Domboshava

Domboshava is a village in the province of Mashonaland Central, Zimbabwe. It is located in an area of granite hills about 27 km (17 mi) north of Harare. The village is named after a large granite hill near the village. There are several rock formations at the top of the hill which have been formed by natural erosion. The hill, and rocks, are covered with lichen. There are three colours of lichen at Domboshava: red, green and grey. The name is derived from dombo meaning "hill" and shava (pronounced shawa) meaning "red". (dombo is in fact the Shona word for rock / stone - gomo is the common name for a hill - and dzvuku is the general word for red, shava is a local dialectual term) The site has some examples of cave paintings which date back almost 6000 years. The majority of these paintings can be found in a cave which is some walk from the rock formations at the top of the hill. There is also a hole in the cave that leads to the top hill.