Lost City of the Kalahari Desert
hardluck:
Hello all
Here's one of stories I found in my travels when searching for some thing else. it takes you back to another time.
The 1930?s era is all but a distant memory to our parents, grandparents and even great Grandparents for some. It was the era of the Great Depression with a lack of jobs lack of hope and for some the great struggle to overcome. It was the era that toughened up people for the horrors that were yet to come.
Perhaps even our own time is an ominous warning of what is yet to come for us?
It was an era that spawned countless stories in the newspapers of treasure stories from all parts of the world. Was there any truth in these stories from the 1930?s? Or was it some vain attempt of newspapers to entice poverty stricken nations to believe in dreams. To me it is the Era of Humphrey Bogart and the Maltese falcon and the later Iconic stories set in that era of Raiders of the lost Ark etc. That inspired many to romance about fortune and glory that dominated that some how lost decade.
There was real life expeditions to Coco Islands and the pacific, South America, Lassiter in Australia a whole host of men of all ages and nationalities roaming the countryside looking for work and any odd job that came their way, all dreaming of fortune glory and any treasure they could find.
One such story is pretty much lost to history. It has not been heard about for over 70 years. In the Canberra Times dated 19th may 1931 a strange story filtered through diplomatic circles about an alleged discovery of a Lost City in the deserts of the Kalahari in Africa.
The lost City of the Kalahari
Mr. Piet Grobler minister for lands in South Africa set upon an expedition to the Kalahari Desert to look for an ancient lost city alleged to be buried there. The Lost City was first described by an American man called Farini. Not much is known about him. He and written a book in 1871, claiming he had discovered a lost city in the Kalahari Desert.
It is from Farini?s 1871 book we have this description of his discovery. He related this story that his caravan of a few white men and Hottentot natives were heading from a North West direction came across a small hill with a long line of stones resembling the Great Wall of China. The Stones were of enormous size and once side has looked like it had been faced and had cement attached to it in places.
They followed the wall for about 1 mile and discovered it was semi circle inside the wall was oval structures that had small entrances. Farini set to work his natives in an excavation and found a floor and what appeared to a Plinth of which the lower portion was fluted. They Search for any sign of script but found none. Farini natives became superstitious and refused to dig further. Farini did sketches and took some photographs of the site. This is allegedly in his book.
Farin believed that there was at one time in history a chain of forts for a people came here in search and trade in gold and gems and the network stretched across Africa.
The account of the lost city was verified the bush people and by a surveyor by the name of Mr Roger Jackson who claimed that some natives found a strange idol in the Kalahari that resembled a Buddha that was given to a missionary and sold.
Another man known by the name of Anderson is to have known a lot about it. And Gert Low a man who accompanied Farini also mentioned the lost city to Mr Boreherds of Upington. It appears by all accounts the ruins cover an area much larger than the ruins at Zimbabwe.
Interesting enough there is a story of a free booter called Scotty Smith who spoke of the locality and not of location who claimed the shifting sands reburies the city and from time to time reveals itself again.
The South African minister of lands also said there is speculation about there was perhaps a chain of enclosures or forts crossing across the lower half of Africa. It this story true or another tale of treasure fermented by the imaginations of desperate people from a desperate time?
As strange as the story is I have never been able to trace this rare book as the article never mentioned the name of this book. It is kind of romantic to believe that perhaps some where out there is still lost cities to find in the deserts of the Kalahari? One can imagine one?s self on entering a lost city lost time only discovered by those who dared to dream.
But the shifting sands of the Kalahari claims her own and she chooses when and how she reveals her hidden treasures, only take it away again to taunt us like the flirting lady she is.
Hardluck ;)
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DragunX5:
Great Stuff as always Hardluck ;)
Deserts are on of the worlds greatest mysteries of the world and no doubt there are
many secrets hidden there. With the constant shifting of the sands, erasing all evidence
of anything the desert has clamied whether it be crashed aircrafts, lost travellers, escaping theives,
hidden egyptian structures and tombs....the mind boggles at the sheer amount of secrets it holds :o
Being one of the most dangerous places in the world not many brave the hunt for history.
Maybe the desert has revealed the city a few times, just on one there to see it.
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goldigger:
Quote:Posted by hardluckHello all
Here's one of stories I found in my travels when searching for some thing else. it takes you back to another time.
Hardluck ;)
Wo! Kalahari! When I first saw this, I was thinking Takla Makan! (Which is in China!)
I heard of a couple of cities, in the Takla Makan, also circa 1930 of the Roy Chapman Andrews era.... the guy that was finding dinosaur bones and eggs in northern China.
