UFOs Over Zimbabwe

2011-08-24T00:49:00.000-07:00

There seems to have been no documented activity over Zimbabwe this year - if anyone has seen or heard of anything please let me know.

With the anniversary of the Ruwa Ariel School sighting this coming month we may see something. Keep looking!

Mabelreign/Haig Park

2010-12-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

Things have been very quiet but I have received this report and comments would be appriciated.

'I stumbled on your site and want to ask you if there was ever a report of a UFO in Mabelreign/Haig Park in the mid 1950s? I was at Haig Park Primary school (It is probably something else now) (it was the year Haig Park opened) and was in Std 1 or 2. I was born in 1947 so this would have been about 1955 or 56. I remember I was standing on the veranda looking out over a field of some kind ( the field was below the school) and I saw something land.

It was bright and shiny, silver. Some "people" got out and walked around the object. I was too far away to see them or the craft clearly, but it is something that I remember with perfect clarity over 50 years later. I have always wondered.'

From D W

Jan. 29, 1987; Zimbabwe

2010-08-19T01:08:00.000-07:00

5:43 AM. Several Mozambican laborers working in Zimbabwe reported seeing a large, brightly lit balloon-shaped object passing over Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. The witnesses were able to see two men inside the craft. One was dressed in blue and the other in white. The witnesses interpreted the object as "witch doctors" traveling from South Africa. (Source: Albert S. Rosales, Humanoid Contact Database 1987, case # 1050, citing Cynthia Hind, MUFON Symposium Proceedings 1987).

Meteor or UFO debree

2010-08-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

A large rock mysteriously falls from the sky in Zimbabwes’ Nkayi village

Thursday, 19 March 2009 16:02By Owen Gagare

A LARGE rock, weighing about 100 kilogrammes fell from the “sky,” in Nkayi at the beginning of the month, shocking villagers while at the same time sending the whole district wild with excitement and speculation.

The District Administrator for Nkayi, Ms Nosizi Dube, and the Police Officer Commanding Crime in the district, Superintendent Chanetsa Maswi, confirmed the incident.

The stone, many villagers now believe. is a gift from God, fell with a thunderous noise in Madlilika Village in the Mjena area of Lukampa under Chief Sikhobokhobo at about 5pm on 1 March.

It fell five metres from two villagers, Mr Judia Sibanda and Mr Mncedisi Ngwenya, who were herding cattle in the bush.

In interviews on Tuesday, villagers from the area said they heard a thunderous sound coming from the “sky,” and another sound resembling a bomb exploding. “The noise later fizzled into a sound similar to one made by an aircaft on take-off before dying away,” said Mrs Nomsa Ngwenya, a villager.

On seeing the rock fall, Mr Sibanda and Mr Ngwenya rushed to their home where they told their father, Mr Spempokuhle Ngwenya, of the incident.

Mr Ngwenya told other villagers and together they went to inspect the rock, after which it was agreed that he keeps it since his children had found it.

People from the area believe the rock could have been a special gift from God containing very precious minerals while others believe that it could have been sent by their ancestors in a bid to communicate something to them.

They have since vowed to jealously guard it until they get a satisfactory explanation on what it symbolises or what mineral it contains.

They have been so determined to keep the rock that they even turned down Chief Sikhobokhobo’s request to have the rock.

To date they have only allowed about 15 kilogrammes of the rock to be taken by the Government, through the District Administrator’s Office and security agents, so that it may go for testing.

The villagers, however, reluctantly released the rock.

According to Mr Sethukile Ndlovu, a teacher at Mjena Primary School, who also comes from the area, the villagers believe that the unique stone could turn out to be something of great significance.

“There is a lot of speculation at the moment but one thing for sure is that no one seems to think it is a bad omen, although people were initially shocked by the incident. A number of people touched the stone and nothing has happened to them but the strongest belief seems to be that it is a precious stone,” he said.

“There is belief that it could be containing a very rich mineral while others believe that either God or their ancestors were trying to communicate with them. So, whichever way you look at it, this rock is important to the people of this area and they are keen to find out what it really is. “There is belief that the rock could be a good omen for the area and if there are any benefits from it, the people do not want to lose out.”

Mr Ndlovu said the unique sound, which accompanied the rock made some people believe that there was something supernatural about it.

He says the rock was heard in the entire Lukampa area as well as Matshena, Mbuma and Nkalathi areas.

According to Mr Memukeli Khumalo, also from Mjena, Chief Sikhobokhobo sent two of his advisors to have a look at the stone.

The chief also requested that the stone be sent to him but the villagers refused. “At that meeting people said they had never seen anything like that. The people refused to let go of the rock because they felt that if it was of significance, then its significance would be here. At that meeting, there was talk of raising spirit mediums so that they could find out what the stone meant but we failed to raise them during the meeting,” he said.

When Chief Sikhobokhobo confirmed the incident he alerted the DA who in turn alerted security agents.

The Assistant DA, Mr Knowledge Chikanga, then travelled to the area with the police last week.

“We wanted to see what it was for ourselves and from a security point of view, establish whether it was of harm or not. The elders from the area held onto the rock but in the end they gave us one piece. We hope to conduct tests on the rock,” said Ms Dube, the DA.

The rock weighing 15kg is being kept at Nkayi Police Station.

Supt Maswi said the rock would be tested by officials from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to establish its chemical composition.

The rock is black and very smooth outside. It is grey inside.

Contacted for comment, officials from the Geological Survey Department said they could not explain the phenomenon since they did not have a geologist in the Matabeleland region although another official said the stone could have come from space.

A solid state physicist contacted last night said the object could be a meteorite that dropped into the earth from outer space.

“I would say maybe a small meteorite. If it is a stone then it could be a meteorite that dropped from outer space,” said the physicist after the object was described to him.

A meteorite is a portion of a meteoroid, which is a solid object in interplanetary space, that survives its passage through the atmosphere and impact with the ground without being destroyed.

According to the online encyclopaedia, www.wikipedia.com, numerous people have over the years reported sounds being heard while bright meteors flared overhead.

While some scientists have dismissed the idea of sounds accompanying meteors, given the relatively slow speed of sound, sound recordings made under controlled conditions in Mongolia in 1998 by a team led by Slaven Garaj, a physicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, support the contention that the sounds are real.

05Residents in Pretoria were awestruck by a reported UFO sighting, - will Zimbabwe experience more sightings?

2010-07-28T03:13:00.000-07:00

0Residents in Pretoria were awestruck by a reported UFO sighting, - will Zimbabwe experience more sightings?

It appeared for two consecutive nights in the town of Booysens. This was Wednesday last week - 21 July 2010. Often if there is a sighting in Zimbabwe there is another in South Africa and in reverse. The last few nights have been cold and overcast so we have not looked at the sky - perhaps soon we will have another sighting in Zimbabwe.

The report was as follows:

"I couldn't make out the shape of the object because the three lights were too bright, but it almost had a heart shape because there were two lights on top, a blue light on the left and an emerald green light directly next to it, on the right side, with a big bright white light underneath it which shone straight down," Engela Van der Spuy (67), a resident of Booysens, told Beeld.

The UFO disappeared beyond the horizon at around 8.30pm on Wednesday night, but reappeared the next night, with Van der Spuy calling her neighbours.

One neighbour, Henrico Swart (19), peered at the object through his binoculars, but couldn't make out the shape of it.

According to News24, the South African Air Force, Johannesburg Planetarium and Hercules police station had no knowledge of the incident.

It's not the first time that South Africans have been stunned by happenings in the sky, with a meteor's spectacular burn-up lighting up most of Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

Update on the Ruwa School Encounter

2010-07-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting report and follows what we have thought for some time - that activity about this time was not just an isolated insident.

In an interview entitled, “The Ruwa Close Encounters” by J. Antonio Huneeus, a long time respected researcher and regular contributor to “Fate Magazine”, Randall Nickerson discusses his documentary project.

Like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, Nickerson waits for an opportunity to enter Zimbabwe, and, in 2008, he gets his chance. After he’s there he learns to his dissatisfaction, because of the political unrest, all of the children had escaped long ago into South Africa. So Nickerson ends up on a nine month journey to find and document what happened to these people. But, Nickerson’s quest takes on a life of its own and he starts to document other UFO encounters including mass sightings, abductions, pilot encountesr and landing sites. One of the fascinating incidents that was missed when the tale first aired recounts that on the morning of September 14th the Rawa school buses that day could not use their radios- they received nothing but static . Another fascinating incident happened on that day at two other schools: close encounters of the first kind had been witnessed. Nickerson reports that at the Pier House School, 25 miles from Rawa, over a hundred children watched as a UFO hovered and apparently searched for a place to land.

Randell Nickerson documented what these children did at the time to the skeptics, some of their teachers. They all changed their minds. One of the most ardent teacher skeptics was questioned what changed his mind and he answered; “It was the consistency of the reports from the kids.” That is just the surface of what Nickerson learned. Could it be we are discounting vital warnings delivered through to us in the least threatening way. Some of these children made a claim we read about in hundreds of reports. They claimed they heard warning from these creatures in their heads. This powerful communication warned them – us of our continuing mistreatment of the environment and how it would lead to our own undoing.

Mana Pools

2010-07-12T03:15:00.000-07:00

There was a sighting some time ago in Mana Pools the night Princess Diana died, 3 people were camping and it was 11:30pm One man went out from under the cover of the huge tree they were camping under and he started started shouting for the other two to come and see... two huge glowing orange orbs were parked in the sky, one of them shone a light down to the ground and lit up about an acre of land for a few seconds. They then noticed 3 more pin pricks of the same colour light beneath the two orbs, and they figured that if it were one craft it would have been the size of Monomatapa Hotel! There was not a sound, no crickets, hippo or anything stirred. They stood there for a good 3 minutes watching then slowly the craft began to fly away... there was no engine sound... no sound at all. It was just like in the movies it moved away slowly at first and then took off and disappeared leaving behind it two orange lines in the sky which remained there for a good ten minutes.

They were interviewed at the time by some UFO enthusiasts who were making a documentary and they believe that the same craft was seen that same night in Doma by some hunters and in the Gorge by people on a house boat.

Ley Lines

2010-05-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

I was watching a BBC program the other day where they spoke of the place where ley lines cross as being a 'window to another world'.

It still interests me that the area around Ruwa in Zimbabwe, where the Ariel School sighting took place, has had other sightings.

Could it be that ley lines attract those of another world. not only ghosts - and this is a theory - but also aliens?

Comments would be interesting from any of you.

Aid to help you add info to your blog

2010-04-02T23:25:00.001-07:00

I recommedn the following screen capture software to help you add information to your blog:
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html

Encounter in Ruwa: The Ariel School Sighting

2010-03-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

A Scientist at the Movies

Reviews by Greg Paris
Title: Encounter in Ruwa: The Ariel School Sighting
Date Viewed: 6/12/09
Details:
Director: Randall Nickerson
Producer: Dominique Callimanopulos, on behalf of the John E. Mack Institute
The Review: Recently I had the chance to join 100-120 other Cantabrigians in a small, warm, poorly ventilated, overcrowded (SRO) room -- equipped with some fiendishly designed and horribly uncomfortable instruments of torture, a.k.a. folding chairs -- to screen the draft digital rough-cut of a new documentary, Encounter in Ruwa: The Ariel School Sighting. The occasion was not only a premiere, but also a fund-raising event to solicit money to finish the film, with ample opportunity for the audience to engage both the director and producer in Q&A. The film was curious -- not bad, not great, clearly incomplete and still in search of itself. The ideas in and around the film are interesting, and I'm sure some of the audience left with lots to think about -- even if it concerned UFOs, alien abduction and outcast Harvard professors.
It is an act of bravery to release an unfinished work to an unknown public, and the director and producers are to be lauded for this decision. It is my hope that this review -- likewise unusual, since its object is a first draft -- is interpreted in the same open spirit, as critical analysis and positive suggestions about where the film-making process might go.

