Mapungubwe National Park

Between about 1075 and 1290 a state centred on this sandstone hill controlled trade between the interior and the Indian Ocean coast, exporting gold and ivory and importing Chinese celadon, Persian glass and glass beads from as far as Egypt. It was the first class-based society in southern Africa, with the king living apart on the hilltop above his people - a spatial arrangement of power that later appears at Great Zimbabwe. Excavations in 1933 found royal burials on the hill containing gold objects, including a small wooden rhinoceros covered in gold foil that has become the site's emblem and, since 2002, the model for the national Order of Mapungubwe. For decades the finds were kept quietly at the University of Pretoria because they contradicted the official story of the country's past; they are now displayed there and at the site's award-winning interpretive centre.

What you actually see

• The hill capital - the sandstone hill where the king lived above his people.
• The golden rhino - gold foil over wood, found in a royal grave in 1933.
• The trade evidence - Chinese celadon and Persian glass in an African interior site.
• The suppressed history - finds kept quiet for decades because of what they showed.

When to go

April to September; summer here exceeds forty degrees. Two days.

Honest expectations

The hill is accessible only on guided heritage tours at set times - book at the centre. The original gold objects are in Pretoria, not on site. Summer heat is extreme. Roads inside the park include gravel and some need clearance.

Nearby

The Limpopo and Shashe confluence marks three borders; Musina is east.