I had arrived at my B&B in Harare with an overnight stopover before carrying onto Kariba and my 5 day photoshoot on the banks of the Zambezi River and Mana Pools National Park .

I had nothing planned as it was a quick stopover due to plane timetables.

When my hosts suggested a afternoon hike to photograph stone age rock paintings I jumped at the chance.

40 ks out of Harare is the Ngomakurira Monument area named after the local words for "beating drums".

It is a popular 4 wd area for the Harare locals but the area we were heading had to be walked. My guides were two young university students home for the holidays who loved trekking and rock climbing and this was their local wilderness area.

Coming from NZ the idea of seeing something from the stone age was truly exciting and I really had no idea what to expect..

We had about a 40minute hike in from where we parked the 4wd through a very pretty area covered by large rocky outcrops.

Rounding a bend my guides pointed to a large overhanging cliff face as the home for the rock paintings.

I was surprised to find the area was not roped off and that locals still camped at the base of this overhang as it was completely sheltered from the prevailing weather

My guides took off to do some rock climbing nearby and i spent a couple of hours photographing and just taking in the area. Sitting at the base of this cliff beside the rock paintings all on my own was a truely humbling experience, and a surprising and unexpected highlight of my African adventure