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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An interesting observation!

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 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.