Bulawayo Things to Do

Although the main reason for visiting the Motopos National park is to see the endangered white rhino, the drive through the park gives you the great experience of viewing a lot of the wildlife that this area has to offer. I did not mind if we did not come across any rhino until later in the day as the drive was pleasent and the wildlife was easy to spot.

At the enterance to the Matopos National park you will stop beside some local craftsmen and their stalls. The carvings are mostly made from wood and I found it a rather sobering experience to see the craftsmen at work, realising that their toils would amount to around ZIM$15,000 for a large wood carving that took them perhaps one week to create. The fact is that ZIM$15,000 equates to approx. US$2.20 and I feel that we are taking advantage of their economic situation.

After driving around for a couple of hours our guides decided that it was time to stop the vehicles and walk through the bush and game trails for a while. We trudged for approx 1.5 hours and came up with nothing in the way of white rhino. (We did walk beside a black mumba snake, the deadliest snake on the planet...but that will be in warnings and dangers later!)
After our walk it was time for lunch and we drove for around 15 minutes to a picnic area that had a great lookout....and you guessed it....there they were! Just like in the movies.

After what could have been our last meal..Our guides decided that it was time that we placed our lives into their hands and walk out to see these rhino at close quarters. We were assured that if we remained up wind, the rhino would not know that we were there and they would continue digging up the salt that they were licking. I am surprised that I held my camera still enough to get this shot as we were only a few meters away from this young male and his mother.....the male was constantly circling his mum and mum seemed to be constantly looking our way!

On our way out of the national park our guides took us past the Matobo Hills. By this late stage in the day I was very ill and was in desperate need of my bed!!!!
The Matobo Hills are remarkable for their unusual scenery and the diversity of their flora and fauna. The hills cover about 790,000 acres and have been eroded from an exposed granite batholith thought to be over 300 million years old. Hump-backed domes ('dwalas') have resulted from exfoliation of the granite.
The Motopos Hills were the scene of the famous indaba between Cecil Rhodes and Ndebele leaders in 1896. Rhodes (after whom Rhodesia was named) is buried here at his own request.

A wildebeest stands alone, patiently waiting for something... There was a large herd of wildebeest near our picnic area and although wildebeest live in herds of up to 100 animals, this one seemed happy to be a loner and was quite a few km's from the herd.
Although it looks frightening, the horned wildebeest is neither aggressive nor particularly dangerous.

While driving through the Matopos National Park we came upon an unusual sight. A loan, young hippo was standing beside a large pool of water. Hippo's live in family groups and are rarely seen out of the water during the day or on their own.

A male giraffe does his best to read the lush leaves of this tree. The dark markings of the male are very noticeable and are in stark contrast to the lighter colours of the female. As the giraffes get older their colours get darker.