Houses of Stone

When I crossed the border into Zimbabwe, I was told that I was now going to see “Real Africa.” I’m not sure what I’m meant to take from this assessment but I noticed that the nicely paved roads of South Africa changed dramatically.

I also noticed lots of baobab trees along the side of the road – a tree that is quintessentially Africa in my mind!

The country yielded plenty of “typical” African images. . .

But it takes more than just images to be “real” Africa and, in many ways, Zimbabwe fits the mold.

In size, Zimbabwe is slightly larger than Germany. At the time of the last census (1986) there were 14 million people living in Zimbabwe. (Today, it is estimated that at least one-third of that population has fled the country in a massive diaspora.) To me, this begs the question, “why has there not been a census for 26 years?” The answer lies with their current leader, Robert Mugabe, the "Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces." (Put that on a business card!)

Mugabe has been the leader of Zimbabwe since their independence (from Britain) in March 1980 when he won the democratic elections to become the first Prime Minister. It’s debatable how “democratic” the elections have been since then, but that’s beside the point.

Upon gaining their independence, the former Southern Rhodesia chose the name “Zimbabwe” in honor of the greatest medieval city in sub-Saharan Africa, Great Zimbabwe.

The city of Great Zimbabwe was once the capital of an empire that stretched across eastern Zimbabwe and modern Botswana, Mozambique, and parts of South Africa. In the 11^th century, the city became wealthy by trading gold and ivory for glass, porcelain and cloth from Asian and Swahili traders.

Although there are several theories about the origin of the name, Great Zimbabwe, the most common is that it comes from the Shona words “dzimba” and “mabwe” for “houses of stone.”

The use of the word “Great” distinguishes the site from the hundreds of small stone ruins spread across the country.

The city itself (1784 acres) had a population between 10,000-20,000 people from 1100-1400 AD when overpopulation, overgrazing, and political uprisings caused the empire to collapse. By the time the Portuguese arrived in the 16^th century, the city was virtually deserted.

The ancient city, believed to be both a religious and political capital of an ancient empire, was divided into three distinct sections:

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• The Hill Complex: built on a hill overlooking the vast valley below and consisting of royal and ritual structures.

• The Valley Complex: stone walls and platforms for traditional round houses.

• The Great Enclosure: believed to be the royal compound.

The Great Enclosure is the second largest ancient structure in Africa (after the Great Pyramids of Egypt). Architecturally, the Great Enclosure was impressive, surrounded by 820 feet of walls made of large stones, without the use of mortar.

The wall surrounding the Great Enclosure is 36 feet high and 20 feet thick at the base tapering to 13 feet thick at the top.

Inside the walls, is a 230 foot long parallel passage. The use of this narrow passageway is unknown.

Also unknown, is the use for the 30 foot high solid conical tower inside the Great Enclosure.

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A River Runs To It

The nearly 900 mile Okavango River begins in Angola and threads its way through Namibia to Botswana.

In Botswana, 2,900,000,000,000 gallons of water spread over the sands of the Kalahari Desert to cover 6,100 square miles. This area, the largest inland river delta in the world, creates a system of lagoons, channels and islands that support plant and animal life that otherwise could never live in the harsh Kalahari Desert.

Each year, from March to June, the rainfall from Angola causes the river to flood into the delta. During Botswana’s winter (June to August), the Delta swells to three times its permanent size. This abundance of water during the dry season, attracts animals from all over the region, creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.

The lines in the photo running through the reeds are paths through the water created by animal trails.

There are estimated to be 200,000 large animals in the delta – some permanent residents, others who come during the annual floods. About 30,000 of these are large herds of buffalo and elephants who migrate to the Delta each year.

However, the most populous large mammal is the red lechwe antelope – about 60,000 live in the Delta. These animals are rare to spot outside of this area and are uniquely evolved for this environment – they have a water repellent substance on their legs that enables rapid movement through knee deep water. A handy adaptation when threatened by predators!

Some of the best views of the Delta are from above – flying at 500 feet.

It is from this vantage point that I was able to spot many animals including several herds of elephant:

giraffe:

rhinos:

and impala (who look very teeny from above).

Botswana, like many African countries, works hard to protect their wild animals and conserve the environment.

In 1954, the government erected a 1900 mile 5-foot high steel wire fence around the Okavango Delta. The goal was to keep wild buffalo herds (and other wild animals) separate from domestic cattle to prevent the spread of hoof-and-mouth disease.

Anywhere that a road passes through the fence, a veterinary check point washes and sterilizes all car tires and the shoes of those passing through in order to keep wild diseases and domestic ones separate. However, the Veterinary Cordon Fence, or “Buffalo Fence,” has been highly controversial. The fence was not built along the natural migration routes of the animals – the boundaries were determined after extensive discussions with the conservationists and park rangers as well as local ranchers. Local ranchers, who needed land for their livelihood, won and large herds were stuck on one side of the fence, unable to migrate during the dry season. In one example, in 1983, 65,000 wildebeest died during the drought of 1983 since they were unable to cross the fence and get to the river. Unfortunately, business and conservation often find themselves on different sides of an issue.

