About 30 years ago I jumped into my faithful old light-blue Datsun 120Y and went on a road trip with my best friend, Martin, exploring Zimbabwe. At one stage we ended up driving out to the Matopos Hills, just outside Bulawayo - the town where much of ‘Rebellion’ is staged.
The Matopos Hills is a vast area of massive granite boulders, and as we wove our way through this amazing part of the country, we pulled over to eat a sandwich and knock back a warm, but very welcome, coke-a-cola.
I had done some of my Police training in this area, (as well as a very tough survival course that I try to forget!) and Martin and I were discussing some of the history about the Matopos that we had learnt at school, (and some of the highs and lows of our training days - more lows than highs I might add!) and for some reason, and I remember it well, Martin said he would love to find a place in the Matopos that had never ever been touched by a human before. We both stared at the massive granite outcrop in front of us in silence, and then as if reading each other’s minds, Matrin simply said, “let’s go”.
We climbed to the very top of the outcrop and looked at the magnificent view; eagles were soaring below us! As a token of our respect for the magnificent Matopos Hills, and for its incredible historical past, we placed some coins under a rock, and silently left, vowing one day to return.
That day is yet to happen.
That place is our Nomandudwane, and the location will remain secret.