Rock Paintings near Mutare

Yesterday another faculty member took two of us who are visiting faculty to St. Augustine’s Mission.  I had visited that place at the end of January, and did a blog post at that time about the orphanage there.  This time we went because there are some ancient rock paintings near there that I wanted to see.  Almost by chance, we found someone in the mission church who had been there once, 14 years ago, and who agreed to guide us to the place.  We took eight boys with us, and had a great time. 

The hillside where the rock paintings are located

Walking up the hill to the rock paintings

 This mountain and its paintings are considered holy to indigenous people of the area.  Our guide showed us a place, sheltered from sun and rain and with two natural sitting places, where people come to pray when they have fasted.  At one point, he stopped us all, had us squat, and asked the ancestors to protect us from snakes, animals and accidents while on the mountain.  Then he took us on to the area where the rock paintings were located.

The approach to the rock paintings

I have no idea how old these are.  Others in Zimbabwe are usually in the broad period 1000 B.C.E.  to 1000 C.E.  These are wonderful representations of animals and people.  Some of them are quite elaborate.  I don’t pretend to know what the complex panels depict, though I can certainly pick out individual animals and human figures. 

I feel honored to have seen these.  It will always be one of the highlights of this trip.

View from the hill with the rock paintings