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Mountain Njelele Sacred Mountain

ID: w385368 View large map

Located in Zimbabwe :: Matabeleland South  :: Bulawayo
Category: Land Mark :: Mountain

Njelele is the prominent rainmaking shrine and oracular cave located in the Khumalo community area. Festivals are still held to this day and continue for up to three weeks. The shrine is found in a granite kopje that looks solid but there are three naturally hidden entrances and paths that wind up and down among overhanging granite boulders leading to the shrine. The narrow entrance is between two tall rocks. An assortment of skulls and horns of big game, iron hoes, clay pots containing water, cloth and beads, piles of tobacco, hatchets, and spears are kept in one of the caves at Njelele. According to Rozvi tradition, the origins of Njelele dates back to the 14th Century. Another version of the oral tradition says that the shrine was established in the hills after Great Zimbabwe was involved in a religious dispute, during which a splinter group of traditional priests moved away from Great Zimbabwe and eventually established the Mwari Cult in the Matobo hills.

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Address :  Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

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