I have been looking at the Takla Makan, for some time, with Google Earth and it is very interesting!
I can see sand buried buildings but most have a buried, round, structure which, in modern areas, seems to be a horse corral. But I also found a multi-building construction that may be in the process of being excavated. Since then, I have found some others, which are super-faint marks, possibly walls, which I will find and upload.... tomorrow? I am not sure how they will look converted to a size that I can upload, but direct viewing through Google earth show faint races that might be remains of fortifications.
I also found a strange structure on the Afghan - Iran border, kind of like a small Mayan temple, in shape, obviously clay or clay brick. Maybe no treasure there, its a poor country. :o
goldigger
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hardluck:
Hello Goldigger
Ah Takla Makan! One thing I always wanted to do is travel the silk road. There are many buried temples and lost cities of the deserts of western China. A really amazing part of the world.
There is a lake called Lop Nor in northern Tibet I think which is recorded as a wandering lake over the centuries due to different weather pattens that the lake a moved and flooded an ancient city which was once on its shores of this lake.
A region I like to add to my bucket list ;D
As for Afghanistan it might be a poor country today, but in its the past it was a source of Emeralds before the Emerald discoveries in Columbia. Many empires with Kings and army's such as Alexander the great have come and gone, all tried to tame her and all paid a price.
I would love to see your pictures of the Takla Makan region.
Hardluck. ???
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DragunX5:
Hey
heres a not so good image of the TaklaMakan in China marked A and B.
Thats a lot of sand.
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Sue:
Quote:Posted by hardluck The Lost City was first described by an American man called Farini.
Enjoyed the post - good read. I think Farini was the Great Farini, known for his high wire performance across Niagara Falls, initially searching for diamonds in that desert. Sue
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salvor6:
WOW! Thats a HUGE desert.
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salvor6
hardluck:
Hello everyone.
Dragunx5, Thank you for posting the picture. It is a very interesting part of the world.
Sue, I think you are correct with the Great Farini ( William Lenard Hunt ) in his biography it states that he was the first white man to walk across the Kalahari desert and mentions his unconfirmed discovery of the lost city of the Kalahari.
Well done sue! give yourself a pat on the back for me.
Hopefully I can find the book he allegedly wrote and the see the photographs of the lost city.
Hardluck 8)
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goldigger:
Quote:Posted by hardluckHello Goldigger
Ah Takla Makan! One thing I always wanted to do is travel the silk road. There are many buried temples and lost cities of the deserts of western China. A really amazing part of the world.
There is a lake called Lop Nor in northern Tibet I think which is recorded as a wandering lake over the centuries due to different weather pattens that the lake a moved and flooded an ancient city which was once on its shores of this lake.
A region I like to add to my bucket list ;D
As for Afghanistan it might be a poor country today, but in its the past it was a source of Emeralds before the Emerald discoveries in Columbia. Many empires with Kings and army's such as Alexander the great have come and gone, all tried to tame her and all paid a price.
I would love to see your pictures of the Takla Makan region.
Hardluck. ???
Very good. Lots of thread, today!
I had some more looks at the Takla Makan, yesterday and captured a few pics, so depending on how big they are (total) I will upload as much as I can.... PLUS an image of the famous silk road, showing thousands of wheel tracks! :o
I also looked at the Kalahari AND Namib deserts, but did not see anything not modern.... lots of mining. I will keep looking. [great]
I have several scenes from the vicinity of a natural barrier, that runs across the Takla Makan, a couple from Afghanistan (the yellow mark, if it appears, in one is the Iran-Afghan border,) and if I have the room, one from the Sahara of an object about 2.4 miles long. :o
goldigger
LO:
top pic: the ancient road, still used
pic 2: some of the sand buried buildings, on the road.
pic 3: Very deeply buried in N.Afghanistan
pic 4: close to the Afghan - Iran border
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Sue:
goldigger, interesting pictures. Even though those roads seem close to those ruins, I imagine someone, passing by, probably wouldn"t have any idea they were even there.
hardluck, A book by Farini/Hunt, Through the Kalahari Desert, has a full view on books.google.com. I was supposed to be working awhile ago <sigh> but I didn"t see his description of the city. Admit I got sidetracked with a section on diamonds. My connection here at home is not fast, but thought I would pass along the link.
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This story about the lost city gets stranger the more I read. Some think the city was partially destroyed when the continent shifted - calling it almost an Atlantis. Others say Farini doctored rocks with lines. The following book has photos of what that author thinks Farini saw. Another google book. Page 409 or so of Lost Cities & Ancient Mysteries Africa and Arabia by David Hatcher Childress. Modified this post as the other link extended the text box. Sue
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