Matobo National Park
The Matobo
National Park forms the core of the Matobo or Matopos Hills, an area of granite
kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 kilometres south of Bulawayo,
southern Zimbabwe. The Hills cover an area of about 3100 km², of which 424 km²
is National Park, the remainder being largely communal land and a small
proportion of commercial farmland. The park covers some beautiful scenery
including some spectacular balancing rocks and impressive views. Part of the
national park is set aside as a 100 km² game park, which has been stocked with
game including black and white rhinoceros. The Matobo Hills were designated as
a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Matobo National Park has a wide diversity
of fauna: 175 bird, 88 mammal, 39 snake and 16 fish species. Game include white
Rhinoceros, sable antelope, impala and leopard. The Matobo Park contains the world's
densest population of the latter, due to the abundance of hyrax, which make up
50 % of their diet. San (Bushmen) lived in the hills about 2,000 years ago,
leaving a rich heritage in hundreds of rock paintings. There are over 3,000
registered rock art sites, with the main periods of painting being between 320
and 500 C.E. It was also in these hills that Robert Baden-Powell, the Founder
of Scouting, first learned woodcraft, the fundamentals of scouting, from
Burnham. Cecil Rhodes, Leander Starr Jameson, and several other leading early
white settlers, including Allan Wilson and all the members of the Shangani
Patrol killed in the First Matabele War, are buried on the summit of
Malindidzimu, the 'hill of the spirits'. With beautiful scenery, pleasant climate and safe environment, Matobo
offers excellent hiking country.
