Mavavani

Last weekend was a long weekend. You will remember Hero's days and all that. Well, I was a little pressed for time in catching up on my chores on getting back to town from the four day weekend spent in the glorious Matopos, so I did not write. I guess it was quite obvious I did not write, seeing you did not get a letter.

This month's service fell on the Sunday of the long weekend and yes Hylton, it was a special day as you pointed out in your letter to me. I even had flowers on the altar. Thanks for remembering.

We had 55 attending mass, which was celebrated by Fr. Martin Schupp, who is the Apostolic Administrator for the Archdiocese of Bulawayo. For the remainder of the weekend, Christopher, Dale, Brendon and I busied ourselves with all sorts of tasks around the Park and naturally lots of eating and drinking of tea.

Unfortunately, Dillion and Declan had to leave after the service on the Sunday as they were going to South Africa for the remainder of the school holidays. To me it is a toss up as to who were the lucky ones.

Now for this past weekend. At the meeting this last Friday night, five chaps said that they would come out to the Park the next day, but only Dale and Brendon were waiting at our rendezvous. Anyway, I had only two main objectives to see to for the weekend, so I was not too worried about the low numbers.

Saturday morning and early afternoon was spent in finishing the, "on and off" four year long project of replacing the main water supply line with plastic pipe to Headquarters. This task was duly achieved by afternoon teatime with the addition of uplifting a section of the old supply line of corroded metal piping. The replacement materials for this project were sourced and installed by the Troop and given to Gordon Park in appreciation for the privilege of having the use of such a fantastic campsite where we spend our weekends.

The second project was to determine the problem with the engine of No. Two alternator, as when I had used it the previous week, it was emitting some very strange sounds whilst running. On inspecting the beast, I discovered that the flywheel had come loose, and hence the strange noises. Brendon and I have started on dismantling part of the machine to get at the flywheel and at the same time we have removed the radiator so as to take it into town to have the leak repaired.

It has been leaking water for the last year. I can not complain, as the engine has been in service for twenty-eight years without having any major work done on it, other than a change of filters at periodic intervals. Next week I will take out the necessary tools to do the job of tightening the flywheel and refitting the radiator. I hope it will be a reasonably straight forward task.

Now Leon, go and make yourself a cup of strong tea and try to remain as cool as possible, for what I am about to tell you is going to knock you sideways. During our hike on the 1-2 August, we met a fellow, by the name of Gilbert, in the Gulati Communal land, who was working industriously in his garden. During our chat on a number of subjects and of his own volition, he pointed to a hill in the distance and said "The cave you are looking for is in that hill". I asked, "What cave?" "Mavavani of course"' he replied.

Well, I was a little baffled, for I had not asked him about any cave. Apparently, most visitors to his homestead had asked where this cave was, and so he naturally assumed that I too was about to ask him the same question. Looking at the hill he pointed at, I suddenly got all excited, for I recognized it. Could the cave he mentioned be the one that I have been looking for, for the past five or so years?

I asked him for a few directions as to where about on the kopje the cave was situated and I was told, "When you get to the hill, follow the river until you come to a big tree, then turn and walk straight into the hill, where you will see the cave, it is at the bottom of the hill, so do not climb up." The description of the cave being at the base of the hill fitted the one I had been looking for.

Well, we did not have the time nor the energy to go and look for caves, certainly not after a 22 kilometre hike, so I decided to go exploring for the cave another weekend. Much to the relief of the others, I may add. Returning to this last Saturday afternoon. I deliberately did not say earlier what we did after having completed the plumbing of the new piping at Headquarters, for it is a story of its own.

Having had our afternoon tea, I casually asked Dale and Brendon if they would like to join me on a walk to try and find the cave we had been told about on our hike at the beginning of the month. Do donkeys eat carrots? We closed up HQ in record time and then headed for Shumba in "Inguluvani". Parking at the usual spot, we climbed up onto the saddle and then hiked into the Communal Land heading for the kopje, the one nobody can tell me the name of, between Shumba and Tandale.

