Khami Ruins

The Khami Ruins have not been covered well by the reviews so far, the only two existing ones are short and date from visits in the 1990s. The ruins aren’t visited much by our members in general either, they are ranked #1007 out of 1157 currently. And it isn’t that they’re particularly hard to get to – they are open daily and lie just some 20km outside of the city of Bulawayo, which in itself is an excellent hub for 3 of Zimbabwe’s 5 WHS.

I went there fresh off the plane, having arrived on a direct 1-hour flight from Johannesburg to the international airport of Bulawayo. I picked up a rental car and drove across the sprawling city to the west. I had Waze direct me, until on the outskirts of the city I started noticing signposting towards ‘Khami Ruins’. I decided to follow those, which turned out to be a good choice as Waze wanted me to turn into the access road to the Khami prison (no, not the archeological site of a prison).

The final 5km of the drive is on an unpaved road, and the 5km before that the asphalt only covers half – the rest is potholes and sand. You’ll pass a house now and then, but I don’t see the city encroachment becoming a problem quickly. The signposting stays excellent til the end. You will enter the (unmanned) gate with the ‘Welcome to Khami Unesco World Heritage Site’ sign and the WH …

We visited Khami in 1990, on a day trip from Bulawyo (hitching). It was great to be alone at the site - there weren't even staff there to take payment and to walk around with no guides(people ,signs or maps). but it did mean we didn't have much information on what we were seeing.

We also hitched to a round church in a local village with lots of murals - biblical stories but where all the key figures were African - it was this which was the highlight of the day ( I wonder if the church is still there? )

It is perhaps a bit surprising that both Great Zimbabwe AND Khami ruins are registered as separate WHS. They are however from different, albeit related, cultures. Historically the former preceded the latter. My personal view is that, unless you are either a “WHS nut” or particularly interested in pre-colonial African ruins/history then you should concentrate your efforts on getting to Great Zimbabwe and give Khami a miss.

If you are in Bulawayo then Khami is only 22kms away but you will need your own transport or have to pay for a tour and the entrance fees for foreigners reflect a certain lack of realism as to the value of what is “on offer”.

Khami is a court complex of the Torwa state from around the 15th century. Like all “Zimbabwes” the palace is built on a hill and a number of stone walls from the structures partially remain. I didn’t personally didn’t find it a particularly worthwhile place to visit when we did so in 1997.

A few miles away however the ruins of Naletale were in a totally different class. Not only was there no entrance hassle, the site offered complete peace and the most wonderful patterned brick/stonework – far better than you will see at either Great Zimbabwe or Khami. There are apparently 5 types of pattern and Naletale has fine examples of all of them. From a distance it looks like a tapestry in stone. Look at a photo at http://www.geocities.com/thetropics/island/6697/africa9899/pic10.html