Mapungubwe Hill
Guided walks.
South African Tourism from South Africa — CC BY 2.0 · South African Tourism from South Africa — CC BY 2.0 · South African Tourism from South Africa — CC BY 2.0 · South African Tourism from South Africa — CC BY 2.0 · South African Tourism from South Africa — CC BY 2.0 · South African Tourism from South Africa — CC BY 2.0
Mapungubwe National Park lies in the far north of South Africa's Limpopo Province, where the Limpopo and Shashe rivers meet and South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe share a border, about 73 km in a straight line west of the town of Musina. It is part of the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003. From about 1220 to 1290, Mapungubwe Hill was the capital of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe, the first known kingdom in southern Africa. Its rulers lived on the flat-topped sandstone hill while their people farmed the valley below, and they traded gold and ivory through the Indian Ocean coast for glass beads and cloth from as far away as India and China. Graves on the hill held gold objects, the most famous a small golden rhinoceros. Guided walks climb the hill by a wooden stairway, and the award-winning interpretation centre, built with vaults of earth tiles, tells the kingdom's story. The park is also a wildlife reserve of sandstone ridges and huge baobab trees, home to elephants, giraffes and antelope, and a lookout with treetop walkways looks over the meeting of the two rivers and the three countries. Summers are very hot, so the cooler, dry months from May to September are best for visiting and game viewing.
Guided walks.
The kingdom's story.
Two rivers, three countries.
Limpopo Province, South Africa
No, the hill is visited on guided walks.
May to September.