At one level, Encounter at Ruwa is a massive compilation of eyewitness testimony in support of a cluster of African UFO sightings, including a possible alien encounter by several young children at a private school outside the capital city of Harare. But like any good documentary, it presents at multiple levels. Key to the original 1994 interviews was John Mack, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who gathered this film to support his interest in the psychology of alien abduction; but the footage sat in storage, unused, until after his death in 2004. The story would probably have been forgotten but for Mack's involvement. Renewed interest in the Ariel events sent one of Mack's personal friends (the director of this film, under the aegis of the John Mack Institute) off to South Africa and Zimbabwe to both collect archival material and interview additional witnesses. As a rough-cut, there is minimal story arc and no conclusions -- the interviews are placed as data in front of the audience for their own synthesis and collation.

There are several ways to examine and critique this documentary.

As a film construct (cinematography, composition, editing):

To its credit, the filming does not suffer greatly from The Blair Witch phenomenon: the vagaries and sickening jolts of handheld photography. One or two shots like this, included to give the impression that we were "on the march," were more than enough.

The majority of footage is interviews with witnesses, so the majority of the film is a parade of talking heads -- some from the original 1994 interviews by Mack himself, some from the more recent (2008) investigations of the current director. This could get a little boring and repetitious, but some of the witnesses are curious simply as individuals, so it doesn't drag too much -- although the editing might be tighter, especially if more are to be included in the final cut.

However, this particular digital projection was flawed by what appeared to be a form of anamorphic distortion: scrunching a wide-angle image into narrower screen real estate by horizontally compressing the left and right quarter wings. This made for a very disturbing, almost nauseating, effect whenever the camera was panning or tracking -- which, luckily, was not often. But perhaps I am inordinately sensitive to visual stimuli for motion sickness, since my wife was unaffected and able to ignore this phenomenon. I hope this was simply an artifact of the viewing environment.

As a documentary:

The message of Ruwa is either unclear, undefined or incompletely scoped out. This is not necessarily a fault, but simply a consequence of (so far) insufficient time and energy. The work is not yet finished. But from this version one might imagine several different directions in which a specific message might be developed:

•About John Mack as iconoclast -- This seems like a major part of the catalyst driving this film, but is almost completely missing from this cut. Mack was a fascinating individual with many interests, a Pulitzer-prize winning author of a Lincoln biography, and a specialist in psychology who in later years began focusing on the alien abduction phenomenon -- much to the chagrin of his Harvard colleagues. His work and interests informed the creation of the John E. Mack Institute -- to explore the frontiers of human experience. He was a major player in investigating the Ariel School sightings, coordinating (along with the film's producer, Dominique Callimanopulos) the interviews, and came to think this particular cluster was of paramount importance.

•About a particularly notable UFO encounter -- In the years since their occurrence, the Ariel School sightings have assumed the status of a major, high-credibility sighting of UFO craft and a very public alien encounter. Even though it garnered minimal coverage in Africa at the time, it appears to be well documented, and the eyewitness reports from multiple age-groups and locations form a remarkably consistent story. Although famous within the UFO community, focusing the documentary on the encounter would raise its visibility to the general public -- if that's what the Institute wants to do.

•About the opinions & investigations of Mack not into UFOs but into the workings of the human psyche -- This is where it initially looked like it might go when we viewed a short 5-minute trailer that included snippets of Mack speaking to a group of South African psychologists at the time of the Ruwa encounters, footage currently missing from the rough-cut. At that time (1994), in his opening comments, it seemed that he was not looking at such events as qualia, but as tools to provide insight into how the human mind worked, how it interpreted certain evidence, how it recorded, forgot, or transmuted memories. Perhaps this is a snapshot of his state of mind, and the status of insight -- and if so, it would anchor an interesting arc illustrating the changes in his perspective and interpretation over time.

•About the personal journey of a young director & friend of Mack, a sort of quest to Zimbabwe -- It is only in this category that I can understand editing to include introductory shots of airplane wings, rain-dropped portholes, aerial shots of African countryside, and archetypal animal shots establishing the situation in a decidedly foreign country.

What the film could become, if done carefully, is an intricate interlinking of each of these themes. I'd like to see the focus outline the journey of Mack's mind as he developed his concepts, revised them in the light of new evidence or events, perhaps centering on the Ruwa encounter as an cogent example of how his concepts evolved to incorporate these new observations -- becoming a touchstone for the entire community and phenomenon of sightings. It's not there yet, and this structure would depend strongly on additional material of which there were minimal clues -- such as interviews with (or presentations by) Mack himself over the time his ideas evolved, voiceover readings from his writings, etc. Such perspective could weave together the various threads into an harmonious whole.

As an unexplained event:

One way of interpreting the film is as straightforward documentation and reportage -- this is what seems to have happened (timeline, geography, people), here are eyewitness interviews, isn't it odd? However, this is probably the model least like what we saw, and not the obvious direction in which it might evolve. It doesn't take a plethora of interviews, hammering the point of consistency, to arrive merely at the announcement of a "ten day wonder". And to give it its due, this is unlikely to be the message the John Mack Institute would send.

But there are several directions, messages or threads that are (so far) missing, and their omission would doom the film to be considered one-sided, biased and unbalanced. These include:

•A search for additional objective data -- 1994 was not the dark ages, and ample records exist of satellite imagery from the time, both public and nationally confidential. If one or more luminous large objects were located in a limited geographic area, across a period of 2-3 days, then there might be independent corroboration from orbiting cameras in their default modes, without requiring retargeting. It would be interesting to contact both commercial sources and file for FIA (Freedom of Information Act) documents from the US government to see if any orbital overflights may have inadvertently captured information of interest.

•The nature of evidence, particularly the erratic, incomplete and generally abysmal character of people as real-time witnesses -- Consistency in stories is one thing, but the widespread use of identical phrases, the same distinctive and unusual wording -- "as tall as a 6th grader; putting thoughts into my head about technology" -- is surprising. I will grant that the circumstances surrounding isolated, consistent graphic drawings do not admit to simple explanation. If you are a na•ve audience, then the repeated citation of consistent, corroborative descriptions, phrases and stories (as one sees throughout the rough-cut and the trailer), would seem to lend credibility to the evidence. It all seems so consistent, so it must be true. But if you are informed about the vagaries of human observation and memory, of just how bad people are as witnesses, then this notable consistency of phrase and event simply becomes suspicious. Not necessarily suspicious of intent, of fraud, of deception or of outright fabrication -- but suspicious that other explanations from contemporary culture and the heterodyning story-telling traits of imaginative children. It is on this point that you may see my personal connection into this screening, this film and the events on screen -- I have a long-time fascination with the nature of evidence, and what might constitute proof of a particular point of science, an opinion or explanation. It turns on whether incontrovertible evidence is possible, and whether truth is absolute, or simply asymptotic, incremental convergence. This would be a relevant question to pursue in the context of Ruwa.

•Skeptical alternatives and explanations -- If one intent is to provide a balanced documentary, then in addition to interviewing a MUFON advocate, one might also identify and engage cooperative members of the skeptical community. These individuals have likely developed a set of questions and investigative techniques that have been applied to events and encounters similar to this across the past several decades, and might provide a collection of background explanations for some common observations. Perhaps it is not the intent of the producers to be balanced, or they perceive that the resultant documentary will eventually be balanced without this type of input and commentary. But as a scientist I would like to see certain points countered with questions. Is there any objective (satellite) data available? What is the organization of primary school in Zimbabwe around the time of apartheid, and how were students at different levels sequestered in class or playground? What exposure did the students (as well as adults) have to contemporary culture in the form of television (e.g., X-Files) or books (e.g., Whitley Streiber) or film (any science fiction entry)?

And there are some inevitable problems and concerns:

•The structure of science and the nature of the scientific process -- One possible pitfall this film may fall into (as the editing proceeds) is presenting an amalgam of evidence as proof convergent. This can become an insidious parody of science, unnoticed as such unless you are looking for it. If you add together sufficient consistent or mutually supporting statements, assume or transform these into a form of data, then a sketchy form of logic emerges where the evidence becomes (or is presented as) fact from which subsequent logic can be reasoned -- whereas in reality the resultant structure is an unstable house of cards lacking almost completely in any scaffold of logic and rigor. I've seen this frequently in many (semi-)popular books that present credulous approaches to (for example) the interpretation of archaeological artefacts, the existence of Atlantis, or global maps descended from unknown prehistoric cultures -- throw some observations together and whatever structure emerges from the accumulated pile of tidbits constitutes self-proof of both existence and truth. This is not science, nor even an approximation of how science is done, but has emerged as a not uncommon misconception of scientific proof by some science-inexperienced writers. Engaging, perhaps; entertaining, often; science, no. This documentary walks a tightrope in its presentation of eyewitness evidence, because it is only a small step before it falls into this trap.

•The premiere as an event in itself -- This screening was held in the center of an incredibly rich academic setting, an epicenter of intellectual prowess, and thus probably attended not only by local film buffs and quiet members of fringe abductee community but also by scientists and clinicians -- people who think for a living. So I expected a bit more of my fellow Cambridge attendees -- more intelligent questions, more insight, more patience, less hype and awe. I guess I'll attribute it to end-of-week exhaustion exacerbated by torturous seating discomfort.

Whatever your opinion or stance, it's worth encouraging the completion of this documentary. The film is scheduled for completion by December 2009. Feel free to contact the John E. Mack Institute (a 501c3 nonprofit organization) for information about progress and to contribute.

No, this film is not in the theatres or multiplexes near you, nor will it be for some time. I'd start looking for it in small independent film festivals in spring 2010. By that time, it may have evolved into a truly positive viewing experience.

(13-Jun-09)

Zimbabwe's Mount Inyangani

2010-03-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

Has this something to do with Aliens?

Zimbabwe's Mount Inyangani is perhaps the most interesting of the mountain sites known for their ability to make people vanish, precisely because in some instances, those missing have turned up with peculiar stories to tell. UFO investigator Cynthia Hind, in an article for FATE Magazine, discusses the experience which befell a present deputy minister in the Zimbabwean government, who was once lost on Mount Inyangani with two companions. According to the deputy minister, the three men walked aimlessly in a state of confusion, feeling neither thirst nor hunger, all the while seeing and waving frantically at the elements of the rescue team, who could not see them at all. Apparently, certain blood sacrifices were offered to the tutelary deities of the mountain, which enabled the three men to "reenter" our normal space-time continuum. Hind's article goes on to say that in the early 80's, a district assistant for the locality which includes Mount Inyangani was himself involved in the rescue operation undertaken to localize a missing government official. The elders of the Tangwena tribe were informed of the official's plight, and a ritual aimed at securing his "return" was performed. The missing official was found the next day, none worse for the experience, but unable to remember what he had done during the two days he was missing. Others have been less fortunate, and their disappearances have never been solved.

Sighting above Bulawayo

2010-01-25T02:03:00.000-08:00

There are numerous reports of objects being sighted by planes over Zimbabwe on one occassion above Bulawayo and 5 other towns in , Matabeleland
2 Hawk fighters (AF of Zimbabwe) pilots saw a very bright round object with a short cone above it. this was in 1975.

Zimbabwe UFO

2010-01-25T02:02:00.000-08:00

Back in 1985, a round object topped with a cone was seen by dozens of peopleover the skies of Zimbabwe. With pilots, air traffic controllers, andcivilians among the witnesses, that country turned to aeronautical expertsfor an explanation. Now, a year and a half later, Zimbabwe's Air CommodoreDavid Thorne sees no explanation in sight. "We have not been able toidentify the object," he says. "We have had to classify it as a UFO."Although he didn't personally witness the object, Thorne reports that "thecraft was spotted as it streaked over southern Zimbabwe. Then air trafficcontrollers watched it hover and tracked it on radar. 2 Air Force jets wentafter the object, and the pilots described it as incredibly shiny, reflectingthe colors of the sunset. Our estimates indicate that the UFO was travelingat twice the speed of sound. And when it got dark outside, we realized theobject was emitting its own light. Our pilots are completely reliable,"Thorne contends. "This cannot be dismissed as a plane, weather balloon, ornatural phenomenon."But UFO skeptic James Oberg has his doubts. "The evidential value ofunresearchable sightings in Zimbabwe is zero, however sincere the witnesses,"he says. "Besides, pilots are not always calm, dispassionate observers.They tend to perceive any visual stimulus in its most dangerous possibleconfiguration -- as another craft. That's a good characteristic of a safepilot, but not a good characteristic of a UFO witness." Oberg also points outthat "Zimbabwe is sort of on the edge of the civilized world in terms oftracking things that might cause this kind of UFO report -- like Russian and South African reconnaissance planes that, I'm sure, are flying over that air space."