I decided to look here first as the instructions were, "Follow the river", and this was the only little river in this area, but I had a sneaky suspicion that the Ndebele language does not differentiate between "river" and "vlei".

The kopje I had recognized from a few kilometres south whilst on the hike was boarded on the east by a "vlei" and not a "river". By looking in the "wrong" area first, would ensure that, that option had been exhausted.

Chinese thinking I am afraid, but then I like to make people work for their rewards. Well, we did not find any cave, although the kopje was well fractured and broken and really an ideal place to find caves. The day was drawing to a close, so I suggested that we head back to the saddle on Shumba via our usual hike route from Gali to Shumba along the "indhola" track. When we arrived at the track, which wound its way up out of the vlei and between the kopjes, I saw a large tree some 400 metres further up the vlei, but well within the tree line.

We had seen many large trees during our search, so why I picked on this one is a mystery. The excitement was a bit too much to ignore, so we headed for it and then split up to search the base of the kopje a further fifty metres behind it. Brendon to the left of Dale and I, suddenly shouted an excited, "I have found it, I have found it".

The cave is more of an overhang like White Rhino shelter, but much larger and deeper. It has many well persevered paintings, but not what I would classify as "Bushmen paintings". I think they are paintings done by the early Matabele, for they are rather crude as compared to Bushmen paintings. I will have to check the style out with one of the experts on Rock Art. Besides the usual "red" there are also many "white" paintings done in kaolin. Then, there are political slogans done during the 1970's. The cave must have been used as a hideout during the period of our hostilities.

Feeling very elated with ourselves, we headed back for "Inguluvani" parked at the base of Shumba. Keeping close to the base of the kopje with Mavavani cave, along the "indhola" track, we made good time. As we headed for the saddle on Shumba, I looked up to my right, to the long, inclined ridge of the kopje we now know as Mavavani and there, I saw a well known figure, illuminated by the red rays of a setting sun, standing on a rocky ledge watching us. A broad smile on his face, an arm up- lifted, waving slowly from side to side in recognition of our presence and triumph at having at long last found, "The Cave".

Your kopje, Mavavani, where your "kraal" will be built one day. I smiled back, "Yes you old fellow, you had me standing almost on top of that cave in January, a few months ago, and I did not know it was there, as I looked for a vehicle route up from the vlei on the eastern side of Mavavani.

Back at the Park that evening, it was my turn to prepare dinner. Usually I have some very good reason why I should be let out of preparing a meal, but I guess I was "drunk" with excitement at having found the cave and the name of Leon's kopje. Both Brendon and Dale agreed that I am quite a good chef. Cheeky imps, I know that is one way of softening me up and so conning me to do more cooking and them more playtime.

Anyway, having done the cleaning up and having had our showers, I suggested that we gather our sleeping bags and head for the top of Shumba for the night to celebrate our discovery. No need for a second invitation, even though it meant climbing Shumba a second time that day. At nine o'clock, under a clear sky with a full moon lighting the way for us, we climbed to the top of Shumba, laid out our sleeping bags and chattered for a while before falling asleep.

I do not know why, but I awoke at ten to eleven. There was no wind and the night air was quite warm. I looked up and saw stars. Lots of stars. Why? It was full moon and therefore I should not see the stars so clearly. Then I looked at the moon and it became clear as to why the stars were so bright. The moon was almost totally eclipsed by the earth's shadow creeping slowly across it.

I woke the other two up, so that they too could witness the eclipse. It was past midnight when I finally dropped off to sleep. Another great experience in the mystical Matopos. Even more so, as I did not know of the eclipse in advance and it was a last minute inspiration earlier that evening to sleep on top of Shumba.

The spirit of adventure is inherent in almost every boy, but adventure is hard for him to find in the crowded city. --Baden -Powell, 1932

Cheers Norman
Bulawayo, 19 Aug 2008