Domboshawa Caves

Domboshava is a village in the province of Mashonaland East, 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 “rock” and shava (pronounced shawa) meaning “light brown”. Other words that make reference to the colour shava are Javangwe, gadzijava; mushava; Javavhu. The clan name shava is a reference to the light brown colour of the eland or mhofu in Shona.

The granite hill is a National Monument of Zimbabwe and 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.