Sighting Near Shabani

2010-01-25T02:01:00.001-08:00

Date: August 17 1975

Time: 1800

Two men traveling near the Ngesi River along an isolated strip of road saw what appeared to be a bus shaped object heading towards town. The witnesses approached the object and noticed that the object was domed with large panoramic windows and black pillar type objects inside. Inside there appeared to be two human like figures, one seated and the other standing. The object emitted a very strong white light from inside. It suddenly turned a corner and apparently vanished into thin air.

HC addition # 1610Source: Cynthia Hind, UFOs, African Encounters

Some 1990 sightings

2010-01-25T01:38:00.000-08:00

In July 1990 at Night in Harare, An unidentifiable object and its occupants were observed at close range.

On 23 November 1990 22:30 in the Vumba, a big silent cigar shaped object was observed in a residential area for over six minutes. No sound was heard. moving rapidly to the north, flame emitted from rear end. Had blinking and steady lights.

14 June 1991 at 20:50 Harare, Silent intense moon size blob lights ground blue color. Shoots away fast. An unidentified object was sighted, that had an unusual appearance or performance. One light was observed by several witnesses in a residential area for two minutes. No sound was heard.

On the same day , 14 June 1991 at 21:40 at Mazviadei Dam, north of Harare a small blue ball of light flies parallel to ground at low altitude (15m). Winks out. It was observed for over one minute.

2 August 1992 00:20 at Bromley, Dog reacts. Large moon shaped object with satellite lights, maneuver around and merge. Several balls were observed on a farm for 45 minutes.

14 September 1994 at 20:50 on a farm near Ruziruhuru, Silent nocturnal lights were seen to soar, maneuver, and turn at low altitude following the terrain. They were observed by 100 witnesses on a farm for 20 minutes. No sound was heard. this was two days before the Ariel School sighting.

6 March 1996 at 01:00 in Bindura, An object was observed. Ground traces (round footprints) were found. One white oval object, about 5 feet across, was observed by one male teenage witness in a residential area for five minutes. A clicking sound was heard.

In mid-November 1997 Harare, A silver disc was observed by two male witnesses for over one minute - at zenith, stationary 10 seconds, moving rapidly to the W southwest in 10 seconds until disappeared beyond horizon. Second disc appeared in original spot, witness distracted, when looked back it was gone.

In April 1998 in Harare, Zimbabwe

Football-shaped object appeared from nowhere 40m away, treetop level, passed over witness 20m altitude, unusual crackling sound, strange colors glowed at regular intervals, Exited to the south.
The multi-colored football-shaped object, about fifty feet away, was observed in clear weather by one male 18-year-old witness (Kanengoni). A crackling sound was heard.

Some 1980 sightings

2010-01-25T01:27:00.000-08:00

23 March 1980 at 19:00 in Nyanga, a crescent hovers, emits beam of light, moves west into clouds. A hovering object was observed. One crescent-shaped object was observed by five witnesses in area for 30 minutes.

On 15 August 1981 at 18:30 north of Mutare a fireball rolls up over observation tower to lawn. three tall beings were seen they wore brilliant silver suits. Principal witness falls to knees.
An object was observed. Physiological effects were noted. One fiery fireball, about 10 feet across, was observed by a male witness in a pasture for five minutes (Muchena). Three tall beings, each wearing a silver suit, were seen. This is one of the first reports of beings being encountered.

In July 1986 at Chegutu, an odd cylinder with thicker center section and four "chains" hanging down was observed. by two witnesses on a farm for over one minute.

In October 1988 in Mutare, A blue-gray ovoid with spikes at 100m altitude. Whine, blinking lights. It was observed for over three minutes.
.

In 1969/1970s the sighting started again

2010-01-25T00:34:00.000-08:00

In May 1969

Salisbury ( now Harare) An unidentified but otherwise conventional object was sighted. Nocturnal lights were observed by numerous witnesses.

30 January 1970 at 21:30 in Mrewa, Two policemen saw three oval metallic objects hovering near cruiser. Headlights went out, lights did not come on until 10 minutes after objects were gone.

Flying discs were observed. Electromagnetic effects were noted. Three metallic oval objects were observed by two experienced male witnesses (as reported to the police) in a city for ten minutes (Walthew).

On 18 March 1970 18:50
Between Salisbury and Belvedere, Salisbury, e objects were seem by several independent witnesses. three silver discs orbit black object. All flew off rapidly to the east.
Objects were sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. Four silver discs were observed by three witnesses in the city for two minutes (Pink).

Then all appeared quiet until :

21 November 1972 09:30
Salisbury (Harare),
Flying discs were observed. Four discs were observed travelling in a straight line by a group of male experienced witnesses at a building.

19 December 1972
Salisbury (Harare), A hovering object was observed. One object was observed by five witnesses for a few seconds (Pullen).

During the next few months objects were observed over Mozambique.

And then on 31 December 1974 at 23:00 in Harare (Salisbury), a 40 feet diameter orange ball glows and pulses over shops. Shoots away.
A hovering object was observed. It departed by rapidly flying straight up until lost to sight. One orange ball, about 40 feet across, was observed by several witnesses in a city for five minutes.

Throughout 1975 more sighting occurred and were more frequent;

In February 1975 at 15:30 northeast of Mutare, Silver metallic disc tilts and wobbles. Up and away in flash.
A hovering object was observed. It departed by rapidly flying straight up until lost to sight. One silver disc was observed by more than three witnesses on a farm for over three minutes.

On 4 July 1975 at 13:00 in Salisbury (Harare), A daytime disc was reported in a residential area.

On 16 July 1975at 19:20 in Salisbury (Harare), An object was observed. Electromagnetic effects were noted. Animal reactions to the object were reported. An unidentifiable object was observed at close range and caused physical effects in a city.

26 July at 1975 in Salisbury (Harare),
An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed by five witnesses (as reported to the police). It came within 500 feet of the witnesses.
Then in 26 July 1975 at 21:00 - northeast of Marondera, a 20m diameter disc follows a car for 20 minutes. Marine smell, heat, shoots up over town. This is thought to be a hoax but we lived in the area at the time and the people who reported it to us were very reliable members of the farming community.
An object was observed from a car. It departed by rapidly flying straight up until lost to sight. Physiological effects were noted. One disc, about 80 feet across, was observed by two male witnesses, typical age 54, on a highway for 20 minutes (Clark).

Again on 28 July 1975 around midnight between Marandellas and Rusape, Marandellas, An object was observed from a car. One object, twice the size of the moon, was observed by two male witnesses (Alexander).

28 July 1975 at night in Salisbury (Harare), .
A cigar-shaped object was observed by multiple independent witnesses. One cigar-shaped object was observed by two male witnesses, and reported to the police.

25 October 1975 in Hatfield, a Salisbury suburb - a helicopter sized disc flies over mission, bleeps, goes over Salisbury (Harare).
A flying disc was observed. One disc was observed by several witnesses at a mission for ten minutes. A bleeping sound was heard.

30 October 1975 at 20:30 between Sinoia and Salisbury, an extremely bright, violet glowing ball of light was seen hovering near the road. Made droning sound. It was observed by two witnesses, a married couple, at a mountain for over 15 minutes (Morris).

This was the last reported sighting for the 1970's

1954 sightings near Enkeldorn

2010-01-25T00:14:00.000-08:00

In July 1954 12:00
Enkeldorn, Zimbabwe
An unusual object was sighted, that had unconventional appearance and performance. One object was observed by 13 witnesses in a residential area for five minutes.

In October 1954 at night - A flying disc was observed. One disc was observed by two witnesses

In November 1954 at night An unidentified object was sighted, that had an unusual appearance or performance. One object was observed by two witnesses.

It is interesting to note that in Zimbabwe a number of sightings have usually occurred over the country in a short space of time - these sighting are often of similar objects.

Near Mutare 1975

2010-01-25T00:10:00.001-08:00

I have just come across this sighting near Mutare:

In February 1975 15:30 northeast of Mutare, Zimbabwe a silver metallic disc tilts and wobbles. Up and away in flash.
A hovering object was observed. It departed by rapidly flying straight up until lost to sight. One silver disc was observed by more than three witnesses on a farm for over three minutes. this was in broad daylight.

2009-12-15T01:48:00.000-08:00

Our younger son has related the following sighting which occurred in the Borrowdale area of Harare - north of the City. It was some time in the late 1990s.

He and a friend were walking down a back road returning to the friend's house - it was early evening and the sky was clear. there are no street lights to obscure the view of the sky.

In the sky in front of them appeared a cigar shaped object travelling across the horizon. As it speeded up it took on a pear shape. It was a mass of revolving colour.

it disappeared from sight within a few minutes.

The night before the Ariel School sighting

2009-12-15T01:34:00.001-08:00

I met an elderly and very religious lady yesterday. Very lively and with an enquiring mind.
She turned to me and asked 'Your interested in UFOs, aren't you? I have a story to tell"

She recounted the following sighting which I do not believe has been recorded before.

On the 15th of September 1994 - group of overseas visitors and their Zimbabwe friend (our lady) were staying at the Big Cave Camp near the Matopos - south of Bulawayo.

They had had a busy day game viewing and had partaken of a good meal after which they sat around the camp fire talking of their day's experiences.

Suddenly the whole group went silent - in the sky in front of them there appeared to be an object - white and round traveling across the sky in an Easterly direction. Below it was a smaller object and it was 'escorted' by a number of smaller ships.

The group sat transfixed to their seats - there was no sound - the bush had gone completely quite and no sound came from the mysterious objects.

The object stayed in view for a few minutes and then disappeared from sight.

Was one of these the ship that came down at Ariel School? Were there other sightings we have not heard about on the same night?

UFO or not?

2009-12-11T00:29:00.000-08:00

On Friday last at about 7pm my younger son and I were out in the garden looking at the sky and soaking up the cool breeze. There was no moon and the sky was clear.

We saw an object in the east which was like a large white light. It flickered but did not move. It was not a star and we watched it for sometime thinking it might be an aircraft - but there appeared to be no movement until it suddenly dropped from the sky and disappeared.

Was this a UFO?

We live in an area without street lighting and with a clear view across the sky.

Perhaps our visitors are taking interest in us again!

Africa's Kongamato - had it anything to do with UFOs?

2009-09-11T01:34:00.001-07:00

Was this a UFO - I doubt it but was it a dinasaur either? Where did it ccome from?

This is reproduced in part from About.com

Reports of pterosaur-like creatures have come out of central Africa
While traveling though Zambia in 1923, Frank H. Melland collected reports from natives of an aggressive flying reptile they called kongamoto, which means "overwhelmer of boats."
The people, who were occasionally tormented by these creatures, described them as being featherless with smooth skin, having a beak full of teeth and a wingspan of between four and seven feet.
When shown illustrations of pterosaurs, Melland reported, "every person present immediately and unhesitatingly picked out and identified it as a kongamato."

In 1925, a native man was allegedly attacked by a creature that he identified as a pterosaur.
This occurred near a swamp in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where the man suffered a large wound in his chest that he said was caused by the monster's long beak.

In the late 1980s, noted cryptozoologist Roy Mackal led an expedition into Namibia from which he had heard reports of a prehistoric-looking creature with a wingspan of up to 30 feet.

Africa's Kongamato

2009-09-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

Was this a UFO - I doubt it but was it a dinasaur either? Where did it ccome from?

Reports of pterosaur-like creatures have come out of central Africa While traveling though Zambia in 1923, Frank H. Melland collected reports from natives of an aggressive flying reptile they called kongamoto, which means "overwhelmer of boats." The natives, who were occasionally tormented by these creatures, described them as being featherless with smooth skin, having a beak full of teeth and a wingspan of between four and seven feet. When shown illustrations of pterosaurs, Melland reported, "every native present immediately and unhesitatingly picked out and identified it as a kongamato."
In 1925, a native man was allegedly attacked by a creature that he identified as a pterosaur. This occurred near a swamp in Rhodesia (now Zambia) where the man suffered a large wound in his chest that he said was caused by the monster's long beak.
In the late 1980s, noted cryptozoologist Roy Mackal led an expedition into Namibia from which he had heard reports of a prehistoric-looking creature with a wingspan of up to 30 feet.

