegal’s Baaba Maal. Baba Maal is one of the most beloved West African musicians and, though I had never heard of him or listened to his music before attending HIFA, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert.

May 5th was the last day of HIFA, so we spent it at the festival, eating our way through the delicious international food stands, sitting in the shade and admiring the beautiful artistic displays around us. For the first time since I had arrived in Africa, I ate Middle Eastern shawarmas and Indian curry. I realized how much I missed indulging in such a wide variety of cuisines. It took a great amount of self-control to stop myself from eating all day.

In the evening, we saw another wonderful musical performance. We had purchased tickets to see Makumba and Friends, which was the closing show of the festival. The music group is from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and their songs are amazing. My friends and I agreed that the group sounds like an African version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, though their songs also have an infusion of other musical styles. One song even had a guest performer playing the didgeridoo.

The Harare International Festival of the Arts was a perfect unexpected ingredient to our travels to Zimbabwe. It exposed us to a Zimbabwe that was hopeful and full of artistic beauty.

It fed our love for the country and its people and, in the end, made it all the harder to leave.

The post The Harare International Festival of the Arts appeared first on Erika's Travels .

In 1871, German geologist Karl Mauch set off in search of the biblical city of Ophir—a place that once supplied the Queen of Sheba with an abundance of gold for the construction of the Temple of Solomon. And when he stumbled upon the ancient stone structure of Great Zimbabwe in the beautiful, green highlands south of Harare, he believed that he had at last stumbled upon the fabled city.

Great Zimbabwe is one of Africa’s most incredible archeological sites. Yet—even amongst avid travelers—the ruins remain largely undiscovered. The wonderfully preserved Bantu ruins provide evidence that ancient Africa reached a level of civilization not suspected by earlier scholars. The ruins are truly a forgotten marvel of Zimbabwe and a wonder of Africa.

They are the most impressive archeological site south of the Nubian pyramids, and sub-Saharan Africa’s most awe-inspiring archaeological relic.

THE GREAT ZIMBABWE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

Great Zimbabwe National Monument lies approximately 30 km from Masvingo, in a sparsely populated Bantu region of Zimbabwe’s lowveld. The complex dates—built between the 12th and 15th centuries—extends over almost 800 hectares and is divided into three groups: the Hill Ruins, the Great Enclosure and the Valley Ruins.

THE HILL COMPLEX

The Hill Complex is beautiful. It is the oldest area of Great Zimbabwe and its construction began around the year 900. The Hill Complex was formerly referred to as the Acropolis and it was the spiritual and religious center of the city. It sits perched atop a rocky outcrop and overlooks the verdant valleys and peaks of the surrounding highlands. Its stone walls have a somewhat warped feel, as they incorporate the surrounding boulders into their design.

We walked around the maze-like passages of the Hill Complex, taking in the surrounding views and crawling through passageways and over rocky outcrops.

I climbed to the top of the Hill Complex and sat on a boulder that provided me with spectacular sweeping views of the scenery. Perched upon my rock, I could see the Great Enclosure and Valley Ruins below.

The view was awe-inspiring and beautiful. Were it not for the fact that the sun was beginning to set, I would have likely sat overlooking the valley for hours.

THE GREAT ENCLOSURE

While the Hill Complex is beautiful architecturally and provides a stunning panorama, the Great Enclosure is impressive in its magnitude and engineering. It is the largest single ancient structure South of the Giza Pyramids and has stood the test of time despite the fact that every slab of stone has been stacked without mortar.

The mortar-less walls are a feature that is unique to Great Zimbabwe. It is baffling that, centuries after the construction of the city, they remain largely intact.

 The Great Enclosure is a walled, circular area below the Hill Complex. It dates back to the 14th century and is perhaps the most impressive relic of the archaeological site. The Great Enclosure’s walls measure nearly 10 meters high in places. Its circumference is roughly 250 meters.

We wandered around the various chambers of the structure and admired the narrow passage and conical tower. By walking through the ruins, it was evident that they were once the seat of a great civilization.

In its heyday, Great Zimbabwe may have had as many as 18,000 residents.

THE VALLEY RUINS

The Valley Ruins are a series of living ensembles scattered throughout the valley. They are much newer than the Hill Complex and Great Enclosure. Archeologists estimate that they date back to the 19th century.

The Valley Ruins, located between the Hill Complex and the Great Enclosure, include a large number of mud-brick houses.

WHO BUILT THE GREAT ZIMBABWE RUINS?

Following Karl Mauch’s “discovery” of the ruins, people began abandoning the theory that the ancient stone structures represented the capital of the Queen of Sheba. Instead, they attributed the construction of the ruins to different groups of Europeans.

Because of its sophistication and skilled masonry, many Europeans were reluctant to credit indigenous Africans with building Great Zimbabwe, so they erroneously attributed the ruins to ancient civilizations such as the Greeks, Egyptians and Phoenicians. Some believed that the Portuguese constructed the site shortly after they began to settle the continent and still others credited Arab and Chinese traders who made their way inland from the Swahili Coast.

Yet, archaeological evidence reveals that Great Zimbabwe was, indeed, constructed by indigenous  Black Africans. It refutes that Great Zimbabwe has European or Caucasian roots and indicates that a powerful civilization once laid claim to Africa’s largest archaeological structures.

Evidence also suggests that the city was once the center of a complex trade network that extended along the East African Coast to the Middle East and as far as China. Though the exact origins of the site are unclear and nobody can say for sure which ethnic group it belongs to, archaeological findings point to a sophisticated society that was all but isolated from Europe and Asia.

THE MODERN IMPORTANCE OF GREAT ZIMBABWE

Whatever the origins of the Great Zimbabwe ruins, the site has been a source of pride for a country that has tried to exert its own identity despite historical occupation and current economic hardship. To black nationalist groups within the country, Great Zimbabwe became an important symbol of achievement during the liberation struggle, for it dispelled the common misconception that blacks were somewhat less advanced than whites socially and culturally.

Many believe the word “Zimbabwe” is a contraction of the phrase dzimba dza mabwe–which in Shona means “house of stone.” It was the name given to Rhodesia post-independence and it alludes to the great stone relics that litter the countryside. The country’s flag and coat of arms incorporate a depiction of one of the soapstone bird carvings that has been uncovered at the site.

****

It was a surreal feeling walking through such a grand and mysterious monument and realizing that my friends and I were the only tourists aside from a local Zimbabwean family. Though I relished the feeling of having the ruins to myself, I was puzzled by Great Zimbabwe’s anonymity. How could such a wonderful archaeological treasure be so overlooked? How is it that so few people have even heard of Great Zimbabwe, let alone visited it? I felt lucky to have visited the ruins, but simultaneously saddened by the fact that such a wonderful place does not receive the attention it deserves. Even our Lonely Planet guide grossly underestimated theUNESCO World Heritage Site’s importance and grandeur.

Many of the details and questions surrounding Great Zimbabwe have been lost over time. Yet, though it is unfortunate that so many questions will likely remain unanswered, I found that the shroud of mystery hanging over the archaeological site is part of what makes the place so intriguing in the first place.

_____________________________________

Did You Enjoy this Guide to the Ruins of Great Zimbabwe? Pin It! 

The post Great Zimbabwe Ruins: The House of Stones appeared first on Erika's Travels .