The Matopos...a few photo shoots, and the "worlds view"

Today was brilliant and frustrating all at the same time.  We started the day by stopping at the grocery store to pick up food items to make lunch while we were out today as it was going to be a long day in the mountains.  We were not very creative, nearly everyone decided on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so we just all bought the components and made the PB & J's while we were up in the mountains.  The Matopos are beautiful! I wish I could post pics...I will add them if the internet is better in South Africa.  Essentially, they are mountains made of granite rocks that are balancing one on another.  They were formed under the earths crust millions of years ago and with the tectonic plate movement eventually they have become the massive structures that we now see.  The beautiful thing about the Matopos is that there is a game park there, so we were surprised with a Black Mamba snake almost immediately scurrying in front of our bus (he was HUGE!) and throughout the day we saw giraffes, hippos, mpalas, reed bucks, guinea hens, and of course our friends the baboon.  We climbed to the top of a viewing platform (which the guide said was a short BUT steep climb) I am not sure what he considers short but this climb was intense and although most of it was jagged rock climbing (which although a serious workout is doable) there was a stretch of smooth rock that made sliding a bit too common for my comfort.  We ate lunch at the look-out platform and were joined by some rainbow and striped lizards as well as a ridiculous amount of gnats.  My favorite part of lunch was the rock photo shoot we had...everyone posed with a beautiful background....until we got to our resident clumsy lady...Miss Ellen who decided she was going to slip through a tree stump and scrape up her leg.  Good thing I am a nurse and was able to clean and dress her quickly...so that she could be a part of the 900 other photo shoots we had throughout the day. After leaving the game side of the park, we went to the recreation side where we first visited the Nswatugi caves which had cave paintings that have been carbon dated as being over 60,000 years old! I never in my life thought I would see something so phenomenal. The painting were done by the San people and told stories of people, animals and life. We were also able to find pieces of tools used more recently by the San. The frustrating part of the day came next...we went to what the locals call Malindidzimu "the place of the good spirits" which has one of the most stunning views I have EVER seen.  Unfortunately, this space is known as "World View" to the tourist industry as it is where Cecil Rhodes chose to be buried.  If one understands the history of Africa, they will understand how sick this is...a man who stole land, exploited people, and made wealth for himself ONLY has taken the sacred land of the people he exploited and chosen it as his burial ground with a condition that NO ONE else can ever be buried there.  These are some of the issues we come across on a daily basis.  Another example, the San cave painting we went to see are called "Bushmen" paintings as a way to degrade and create the image of the savage in the minds of the outsider.  The students are learning so much, through a lens that I don't know they would have ever had access to before. After sunset, we left the park and went for dinner and are now preparing to check out of yet another hotel so that we can move to our next spot...Hwange National Park where we will take a "real" safari in open sided jeeps and our next hotel is in the National Park right near a watering hole!!!

Mother with Child Rock Formation