No reply from headmaster

2009-08-16T00:17:00.000-07:00

I have not received a reply from the headmaster who was at Cowen House at the time of the sighting there - perhaps he does not want it to be known that he saw and perhaps excepted what he saw on that night in 1994. It is strange that people feel this way about speaking out - perhaps it is an indication of the ignorance of so many people and perhaps also an arrogance - they really feel that the human race are the only living beings in our universe.

Aspindale sighting 1978/9 - thank you Gordon

2009-07-30T00:59:00.000-07:00

Strange thing!! This sighting, I have recited to my family many, many times over the years. I was about 14 then and am now 43. ( probably 78 / 79 as we left the country about 2 months after Independence in 1980 from my recollection it was about a year before as I was 15 when we left - April was the month, not forget it as Easter weekend was coming up and we went camping at Mazowe dam chalets next weekend it was long weekend spent every night looking skywards that trip.)

We lived out at Aspindale, on the Rhodesia Fertilizer property for years, my brother & I grew up there. My late Father worked there for over 20yrs. It has a small housing estate, 10 houses, golf course and club on the premises. It used to be very popular in the 1970-1990's, sort of out of Town get away for people living in Salisbury then.

Memory's of then, made one feel that we where a long way out of Town and the Factory was massive compared to what is around today. The Fertilizer plant was massive back then, still is. But,back then it was a remote area, farm land on one side of the railway and a high density suburb being behind the the golf course some 500mtrs from the sighting area. Otherwise it was dense blue gum forests around us and believe it or not the game was prolific around us then, only 20kms out of Town.

Being secluded back then, us kids had limited things to do, our past time was basically all outdoors stuff and horsing around on the fertilizer dumps at night in the factory over weekends, when the folks where drinking in the pub on the premises. We frequently walked out of the main security entrance gates down to the railway lines at weekends, day or night. This was about 1km from the houses, but only about 100mtrs outside the main entry complex gates to RFC back then. Our past time fun was putting old coins on the railway tracks and the Bulawayo, Gweru & SA bound trains used to go directly past us then very frequently, not like these days.Yes, on the odd occasion we did more than just place coins, simply being young teenagers.

One evening on a Saturday night, myself, Nigel and the eldest of us Claude then about 17, went down to horse around the factory dumps and slide down the fertilizer banks then to the railway track. It was after 8pm we were on the track listening on the railway line with ears for sounds of on coming trains, easy way to tell if a train is coming but still quite far away. Claude stated he had seen lights on a few occasions but nothing was coming, we saw the lights, very different to usual, but nothing coming towards us and no sound on the track? You must understand its not a straight line of sight, so we walked around a bend on the line towards the Byo direction of the track about 300 mtrs or so we walked, we came round the bend and there before us this ship / plane / thing was..... huge... round lights.... saucer shaped thing was.......Needless to say we did more than leave ''brown tracks'' in our pants. We stood gazing for what seemed ages, but can assure you it was probably seconds. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life and have never forgotten the detail to this very day.

The craft was about 30 mtrs off the ground directly on the track, it was next to the switching box, for the track locater, a small un-occupied building still there on the line today.It is basically the control room for railway trains coming in and out of Harare.It was silent, round, centre raised dome, about the size of the average 5 bed roomed house in diameter.It was not silver, but not white, really hard to define the colour of the body but metallic probably closest description but still not that. The lights were amazing, they where so large and not synchronized at all when coming on and ''off'', bright rotating lights around it, with larger beams from below, shining down from below its belly. The door was open on the right side, no stairs and nobody in sight, just bright lights in the door area and what we could see in. No door handle steps anything, just an open space on it. The weirdest thing was the silence of it and the size.

We bolted back to the main security gate, panicked, told the 2 gate guards what we had seen on the track, used their extension phone at the main gate to phone the club to tell our parents. This took about 3 -4 minutes. Whilst we waited for one of our parents to come from the Club house to the main gate, the object then raised itself and came straight over the factory, lit it up quite seriously from above and vanished in an instant.

Nobody in the factory saw it, the factory worked 24 / 7, but its all under huge roofing out there about 1km of factory. But the 2 gate guards witnessed it with us when it came above the factory. What we clearly saw was the entire bottom of it, the centre was ''hollowish' to a degree,' with white blinding light and I mean serious light coming from the centre down to the ground, aside from the side round lights.Yes it had reds, greens and white side lights, but the colours where strangish...but it was totally silent. As is said earlier then it was gone and I mean gone, not there it goes, it moved from there to gone in 20 seconds up into the sky.

When the folks arrived, mine and Claude's Dad, we told them the story and the guards supported what we saw. They said it was an army training excursive probably and that it was a helicopter or something of that nature. They thought we where making this up.That evening we where mocked by the whole bar and told Ja Ja what have we been drinking!!!

We all knew what we saw was nothing of that nature they explained and we had never seen before, it was not a plane, train, boat, helicopter or to this day seen anything like it, except heard of various sightings on DSTV similar to ours. Inside I know that this is / was a true UFO. We where not more than 100 mtrs from it, we saw it, felt it and it will always be with us in our minds till we leave here.

I have never followed UFO sightings seriously since then, it is not in my mind 24/7 neither do I have a fascination about it / them, simply because I know they exist and saw it. Who they are and what they where doing that night I got no idea, but they exist. 5 of us saw it, 3 at close range and later 5 of us from about a KM above the ground to our right of the gate. When we lived out there the factory had a compound that housed about 250 workers or more, the following week all the African workers spoke about to us kids was what the Guards had seen with us. They believed us and at least someone believed us, aside from our folks back then who thought we where MAD making it up!!!

Received from a Zimbabwe Resident - will post more on this when I receive it

2009-07-30T00:55:00.000-07:00

My dad said he once saw something in Kariba, this was in 1983 I think
He was convinced it was nothing from this Earth. Further information to follow....

Pat Price’s Underground UFO Bases

2009-07-28T03:14:00.000-07:00

He was convinced that there were 4 - one of them in Zimbabwe - did they and do they still exist?

An interesting theory - visit - http://www.paranormalnews.com/article.asp?articleID=327 - Paranormal News.

Also visit http://www.rense.com/general68/remm.htm - Remote Viewing Underground UFO Bases

" Price believed that ET’s had established four underground bases, had remote viewed them and provided Puthoff with descriptions of their locations and functions. Hal Puthoff, Ph.D., founded and directed the CIA funded Remote Viewing program at SRI from 1972 to 1985. Price, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1975, was believable had a proven RV track record and had neither agenda nor any axe to grind. Puthoff passed the same folder on to Atwater in the early ‘80’s, saying ‘You might be interested in this.’ At this point, it’s important to note that Price’s information was viewed without protocols, the results were not officially reported and Price did not use sealed envelopes. Price’s report stated that the bases primary purpose was to ‘reinforce B.T.L. implants, transport of new recruits and overall monitoring function.’ Today, Atwater has no idea what B.T.L. implants are and to his knowledge, no one has remote viewed this term. Price also reported that the base inhabitants looked like us, homosapiens, except for the heart, lungs, blood and eyes. He reported that the sites were highly protected from discovery, mutually supportive, and had very high technology. He also noted that they used ‘thought transfer for motor control of us.’ So where are these bases? The first is at Mt. Perdido is in the Pyrnees Mountains, between France and Spain. ‘A famous set of caves in the Pyrenees have ancient drawings of ancient astronauts and flying spacecraft,’ Atwater explained. ‘And there have been a number of sightings here.’ Mt. Perdido, aka Mt. Perdu, is 3,352 m, 11,007 ft high and is the third highest mountain in the Pyrenees. Price reported that the main base was protected around a 2-mile perimeter with detectors. Several craft were in the launch recovery area and had what looked like an electromagnetic field propulsion system.

Price’s next underground base location is Mt. Inyangani, the highest mountain (2,592 m, 8,503 ft) in Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, Africa. ‘Actually, it’s more of a maintenance and tech center,’ Price viewed. ‘This base looks like overhaul and maintenance unit. I see lots of spare equipment. Parts are being welded in a vacuum area with window area then parts are fused. A grayish white powder is pasted on both parts then fused.’ His attention was drawn to unit that several were working on. It is a tubular grid system ‘for ionizing a layer of air.’

The next site is at Mt. Hayes, Alaska. It appears to be a weather and geological center and has similar security measures to prevent discovery. He described ‘computer equipment’ and followed leads on an ‘oscilloscope’ which led to a small box like structure which contained rotational antenna that sat on top of a mountain peak. The receiver seemed to be part of a detection system. ‘If they were discovered,’ Price wrote, ‘personnel are deployed physically in activity to make sure of failure of that certain project. This site has also been responsible for strange activity and malfunction of US and Soviet space projects.’ Atwater suggested that if a probe was launched over this part of Alaska, that it might be interfered in some way, to prevent detection of the Mt. Hayes base. ‘It comes to mind that these ‘people’ have infiltrated all government in sensitive positions, not to control government, the processes or people, but rather to be in positions of power to stop politically any activity that may produce a result that could cause discovery.’ The fourth site is Mt. Ziel, a personnel center, in Australia’s Northern Territory. ‘It is interesting that this unit appears to have the most personnel. There are personnel from the other three sites here, like a rest and recreation area.’ For a few moments, Price felt slightly disoriented and decided they had detected him so he led them to Melbourne. "

Interesting -

January 29 1987 - Chimanimani

2009-07-28T02:54:00.000-07:00

Jan. 29, 1987; Zimbabwe
5:43 AM.
Several Mozambican laborers working in Zimbabwe reported seeing a large, brightly lit balloon-shaped object passing over Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. The witnesses were able to see two men inside the craft. One was dressed in blue and the other in white. The witnesses interpreted the object as "witch doctors" traveling from South Africa. (Source: Albert S. Rosales, Humanoid Contact Database 1987, case # 1050, citing Cynthia Hind, MUFON Symposium Proceedings 1987).

The people in this area are very superstitious - what did they see - there were no indications that a balloon was in the area at the time.

Comment on Ruwa/Hilton Sighting

2009-07-13T00:46:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to get information from someone who made the sighting in South Africa - near Hilton School soon after the time of the Ruwa sighting - I reproduce it here:

I wanted to contact you regarding the sighting of a UFO craft in Kwazulu Natal in 1994. This was shortly after the Ruwa sighting. It took place on a school outing one evening.
July 5, 2009 2:15 AM
TET said...
A senior teacher (headmaster)Gerry Wilkinson, from 'Cowan House' a private Prep all boys school took a group of students to a function at a nearby private school, Hilton College. On their return from the function that night he and his group of students saw what they described as a 'space craft' landed with lights on around the middle periphery of the craft were windows, They viewed this craft alongside the road. The following day the incident was reported in the local newspaper 'The Natal Witness'. However the matter was hushed up and no-one talked about it again. Soon after this incident Gerry and his wife Stella re-located to a petroleum company run school in Angola. My son was a pupil at the school at the the time the incident occurred, ie Cowan House.

Hwange sighting

2009-07-13T00:41:00.000-07:00

Most UFO sightings in Zimbabwe appear to be to the east of the country but this report from Cythia Hind was from the wetsern region:

African ufologist Cynthia Hind apparently reported on a sighting in 1983 near the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.
Some evening that year 1983, at 08:00 p.m., four men had arrived back from the capital and were walking to their village along some thick brush when they suddenly noticed a very bright light in the sky. They stopped and watched as the light descended towards them.
The men hid behind some trees as the light came lower and lower, and they now saw that it was a bright disc-shaped object that landed nearby.
A door on top of the object opened and two "men with light skin" stepped out and floated towards the ground.
At this point the witnesses panicked and ran towards the village.

Ruwa and 2012

2009-06-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

The numerous reports on the end of the world on 21 December 2012 - from the Jewish Bible to the Hopi and the Mayan calender - among others are being documented more and more in news and on television.