Another great way to see the Okavango Delta is by Mokoro.

The mokoro is a boat used for centuries by the local tribes for transport in the delta.

Traditionally, these boats are handmade from ebony or sausage-tree logs, but today are often made from fiber glass (but look very similar to their wooden predecessor). These boats are long and skinny which enables them to easily move through the reeds that cover the water throughout the delta.

The Mokoro is driven by a wooden pole rather than an oar. The driver poles (powers and steers) the boat from a standing position. I learned, after some practice, that keeping your balance and steering a mokoro is not nearly as easy as it looks!

Looking for animals from a Mokoro is a very different experience than looking from above.

It’s easier to spot smaller animals.

Painted Reed Frog

And looking at some animals at eye-level keeps you alert!

This guy blends into this surroundings pretty well!

You don’t notice that you’re being watched until they exhale!

But sometimes they’re hard to miss!

We spent the night on one of the islands in the delta (the islands can be differentiated from above because they have trees) -- falling asleep to the sounds of hippos bellowing takes a little getting used to!

The next morning, their tracks show that they were nearby. . .and that they’ve moved on.

Sadly, I had to move on too. . .

Being in the Delta was an incredible experience – it’s one of my favorite places in Africa. While the animals were great to see, what was incredible was being so far from “civilization” and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of nature. It was an amazing experience and one I hope to repeat! The Delta certainly has a beauty and serenity all its own. . .

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I'm a Basket Case!

All over Southern Africa, you can find baskets, handwoven out of leaves and grass, being used in households and sold in shops and on the streets.

Although most of these baskets are created for practical uses, many of them are beautiful enough to be works of art.

In Botswana, I decided to learn more about basket weaving by taking a 3 hour class and attempting to create my own little work of art.

I was so fortunate to have Thitaku Kushonya as my teacher. Thitaku is a master basket weaver – she’s been weaving baskets since she learned from her mother, 25 years ago. Thitaku has competed in many international basket weaving competitions, has been the subject of magazine articles, and has won many awards. She placed fourth on behalf of Botswana in her first competition in Atlanta, Georgia, twelve years ago. But to me, her most impressive accomplishment is training thousands of Batswanan women in the art of basket weaving. She has helped to set up several coops around Botswana to empower rural female heads of households and enable them to provide for their families. I felt truly honored to learn from Thitaku. I’m not sure my work honored her, but my spirit certainly tried!

As I mentioned, baskets are woven in many parts of Africa. But as I learned from Thitaku, the materials used vary depending on what’s locally available. In Botswana, the leaves of the mokolwane palm are used for the outside of the basket, while local grasses are used inside. Once these materials are collected, the palm leaves are boiled to make them more pliable and then boiled a second time with various bush plants to produce the colors of the baskets. Once the desired colors are achieved, the palm leaves are cut into long strips and left in the sun until completely dry.

Unfortunately, collecting the raw materials can be dangerous in Botswana since elephants, crocodiles, and snakes often live in the areas where these plants grow. To help with this issue, Thitaku also works with local women to teach them which plants to use and help them to plant them closer to their homes.

I was lucky enough to have the raw materials already collected and prepared. Three hours certainly wouldn’t have been enough time otherwise! The first step in actually weaving the basket is to make a coil using the grasses and then create a spiral by repeatedly looping the colored palm leaves around the coil.

The small coil that was the start of my basket.

The only tool used in making these baskets is a “lemao.” The lemao is basically a large needle attached to a piece of wood for grip. The lemao is used to poke a hole in the palm leaves in order to “sew” the palm leaf through the previous rows of the coil.

Thitaku Demonstrating the Use of the Lemao

This process is repeated for as long as is necessary to get the desired size.

Once the base is created, the experts can add different colors of palm leaves to make different patterns. That was a bit advanced for me – my basket used only two colors.

A proper basket takes anywhere from 2 weeks to four months to create, depending on the size of the basket and complexity of the pattern. Since I only had 3 hours, my basket is really only big enough to hold a couple of quarters or a pair of earrings.

Woven baskets can even be used to hold liquids – to carry water from the river or to store traditional sorghum beer. To make the basket waterproof, you need a very tight weave and the basket needs to soak for 3 days in water. Once the palm leaves dry, the basket is watertight.

After working on a basket myself and learning about all that goes into their creation, I have a new appreciation for the baskets I see for sale on the streets. The price of the baskets is based on their size and quality of the weaving. (I’m sure I could get at least $.10 for mine!) Baskets made by a master weaver like Thitaku command a high price (one of her competition baskets sold for $1800!) but are worth every penny as they truly are works of art!

I have so much respect for Thitaku, her baskets, and the work she does with the women of Botswana. As for me, I have a few more years of practice ahead . . .

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