Warning have been around for centuries with Nostradamus being one of the major Prophets.

Did the alien visitation to Ruwa's Ariel School in 1994 also tell of doom?

The children were told that they had to look after the world - were the aliens trying to help? Why choose a place like Zimbabwe - or Rhodesia as it was?

Perhaps they felt that there was a greater awareness of reserving resources here and perhaps, just perhaps, they thought we might be able to influence other people.

Well, it looks like they were wrong - and perhaps this is why we are not being visited at this stage. Will they come again - who knows but i sincerely feel that we here in Zimbabwe can do little to influence the rest of the world when it comes to environmental change

African Stonehenge or a UFO settlement?

2009-06-16T04:04:00.000-07:00

A South African scientist thinks he has found an ancient observatory in Zimbabwe which was similar in function to England's Stonehenge.

The Great Enclosure at the archaeological site of Great Zimbabwe was thought to be a palace when it was in use 800 years ago, but Richard Wade of the Nkwe Ridge Observatory thinks the ring of crumbling stone was used to track the moon, sun, planets and stars.

Several of the stone monoliths, according to Wade, line up with certain bright stars in the constellation Orion as they rise on the morning of the winter solstice.

Wade also suggests that a mysterious tower at the site was probably built to observe a supernova that occurred around 1300 AD. Wade has written his ideas into a paper which has been submitted to the journals Science and Scientific American.

Or was it a sanctuary for aliens? it has always been questioned why there were so many sightings over Zimbabwe of UFOs. Could this be the reason - who knows?

With reference to the UFO sighting July 1985 - two official statements

2009-06-16T03:54:00.001-07:00

ZIMBABWE
On July 22, 1985, in western Zimbabwe, a UFO was witnessed by dozens of persons on the
ground and in the control tower at Bulawayo Airport, as well as by the pilots of two Hawk jets
that were scrambled to pursue it. The UFO was also tracked on radar. The UFO was very
bright and rounded, with a short cone above it, and evaded the Hawk jets.
Air Marshal Azim Daudpota:
"This was no ordinary UFO. Scores of people saw it. It was no illusion, no
deception, no imagination." (The Times, London, August 3, 1985.) (top)
Air Commodore David Thorne, Director General of Operations in a October 24, 1985 letter
to Timothy Good stated:
"[Although not speaking officially], as far as my Air Staff is concerned, we believe
implicitly that the unexplained UFOs are from some civilization beyond ourplanet." (Good, T., ibid.)

The Mystery of Zimbabwe’s Spherical Rock-holes

2009-06-11T01:45:00.000-07:00

Who made the spherical holes? Voytek never did discover and up to the day of his tragic and horriffic murder he was still searching for an explaination.

Could it have been UFO's - Voytek and Dorothy thought not - but who knows?

This is the article that appeared in the Pre-History Society’s Newsletter, June 2004

The Mystery of Zimbabwe’s Spherical Rock-holes

By Voytek and Dorothy Popiel

For the last ten years we have been researching the existence of spherical rock-holes in Zimbabwe. This article is a brief account of some of our findings and thoughts on the subject.

Whilst there are probably hundreds of thousands of grinding hollows in granite sites throughout Zimbabwe, the ones we are studying are in a class of their own: uncannily circular both in plan and cross-section making them spherical or, if you prefer, hemi-spherical. It is this feature and the precision of the hollows that has caught our interest.

Generations ago someone, using simple technology such as a rubbing stone, manually hollowed out an almost perfect hemi-sphere in rock. The mystery is ‘why are the hollows so precise and spherical’.

The accuracy of the hollows suggests the use of a machine, yet at the time they were made (before the arrival of Europeans in Zimbabwe) the wheel was apparently unknown in this part of the world.

The Shapes of Grinding Hollows
The existence of a large number of man-made rock holes in Zimbabwe is well documented in archaeological and other publications. It is accepted that these rock-holes were created by the indigenous people when milling foodstuffs, such as small grains, or mineral ores, in particular gold bearing ores. Maize came later and, because of the larger pip size, wooden pestles and mortars proved to be more efficient for grinding it.

Whatever was milled, it was effectively done with a pestle and mortar where the pestle is a small rock or a wooden pole held in one or both hands, and the mortar is a portable flat rock, the surface of a flat boulder, or massive granite hill.

Analysis of the shapes can suggest the human activity and the milling process. To date, two main types of rock holes are generally referred to: circular and elliptical, variously described as ‘mortar stones’, ‘circular grinding hollows’, ‘elliptical grinding hollows’, ‘quern stones’ and ‘dolly holes’.
To do justice to the various shapes and grinding methods, however, and relate the hollows to the activity, i.e. mining or domestic use, we have classified them as:

Type
Shape
Use – Features
Method
(a)
Circular, elliptical or oval, guyo
grinding foodstuffs, shallow
rubbing in circular motion or backwards/forwards
(b)
Circular, dolly-holes
grinding minerals, deep, rounded rim
percussion or pounding
(c)
Narrow and groove-like
grinding minerals, shallow, long and narrow
rubbing lengthways with a narrow stone
(d)
Spherical, circular in plan and cross-section
Most likely grinding foodstuffs, deeper than a), shallower than b), sharp rim, with chamfer and cusp
Under investigation. Probably rubbing in a circular motion in 2 planes to produce a spherical shape
(e)
Other?

The shapes of holes vary both in plan and cross-section. Some are elliptical and shallow (a), whilst others are circular and deep (b). A third type (c) is long and very narrow, with the depth approximately equal to the width: we understand this type was used exclusively for grinding minerals. The fourth type (d), the one we are researching, is spherical, i.e. circular in both plan and cross-section with, generally, a sharp rim.

The elliptical grinding-hollows (a) are known in Shona as ‘guyo’ (singular) or ‘makuyo’ (plural), and were used mainly for grinding foodstuffs (and still are in some rural areas). Archaeologists often refer to the circular and deeper holes as ‘dolly holes’ (b), a term used in the mining industry. Percussion-type dolly holes tend to be deeper than they are wide and the edges of such holes are rounded and not as neat and sharp as the edges of the rock-holes we are considering.

The size and motion of the rubbing-stone or pestle determines the shape of the mortar, i.e. the hole or hollow. One formed by rubbing a stone backwards and forwards would create an elongated or elliptical and relatively shallow hole [type (a) and type (c)], whereas one formed by a pounding motion using an upright pestle – whether a stone or a wooden pole – would create a deeper, circular, depression [type (b)] with a rounded rim.

We assume the method of producing type (d), our spherical rock-holes, was by a stone tool driven and guided by hand in a circular and rocking motion. Because of the geometry and the precision achieved, the method used is the most fascinating part of this mystery.

Simply rubbing a stone on stone in a circular motion by hand would not produce what we are now looking at. Yes, it could look roughly circular in plan and cross-section, but would deviate from a true circle because the inaccuracy of the hand motion, the variation of the pressure applied as the stone is guided, and the nature of the base rock (e.g. hard and soft spots) mitigate against producing a spherical shape. Even assuming true circular motion, constant pressure, and uniform hardness of the rock, the question still arises: how does one maintain a spherical shape as the depth of the hole increases.

Rubbing stones, known in Shona as ‘huyo’, still abound in Zimbabwe where elliptical grinding hollows are plentiful on dwalas, and around village sites where portable grinding stones were once used. At spherical rock-hole sites, however, we have not yet found a rubbing-stone which we can say with confidence was the tool used to make these holes. Should we ever find one then we may have the key to solving the mystery.

Distribution
We have now visited fifteen sites in Zimbabwe and recorded over a hundred holes. They are not as numerous as other grinding hollows but we know they are not rare, as initially thought.

In 2002 I (Voytek) visited Bikita Mine, a lithium mine, where we had had a report of a group of rock-holes on a petalite outcrop – the first ones reported in rock other than granite. Unfortunately, before I had a chance to see them, these holes were destroyed in exploratory blasts. I was lucky enough, however, to meet villagers who showed me other rock-holes in the area (in granite), which conform to the (spherical) shape we are studying.

The sites so far located and visited include Chegutu, Kwekwe, Naletale Ruins, Masvingo area, Bikita, Matopos, and south of West Nicholson. More recently we have located these specific rock-holes in Harare.

An interesting feature pertaining to distribution is that the size of the holes is similar in any one area but varies in size from site to site. Sizes range from 160mm spheres at Sondelani to over 300mm around Masvingo. The size refers to the diameter of a sphere that would fit the hollow, irrespective of how deep the hollow. (It is not the diameter of the plan view of the hollow.) Generally the depth was no more than a third of the radius of curvature of the sphere.

Sites
When viewing a site one naturally asks, “Why here?”

We have found nothing remarkable about any of the locations. The site isn’t a rocky amphitheatre, which might have been used for religious purposes; it isn’t on top of hills with commanding views; it isn’t adjacent to a river or watercourse, although water may not have been far away. We have not seen any evidence of ancient mining near these sites. We have not found any abandoned piles of mineral rocks or visible waste material of any kind, and we ourselves are not sufficiently knowledgeable to recognise the telltale vegetation of previously occupied areas. We presume there was a good reason for choosing that spot but, often to our eyes, there are better sites only a short distance away. We are clearly missing something.

Generally the location is not on the flat but rather on a gentle slope with perhaps a flattish patch on which to start the hollow. We have, however, found these rock-holes on large flat rocks and, once, in a portable stone.

Sondelani Ranch, south of West Nicholson, proved to be ideal for viewing these rock-holes as the sites vary considerably. We found holes in low flattish rocks, no more than 3m in breadth and 0,25m above the surrounding sparsely-grassed sandy plain; on rocky outcrops in woodland; on the lower slopes of a wide granite dwala, and, to our delight, fourteen holes dotted the length of a granite slope rising above a large baobab tree: the most rock-holes we have seen in any one place.

The furthest south we have located these rock-holes in Zimbabwe is at Sondelani about 150 km north of Beitbridge. No report of their existence south of our border or in neighbouring countries has yet been relayed to us, although it seems probable that eventually we will hear of a site south of the Limpopo as Zimbabwe culture was not confined to the present borders – in fact a current view is that the culture originated at Mapungubwe just south of the border at the junction of the Shashi and Limpopo Rivers.

Who made them and How?
To date, archaeologists – professional and amateur, for several reasons, have not recognized the uncanny precision of the spherical hollows. We believe we have stumbled on something that has been missed and is waiting to be researched: a subject that needs to be brought to the attention of both the scientific community and the general public. We want to know, for instance:
· Who were the people that created them?
· When did they create them?
· What was the activity – domestic: grinding foodstuffs, or mining: grinding minerals?
· How did they make them – how was the stone tool driven and guided to produce a spherical hollow? It is the GEOMETRY of the hollow that provides the greatest fascination.

Apart from answering these questions, we hope future research will determine a link between the spherical holes and at least one of the known cultures of Zimbabwe, as well as contribute to the knowledge of Zimbabwe's mysterious past.

As with the mystery of Great Zimbabwe, where there is a gap between that culture and the culture of the present occupiers of Zimbabwe, there is a similar gap in our subject. Research may reveal that somewhere in the oral tradition there may be reference to the activity connected with the spherical rock-holes, however, when talking to local elders on the origins of the rock-holes the responses were “They’ve always been here” or that “God made them”, which in effect means the same. This suggests that the people who practised the ‘Spherical Rock-hole Cultural Activity’ did not pass it on. There was a definite break between them and the people we now know as the Shona.

The tools and products of the people's activity are also gone, or lie hidden: only the holes remain. Our efforts, therefore, must be directed to evidence, however small, which they may still contain.

Today, we have an opportunity to study these rock-holes and can apply modern science to unlock the mysteries they contain. We can use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to accurately locate sites; we can map scratch-marks with a digital microscope, analyse material trapped in minute cracks and crevices with, say, a mass-spectrometer, measure and analyse the hollow-shape using photogrammetry in conjunction with computer programs.

Some years ago we contacted the Department of GeoInformatics at the University of Zimbabwe with a view to doing photogrammetry locally. They took various photographs and we hoped for great things. However, they appear to be under-funded and the project never took off.

Photogrammetry is relatively easy to do by organisations with the necessary staff and equipment, and we believe the information produced would be most useful in this project. We would welcome contact from any institution willing to assist.

Conclusions
We have listed the mysteries and posed some questions. What are our conclusions?
1) The spherical rock-holes were made by indigenous people who lived here at that time – whoever, whenever.
2) The activity was most likely the grinding of foodstuffs. For a variety of reasons it was unlikely to have been the grinding of minerals.
3) The grinding hollows are numerous and widespread in Zimbabwe.
4) The technology was simple and it was easy to do.

“Is that all you know after ten years of investigation?” we hear you ask. Well . . . yes, that is the way with mysteries.

We hope that this article will stimulate interest and discussion, and maybe lead to feedback on the sites within Zimbabwe and in adjoining countries. We believe the subject is fascinating, requires further research, and is a suitable subject for a post-graduate thesis.

We can be contacted on email: < dpopiel@mango.zw >

Mr W. Popiel (Voytek)
6 Faversham Close
Mabelreign
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: 263 - (0)4 - 33 67 86

Pilot report 1954

2009-05-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

Some of the most interesting UFO reports have been from pilots. Pilots know their airspace and are very meticulous in their reports of what they see. On 26 July 1954 a student pilot and his instructor were flying a Tiger Moth at 2100 meters above sea level. The speed they were travelling was approximately 137 kms per hour. They spotted a silver object about 760 metres above their craft. this was not far from lake McIlwaine near what was then Salisbury.

The object was described as being like an elliptical sausage and about 9.6 km away from them. The centre was clear but both ends were hazey.

The pilot took over in order to get closer to the object. he claimed it was in a patch of clear blue sky well above the ground haze. It turned on its side and flew away at great speed.

they were about 5km from the tail end of the lake and the student took over the controls. As they reached the lake they spotted the object coming towards them again. It stopped dead about 4 km away. it appeared to be like two saucers one above the other. they were either separate or connected by something the same colour as the sky. there was no glint of sun from the surface. - there appeared to be no method of propulsion and no windows or portholes - they thought the object to be about 12 meters in length.

It hovered for a while and then turned on its side and took off at an incredible speed.

When taking off it flew upwards, sideways and forwards at the same time.

Is there something special about Ruwa

2009-04-18T03:40:00.000-07:00

The later part of the 1990's were special for sightings in Zimbabwe, and Ruwa, later to be the site of the Ariel School landing, was not left out.

On 20 July 1975 Allan Wright - who was with the Censorship Board (a very strict and sober organisation) had a UFO sighting at his home in Ruwa.

He was a sceptic but said that he was outside his horse paddock at about 6:30 pm. when he saw a bright green object, a bit larger than a football, appear above a clump of bamboo. It was dark (July is winter in Zimbabwe) and he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

The object moved in and east/west direction about 350 metres from where he stood.

It passed over his neighbour's house and all the dogs began to howl and bark furiously. It moved at a fast pace. He was able to view the object for no more than 5 seconds.

What is the interest in the Ruwa area? Here one finds mainly small holdings and dairy or sheep farmers living on land that is hilly and rocky. It is attractive but not always fertile land and many people who farm there do so more as a hobby than a viable business.

Perhaps the UFOs are interested in studying these people who are, on the whole conservative and open in what they say. It is a very religious community with social life often centred around church and charity events.

Ufo changing colours

2009-03-31T04:38:00.001-07:00

I know of one incident when a late friend/neighbor told me of a ship that he saw which was floating in the skies and it was changing colours. We were around 14 that time in 1990 or 1991 I think.

Thanks

Joseph

Mana Pools sighting 1997

2009-03-31T03:42:00.000-07:00

This sighting comes from Nicky Franco - thank you Nicky

It was the night Princess Diana died, ( 31 August 1997) we were camping in Mana Pools, it was 11:30pm and 3 of us were still awake... and sober! Malcom went out from under the cover of our huge tree and started shouting for me and Ralph to come and see... two huge glowing orange orbs were parked in the sky, one of them shone a light down to the ground and lit up about an acre of land for a few seconds. We then noticed 3 more pin pricks of the same colour light beneath the two orbs, we figured that if it were one craft it would have been the size of Monomatapa hotel! There was not a sound, no crickets, hippo or anything stirred. We stood there for a good 3 minutes watching then slowly the craft began to fly away... did I mention that there was no engine sound... no sound at all. It was just like in the movies it moved away slowly at first and then took off and disappeared leaving behind it two orange lines in the sky which remained there for a good ten minutes.We were interviewed at the time by some UFO enthusiasts who were making a documentary and I believe that the same craft was seen that same night in Doma by some hunters and in the Gorge by people on a house boat.It was an experience I will never forget... not one tiny detail!!

Nicky Franco

16 July 1975

2009-03-30T00:11:00.000-07:00

Mrs Mickey Burgess and her husband Eric were living in Smuts Road, Prospect - Salisbury - when , on 16 July 1975, they watched what looked like a very large orange beach-ball from their front garden.

What they saw appeared at first to be a brilliant bright orange light travelling from south to north.

As they watched they saw a small orange object break away from the larger body.

They found it difficult to estimate the distance correctly but thought the object was at tree-top level and about 300 metres from their garden.

She had never seen anything like it before and did not know what to think it might be.

The object finally disappeared over the Makabusi River.

Salisbury sighting

2009-03-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

On 25 October 1975 residents of Hatfield - a suburb south of Salisbury (Now Harare) reported a bright orange object flying low over Goodman Road.

The object was large - larger than a helicopter and the lights were much brighter than an airplane. I was shaped like a spinning top.

A local businessman said that what he saw appeared, disappeared and reappeared before moving off towards the city.

This was also seen by two women and three children from the Evangelical mission Station - TEAM. they said it had made a bleeping sound. before moving away.

Zimbabwe sightings - one in the bush

2009-03-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

James is 33, and the head logistics guy at the one of the largest cargo commercial airlines company in the world.

He is a very, very intelligent person and also very open-minded.

He claims that on two separate occasions he's seen something flying in the sky that cannot be accounted for. He said the first time he was with his wife camping in the bush and all of a sudden saw a metallic saucer-shaped object with a domed top, approx 5 car-lengths long, moving fairly quickly across the sky about 500m above him.

He said as he watched, it stopped, hanging for a second, then instantly changed directions and moved off at a right angle for about a kilometre, did the same thing again, almost erratically, then shot off over the tree-line.

Bear in mind James knows aircraft, he's been working with them for years. He said to this day he could not even hazard a guess as to what it was it is simply not a craft he knows in existence, no form of plane and no form of helicopter.

The second time he said he was on the road with some colleagues when one of them pointed out some "funny plane" in the sky high up moving at a fair rate. As they watched the thing then shot straight upwards, vertically, and disappeared. None of them could explain that either.

These experiences are very similar to a number of other sightings in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe UFO

2009-03-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

An interesting observation!

Now, a year and a half later, Zimbabwe's Air Commodore David Thorne sees no explanation in sight. "We have not been able toidentify the object," he says. "We have had to classify it as a UFO."Although he didn't personally witness the object, Thorne reports that "the craft was spotted as it streaked over southern Zimbabwe. Then air traffic controllers watched it hover and tracked it on radar. 2 Air Force jets wentafter the object, and the pilots described it as incredibly shiny, reflecting the colors of the sunset. Our estimates indicate that the UFO was traveling at twice the speed of sound. And when it got dark outside, we realized theobject was emitting its own light. Our pilots are completely reliable,"Thorne contends. "This cannot be dismissed as a plane, weather balloon, or natural phenomenon."But UFO skeptic James Oberg has his doubts. "The evidential value of unresearchable sightings in Zimbabwe is zero, however sincere the witnesses,"he says. "Besides, pilots are not always calm, dispassionate observers. They tend to perceive any visual stimulus in its most dangerous possible configuration -- as another craft. That's a good characteristic of a safe pilot, but not a good characteristic of a UFO witness." Oberg also points out that "Zimbabwe is sort of on the edge of the civilized world in terms of tracking things that might cause this kind of UFO report -- like Russian andSouth African reconnaissance planes that, I'm sure, are flying over thatairspace."

Are we being visited again?

2009-02-27T00:29:00.000-08:00

There have been reports of unidentified flying objects being seen over South Africa again. Does this mean that Zimbabwe might also expect some visitors?

We seem to have been very much neglected recently with few if any sightings over the last couple of years.

What does the reemergence of objects over South Africa signify?

Perhaps now Zimbabwe is trying to settle down to normal life again we might be honoured by visitors.

Marondera Sighting

2009-02-22T22:38:00.000-08:00

The areas around Marandellas - now Marondera - seem to have been the object of visitations throughout the 1970s.

One particular report occurred about 7pm on 20 November 1976.

John Butcher was driving to a neighbouring friends farm. he was accompanied by his wife and daughter.

They were approaching the drive of Makrara Farm where they were to have dinner. They noticed what appeared to be a car coming towards them from quite a distance. they turned into the drive and Mrs Butcher turned to see if the car was following them. However it appeared to carry on round the bend and then.....she caught sight of an orange object hovering over part of their land on Dindingwe Farm.

The object moved sharply to the left and they stopped the car so they could observe it. the object was now stationary and suddenly it disappeared behind a plantation of gum trees on their farm. they had observed the object for about one and a half minutes.

It was brighter than the moon and unlike a star. it appeared to be controlled in some way. There was no military activity in the area that night.

Their next door neighbour, Mr Burl, also noticed the strange orange light and when to see John Butcher the following day as he thought it might be an army flare.

John Butcher's farm workers also witnessed the sighting. they kept well away from it as they were convinced it was a spirit from the dead. They told Mr butcher that they had met up with this spirit before and that two years previously, the last time they had seen it, it had given off a strange smell like two stones being rubbed together - a smell of burnt cordite.

He searched the area taking with him a number of his workers armed with heavy sticks but they found nothing

2009-02-20T01:32:00.000-08:00

This object was seen in the sky - during daylight - over the City of Bulawayo - i do not have a date but would estimate from the car in the lower left corner of the photograph that it must have been in the mid to late 1940s. This was around the time that the Taylors saw a mysterious object over their car when travelling home to their farm - I am trying to trace further records from the era.

Early sightings

2009-02-17T22:44:00.000-08:00

I am afraid I have been silent for a time as my computer operating system was corrupted by a failure of both the power and the inverter at the same time and I have only been able to get it up and running now.

I am writing about a sighting in the Lowvelt area of Zimbabwe in 1948. A Mr and Mrs Taylor were driving home to their farm when they saw a large orange object following them. Similar to later sightings it stopped when they did and moved behind or slightly over their vehicle. As suddenly as it had appeared it disappeared flying off in an Easterly direction and disappearing from sight - almost dropping out of the sky some way from them.

It would be interesting to hear of any other sightings at this time in the same area or indeed, in Southern Africa

UFO seen over Prospect Harare

2009-01-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

In Salisbury (now Harare) on the 16th July Mrs Mickey Burgess and her husband watched an orange 'sphere' the size of a large beach ball from their front garden.

Their house was in Smuts Road, Prospect and they saw the sphere as a brilliant light travelling from South to north - it was a bright orange colour.

Suddenly a small orange object broke away from the larger body.

Mrs Burgess thought the object was at tree top level and about 300 meters from their garden.

The object finally disappeared over the Makabusi River.

Sightings in Bulawayo

2009-01-29T00:15:00.000-08:00

At 8:30 pm on the 16th of July 1975 David Burgess, prison officer, and a friend saw an object hovering over Khami Prison which was about 2-3 km from their car.

It was orange, almost circular but with a flattish bottom and round at the top.

It appeared to be stationary at first but as the men drove on it disappeared towards the east.

On the following night another prison officer saw the same object and Mr and Mrs Rossiter and their three children together with Mr and Mrs Lombard saw a bright round object 4km north-east of Khami at about 7:30pm.

It appeared as stationary for a few moments and then again moved of rapidly in an easterly direction.

2009-01-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

On the 15th July 1975 a young man, Wayne Burger - who was 23 years old at the time, and Noeleen, his wife, found that twice their lights and TV flickered on and off. At the time they thought nothing of the occurrence.

At 7:15 pm he went outside to lock the front gates to the house.

His German Shepherd went with him as he always did. However, on this occasion, the dog would not go past the front veranda of the house.

Wayne claimed he had a sudden, terrible feeling that someone was watching him and he called to the dog. When the dog refused to move Wayne closed the gates as quickly as he could.

It was then he saw a light in the sky. it was a bright colour, approximately 9 metres across and shaped a bit like a ruler, long, straight and rounded at either end.

He stood there frozen. The object then moved away rapidly at tree level, only about 45 metres from where he was standing.

He claimed the object was surrounded by an aura of brilliant white light.

He ran to the front door and called for his wife to come out. She came out just in time to see the object disappeared beyond the trees. it was moving at a fast speed and there was no sound coming from it.

Karoi sighting

2009-01-25T22:36:00.000-08:00

On 06 July 1975 a Mrs Una Weincler and her husband were driving home from Karoi - a town to the north of Harare. They noticed an object about the size of an orange with a jagged tail and a pointed front. it was about 8:15pm.

She noted that the object was a very bright orange-yellow colour.

When they stopped the car the object stopped as well. when they moved off the object did as well. Within minutes it had descended to the level of the surrounding tree tops. The object was moving far too quickly to have been a plant or a star.

When it drew near he husband drove of quickly as they became really frightened of what they had seen.

Subsequently it was seen by the Weinclers and several other people in the area on many evenings.

It seemed to appear after 8pm - moved east to west and was visible for about 40 minutes on each occasion.

The Start of the Flap of 1975 in Zimbabwe

2009-01-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

There were a spate of sightings in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) during July 1975. On 04 July 1975 and Mr and Mrs W Houghton reported the first evident to show that the country was being investigated by beings from another world.. For a period of six minuted the observed and orange UFO hovering near their home which was about 25 km from Harare. on the 8th of July Mrs Houghton again saw the object. The local papers reported that the Met office had strongly denied its identification as a weather balloon as they did not fly these at night. There was no further comment made . This sighting was followed up by others in the same area. This was the beginning of an interesting period in surveillance of the country

UFO over Mocambique

2009-01-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

It has always been unusual for the local paper to report UFO sightings but on 10 February 173 they reported that a Boeing 737 No CR-BAC of the Mozambique domestic airline Deta was followed by something for 20 minutes on a night flight between Beira and what is now Maputo. Pilots do not make reports of objects that they feel unimportant and there is little doubt that this sighting was genuine.

Sighting in Bulawayo

2009-01-12T03:15:00.000-08:00

On the 18th of may 1958, at 5, Kirkaldy Road, Famona in Bulawayo Ray Burl's wife, heard a rustling noise at about 10:30 pm. It sounded like paper being swished about. Ray turned over in bed and dismissed the noise.

At 1:15 am they were awoken by their neighbours knocking on the window. The neighbours had been entertaining and when they went outside to see one of their guests off they had seen a 'peculiar object' in the sky. It was low over the Burl's house. The Burl's looked out of their window and were able to see the object. They ran outside for a better look. What they saw was roughly a rectangular object about 1.5 meters by 91 cms in dimension. It hovered over the house and moved swiftly in both a horizontal and vertical plane and all the time was making the strange rustling noise that had been heard earlier. The object disappeared and then reappeared again emanating the 'swish - swish' noise. the thing came down in a spiral movement and hovered over the house not more than 15 to 18 meters up.

Ray put the beam of his torch onto the object and lit it up slightly. The belly was a dull metallic grey and faintly luminous. as soon as the torch light struck it the object shot off on a horizontal direction. It then rose vertically and finally disappeared in a southerly direction.

One lady was ill and spent the rest of the night being sick - probably nerves.

The Burl's baby daughter became ill. the family doctor found that she was thoroughly dehydrated and there seemed no logical explanation. The burls reluctantly told the doctor of the experience of the night before. the doctor became alarmed as he thought the symptoms could have arisen from radiation from the mysterious object. the reason for the illness was never pinpointed and the child recovered. i do not know if Gillian ever experienced any after effects from this illness and would be interested to hear from anyone who knows anything further.

Was there a cover up over the Dag Hammerskjold air crash?

2008-12-30T22:17:00.000-08:00

In 1961 -on the 18th of September - an aircraft carrying Dag Hammerskjold (UN Secretary General) crashed near Ndola in what was then Northern Rhodesia. The crash has never been explained.

As a young photo journalist I was dispatched to the site - it was the first time I had ever seen anything like the carnage. There were pieces of aircraft, baggage and bodies in the trees of the quite dense forest area. The explanation for the disaster has never been published - or perhaps known or covered up and was put down to pilot error.

Very close to this time there was a photograph taken of a sighting made on the Northern Rhodesia/Congo border. It was of a metallic disc-like object. It was taken with a cheap Agfa camera from a helicopter.

When military authorities heard that photographs were being taken of such objects during military exercises in the border area they gave an order for all negatives and photographs to be destroyed.

A man who can only be identified as 'Bob' kept one out of interest. I understood from the late Cynthia Hind that the one remaining photograph was passed onto Spaulding of Ground Saucer Watch.

I have never heard the outcome of the analysis.

Some of the people who viewed the sighting thought it might be a top secret UN craft but from their reports the velocity of the craft plus its shape did not fit into anything they knew was being used in the military exercises.

UFOs on the Road to Beitbridge

2008-12-20T00:26:00.000-08:00

A young couple about to make a new life for themselves in South Africa travelled by car from what was then Salisbury to Durban in South Africa. They decided to travel at night. There was some moonlight bu the moon set at 2:15 am. About 10km from Umvuma - a small town the couple saw a figure at the side of the road. It had a strange shiny appearance - almost metallic. Some fifteen minutes later they saw a light on a hill top some distance way. The light appeared to move quite close to the car and to keep pace with them.

The car lights started to fade leaving them with no light except what came from the strange object above them. the interior instrument lights in the car also faded away.

They realised that they had lost control of the situation and the car was gaining speed. it was almost as if someone or thing had taken over the driving of the vehicle.

They travelled on passing two buses with lights blazing - doors open - but no passengers

The temperature inside the car started to drop rapidly. they continued on until reaching Ft Victoria (Masvingo). Stopping at a gas station they discovered that their lights were working again.. What happened that night?

2008-11-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

On May 12, 1980 at 6:00 PM a brilliant blue disc hovered at a low altitude for ten minutes over Bulawayo. It shot straight up, stopped, then shot up again and was gone. (Source: Cynthia Hind, UFO Afri News, July 1990). I have not been able to establish if this was seen in other parts of the country. Please let me know if you saw this disk

2008-11-23T02:04:00.000-08:00

I came across this very interesting link this morning refering to a sighting in 1974 in the Ft Victoria Area

http://ufosightingreport.com/ufo-seen-1974.

I wonder if anyone else witnessed this object? I have not heard of any other sighting at that time.

Ariel School UFO Sighting Video

2008-11-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

Editor Randy Nickerson has worked on both sides of the camera, as an actor and a filmmaker. He has a keen interest in the human condition and trauma recovery. His most recent work includes a film, titled "A Silence in the Heard", about the significance of listening and silence on an interpersonal and global level. Randy is a graduate of the Institute of Core Energetics, an evolutionary body therapy training that integrates all aspects of humanity - the emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual. He is currently a faculty member at the institute and has a private practice in New York City. Randy is also a classical pianist and nature photographer.

In 1994, Harvard Professor of Psychiatry John E. Mack, M.D. traveled to Zimbabwe with research associate Dominique Callimanopulos to study one of the most extraordinary sightings of a UFO in recent times. At the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, sixty-two children between the ages of eight and twelve reported seeing a UFO and “strange beings” during morning recess. In 2007, on behalf of the John E. Mack Institute, Dominique Callimanopulos will undertake production of a non-commercial, edited video program presenting John Mack’s interviews with the schoolchildren and faculty. These interviews constitute one of the most impressive UFO sighting and alien encounter cases in recent history, and serve as an exemplary demonstration of the interviewing skills and sensitivity John Mack exercised when working with people reporting extraordinary experiences.The goal of producing this video program is to preserve the historical record of this compelling case in a format that can be accessible to students and educators.The program is being made from original Betacam footage that was shot between November 28 and December 6, 1994. The John Mack Institute is seeking donations to produce the full length program. We welcome your contribution to this unique and historic project. A preview reel has been prepared by Dominique Callimanopulos and editor Randall Nickerson for viewing by prospective funders.

For more information, please contact:Dominique Callimanopulosdomcall@att.net
Dominique Callimanopulos, M.Ed.,

Producer Dominique Callimanopulos collaborated with John Mack from 1993-1998, exploring the cross-cultural aspects of alien encounters. An anthropologist by training, Dominique has also worked as a counseling psychologist and currently devotes her time to projects with positive social impact through her company, Elevate, Inc.

Tokolosh and UFO's - is there a connection?

2008-11-10T00:17:00.000-08:00

I found this mention on http://www.vanhunks.com/tokolosh1.html and thought it was relevant. A very interesting theory

"On September 16th, 1994, three flying saucers were seen hovering over Ariel School, in Ruwa, Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, UFOs are so common that local people have an indigenous word for the flying saucer, "ruserwa". One of the spacecraft landed, and a small being with long black hair and large eyes emerged. The being certainly satisfied many descriptions of the tokoloshe, and some pupils took it to be one, and fled for their lives.

Perhaps tokoloshis do have an extraterrestrial origin. Some of the children felt that the alien was telepathic. The incident was investigated by the Zimbabwean ufologist Cynthia Hind, and by the abduction expert Dr. John Mack. "

As a note of interest the following story i was told is relevent to this article. The person concerned was not the kind of person to believe in ghosts or ufos or tokolosh and yet he was convinced this was a being not of our world:

At about the time of the Ariel school sighting a young friend of ours claimed to have seen what he thought was a tokolosh.

He lived in a house on the northern outskirts of Harare. next to the property was an empty plot that had running water at the lowest part of the land.

He had been walking in the plot when he came across a small creature with bulging eyes which appeared to be startled at being found. The creature gave chase to our friend who fled the plot as quickly as he could. Could this have been an alien being? He never went back to try and see the creature again.

1985 Ufo Sighting

2008-11-10T00:09:00.001-08:00

I don't know the exact source of this article but the story has been documented a number of times.

Zimbabwe UFO

Back in 1985, a round object topped with a cone was seen by dozens of peopleover the skies of Zimbabwe. With pilots, air traffic controllers, andcivilians among the witnesses, that country turned to aeronautical expertsfor an explanation. Now, a year and a half later, Zimbabwe's Air Commodore David Thorne sees no explanation in sight. "We have not been able to identify the object," he says. "We have had to classify it as a UFO."Although he didn't personally witness the object, Thorne reports that "thecraft was spotted as it streaked over southern Zimbabwe. Then air traffic controllers watched it hover and tracked it on radar. 2 Air Force jets went after the object, and the pilots described it as incredibly shiny, reflectingthe colors of the sunset. Our estimates indicate that the UFO was traveling at twice the speed of sound. And when it got dark outside, we realized the object was emitting its own light. Our pilots are completely reliable,"Thorne contends. "This cannot be dismissed as a plane, weather balloon, or natural phenomenon."But UFO skeptic James Oberg has his doubts. "The evidential value of unresearchable sightings in Zimbabwe is zero, however sincere the witnesses,"he says. "Besides, pilots are not always calm, dispassionate observers. They tend to perceive any visual stimulus in its most dangerous possible configuration -- as another craft. That's a good characteristic of a safe pilot, but not a good characteristic of a UFO witness." Oberg also points out that "Zimbabwe is sort of on the edge of the civilized world in terms of tracking things that might cause this kind of UFO report -- like Russian and South African reconnaissance planes that, I'm sure, are flying over that airspace."

(The Times, London, August 3, ) On July 22, 1985, in western Zimbabwe, a UFO was witnessed by dozens of persons on the ground and in the control tower at Bulawayo Airport, as well as by the pilots of two Hawk jets that were scrambled to pursue it. The UFO was also tracked on radar. The UFO was very bright and rounded, with a short cone above it, and evaded the Hawk jets.

UFO sighting in Zimbabwe

2008-11-09T23:53:00.000-08:00

I was interviewed for this documentary and think that it will be a very interesting film giving a very balanced view of the sighting. O H L

UFO sighting in Zimbabwe
26 August 2008, 09:14

By Tom Powell

American film-maker Randall Nickerson is in Cape Town this week seeking inspiration for a documentary he is putting together about a UFO sighting in Zimbabwe in 1994.During morning break on September 14 of that year, 62 schoolchildren between the ages of eight and 12 saw a strange craft land 150 metres from the Ariel School in Ruwa, from which two small beings emerged which were described as having "big eyes like rugby balls".The children's individual descriptions of the phenomenon were so similar that news of the sighting spread around the globe. Nickerson was approached with footage taken by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning Professor John Mack, who travelled to Zimbabwe to interview the children after the event.

Nickerson said: "This is a story the world needs to see. Personally, I think it's moving. I've found hundreds, if not thousands, of people who believe it and couldn't find anyone who didn't. It blew my mind when I saw it." Although Nickerson admits the footage of the event makes it difficult to disprove the phenomenon, he doesn't want his film to be biased. "I don't want to steer the documentary in any direction at all. I'd rather present all the evidence and let people make up their own minds."Refusing to believe so many people can be mistaken, Nickerson is visiting southern Africa to shed light on those events.Having visited the school itself, Nickerson is now in Cape Town to track down some witnesses and investigate some "unearthly" sightings that occurred in South Africa, including two UFO sightings in Port Shepstone and Johannesburg in April. Anyone who saw the event in Zimbabwe can contact Nickerson on 082 815 4731 or by e-mail at rsnick@gmail.comtom.powell@inl.co.za
This article was originally published on page 4 of The Cape Times on August 26, 2008

People need to tell their stories

2008-10-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

People appear to be very 'scared' of the unknown. I have been meeting with people here in Zimbabwe ad trying to discuss UFO phenomenon. Many are unwilling to admit that they may have seen anything.

If you have had a sighting related to Zimbabwe - please let me know!

South African Sightings

2008-09-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

I hear from a friend who is in South Africa interviewing people for a documentary on UFOs that there are many people coming forward with stories of their encounters. Zimbabwe has been a rich source of UFO sightings but people here seem to be reticent to talk out. if you have any stories to relate please let me know by mailing me at olind@yoafrica.com. Lets find out more about experiences here in Zimbabwe.

No new sightings

2008-07-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

I have been silent due to massive power failures (20 hours yesterday) and internet failure. One sometimes feels very cut off from the outside world when this happens. With all the dreadful things happening around us I was hoping that we might experience some presence - but nothing.

We sit here in July 2008 and since my last experience in May have seen nothing or experienced any new sightings. Have we been deserted? I hope not! I have had a number of people reporting lost time experiences but nothing concrete.

Red flash in the sky

2008-05-18T01:51:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 15 may 2008 at approximately 6:30pm my family and I were sitting outside in our garden in the northern suburbs of Harare. There was little light as we had experienced another power cut (they are averaging 16 to 19 hours a day now). We had three candles positioned on a table but no other light source - either in our garden or the ones around us. The gardens in our area are just over an acre each in size.

We saw three successive red flashes in the sky - not like a meteorite but a lighting up of the sky over a small area - the area became very red and then reverted to the night sky. This happened in the same part of the sky at intervals of about three seconds. Each event lasted for about the same time.

What caused this? We have never experienced this phenomena before.

My Interest in Ariel School

2008-04-10T01:16:00.000-07:00

I was interested in the Ariel School sighting from the beginning. perhaps because of the sighting that my husband and i had experienced at about the same time. Did the two tie in? Were they connected? But why were we brought into the loop?

I would not find out until some years later - yes there was a reason.

I was approached to see if I could find out any further information on the landing. I joined the Ruwa Garden club and spoke to the women there - yes they did have some information but not much. Some had had children at the school but the children had not seen anything - they had been in another part of the grounds. I heard stories about parents that did not believe what had been seen. Later these parents began to believe when they saw the drawings made by their children and talked to other parents.

Ruwa is a very conservative town. People go to church on a Sunday and have been known to have arranged for the removal of a vicar when they thought him too 'modern'. These people do not discuss UFOs or ghosts or other occurrences. These things do not play a part in their lives. However I did find out some glimmerings of interest and it was suggested that I visit the school and speak to the headmistress who had been a teacher at the school at the time of the sighting. At least i was getting somewhere.

Why do I believe in UFOs?

2008-04-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't always lived in Zimbabwe - and my real interest in UFOs started in Ghana. When I moved to Zimbabwe I found my interest growing. I heard of Cynthia Hind and later met her and talked in detail to her about her researches and experiences.

I do feel very stongly that we would have to be very egotistic to believe that earth was the only place inhabited by human life.

There must be someone out there who has made a better way of living within their environment that we have done here on earth. Beings that are genuinely interested in preserving their worlds must exist.

Why is it that Zimbabwe, and indeed Southern Africa, has been singled out by people from other worlds? The number of visitations have been exceptional and people here are aware of them. You will start off a conversation on the subject and find people willing to join in and exchange views - give personal experiences and discuss on valid level.

Yes I believe in UFOs - I have experienced their presence and fully believe we are being 'investigated' by people from another world or worlds.

Another sighting in September 1994

2008-04-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

Around the same time that the UFO sighting and landing occurred in Ruwa at Ariel School a similar sighting occurred at a private school in Hilton South Africa. Hilton is a town north of Pietermaritzburg in the south of the country.

Hilton College is a private full boarding senior school for boys located near the small town of Hilton in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands of South Africa. It is one of the most prestigious schools in South Africa.

I have tried to find out if there is anyone who remembers this event but although making contact with the present school secretary, I have been unable to substanciate the sighting. I have today e-mailed one of the old boys associations to find out if anyone can remember the incident.

I would be pleased to hear from anyone who might be reading this who has any further information.

Ariel School Sighting

2008-04-03T01:49:00.000-07:00

Picture source - Hesemann

The sighting at Ariel School near Ruwa on 16 September 1994 is one of the best documented and well known sightings of an unidentified flying object.

Something landed in a schoolyard in Ruwa, Zimbabwe. This was witnessed by 62 schoolchildren, who had little or no exposure to TV or popular press accounts of UFOs. Cynthia Hind interviewed them the day after the encounter and had them draw pictures of what they had seen. The event lasted about fifteen minutes, the children said, before the spaceships faded from view. Some of the chilren expereinced fear at the sighting but the children reported also being curious and fascinated by the strange beings they saw, whose eyes in particular commanded an intense attention.

The remarkable thing about this sighting is that although the children had not been exposed to knowledge about UFOs they all drew basically the same images without being influenced by the other students or adults.

The story can be read about in fuller details by following the links given on this page.

My First UFO Experience

2008-03-31T23:05:00.000-07:00

I am often asked what started my interest in UFOs and definitely it was an experience which I had in Ghana in the 1960s. However I have come to realise that my first UFO experience may have been years before. It was only recently that I recalled what must have been an encounter which occurred earlier in my life. As this happened 50 odd years ago I will recount what i remember of that late afternoon.

I lived with my parents in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. We were returning along the 'Sunshine Highway' from a small town called 'Hollywood' north of Lauderdale when my father found that the car was coming to a stop on the highway. He was of the opinion that the vehicle had run out of gas and cursed the fuel tank display for not showing the correct level of fuel!

Everything was very still and silent - no others cars around. He tried to start the car repeatedly but had no luck and got out of the vehicle to try and ascertain where we were and how far it might be to the nearest gas station. I was looking out of the car window and saw something in the sky which I presumed was a plane travelling away from us in a southerly direction.

My father by this time realised that we were far from any source of fuel and got back into the car and turned the key in the ignition. The car started up immediately! He made a remark about probably having flooded the engine and we we were on our way. the fuel gauge showed that we had more than enough fuel to get home but he stopped and filled up the tank at the first gas station we came to.

I did not think about this incident for many years until I was reading reports of sightings on this part of the Florida highway - and realised that the reported incidents were very similar to what I had experienced.

Did we have a fuel problem or was it something more?

UFOs OVER MANA POOLS

2008-03-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

This story comes to me from the owner of a well known tour operator in Zimbabwe.

On the morning of 14 September 1994 a number of objects were seen in the Mana Pools area near the Zambezi River. They were travelling from Zambia to Zimbabwe. They were also seen over Harare and then later in Durban at four or five minutes past nine in the morning. They appear to have been travelling very quickly and were very high in the sky.

Mana Pools,a World Heratege Site and game reserve, is a wild and undeveloped area taking up a large percentage of the northern part of Zimbabwe.

This was a very interesting sighting and similar to one still being investigated in Canada. Here in 1913 objects were seen to proceed along the coast of Brazil at high altitude and at high speed.

The Zimbabwe Mana Pools sighting was just two days before the Ariel School landing in Ruwa and could have been connected.

LOST TIME - STRANGE ROUTING

2008-03-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

Mr H was driving from Harare to the north sometime late one afternoon in September 1985. It was a road he knew well and had travelled many times before. The route he was taking took him through undulating country with hills on both sides of the road.

He was concentrating on the winding road when suddenly he realised he was no longer on the road he had started off on. The road he was then travelling on was straight and flat!

He stopped the car and tried to find out where he might be. He looked at the clock and at his watch and realised that a space of time of an hour and a half had gone by since he had last checked the time. He decided to turn the car around and head back the way he had obviously come from in hopes of finding out where he was. Within a short time he found himself at the junction to the road he should have been travelling. It was by now nearly dark.

On returning to his home he checked his mileage records. (He always kept a note of what mileage he travelled on every trip he did.) To his amazement he had twenty eight miles that he could not account for on this particular journey.

Was he abducted? Why the extra mileage? What happened in that hour and a half?

OBJECTS SIGHTED NEAR BINDURA

2008-03-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

The following case was related to me by a friend who used to live in Glendale a farming community north of Harare. He was on his way back from Bindura to Glendale driving along the main Bindura/Harare road. In the car were his wife and two young sons. He noted a reddish light behind the car - his wife also noted the strange object. Within a few minutes it was seen over the car and appeared to be keeping up with the vehicle, which by this time, my friend (who we will refer to as Mr P), was driving at considerable speed. It was joined by a number of other, similar objects - he estimated about 12 in total. Unable to get away from them he stopped the car and he and his wife got out of the vehicle to get a better view - the objects hovered above the scene and then sped off towards Bindura. He could not remember the exact date but estimates it was probably some time in August 1985.

My source is a very reliable person not prone to exaggeration and with a very open mind.

STRANGE GLOW AND SKY BOOMS RATTLE ZIMBABWE

2008-03-23T23:05:00.000-07:00

So went the headlines - what did we really experience?
The report read:

"On Thursday, May 21, 1998, at 10:20 p.m., a brilliant white glow lit up the eastern horizon in Zimbabwe, a nation in southern Africa. The strange glow was seen from Harare, the capital, to Glendale, a distance of 75 kilometers (45 miles).

In Glendale, the mysterious glow persisted for 20 minutes, and "the light was strongest" there.

Immediately following the light's appearance, a serious of explosive sky booms was heard in Harare and towns to the east, including Rusape, Murewa amd Macheke.

The glow was also seen in Goromonzi, near Ruta (RUWA), approximately 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Harare. In 1996, a UFO reportedly landed on the playground of an elementary school in Goromonzi, and about a dozen aliens spoke for 15 minutes with the 60 children playing there.

The case is being investigated by Cynthia Hind, Zimbabwe's foremost ufologist. (Many thanks to Jeroen Wierda of Picard UFO Research International and Odette for this report.)"

What we experienced has never been fully explained. My husband and I woke to a rumbling which appeared to come from below the earth and following a path below our property. The light flash was seen through closed curtains and lasted for some minutes. The sound was like that of an atomic explosion and seemed to run along the ground. Quite amazing.

We have had reports from Messina in South Africa and Mutare on the Mocambique border that they also experienced this strange phenomenon.

What ever it was there appears to have been no 'remains', no local sightings, no damage done. There were no reports of earthquake activity and surely this would not have been accompanied by a flash of light that lasted for some time in the sky.

What was it?