These three balancing stones were depicted on the world's most depreciating currency, the Zimbabwean dollar. Every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Zimbabwe, from the $1 note issued after the country's independence in 1980, to the $100 trillion (100,000,000,000,000) note issued at the peak of the 2008 crisis when the country was experiencing hyperinflation, these three stones were depicted.
The image of stones was chosen as a combined metaphor for development and protection environment after the country gained independence from “white Rhodesia” (until 1980, the state of Zimbabwe was called Southern Rhodesia and was a British colony). The rocks themselves can be found following signs in Epworth National Park, a suburb of Harare. The stones depicted on the banknotes are the most iconic example of this geological feature, found in many places throughout Zimbabwe: rock formations in a state of perfect balance.
Matopos (or matobo- the name of the national park) is worth a visit in itself. Tourists can walk or drive around the Stone Age rock formations with provocative names such as the Giant's Playground and the Flying Boat. The rocks, like historical monuments, radiate grandeur. Outside the park, some enterprising residents have built their homes right among the giant boulders that can be found around Epworth.
The Zimbabwean dollar has already ceased to exist. The government abandoned its currency and carried out full monetization in 2015. The banknotes can now be found on eBay, on the back playing cards or in hawkers' shops trying to sell dead currency to tourists visiting Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean dollar has become a symbol of the dangers of inflation, devaluation and erroneous economic policies of the authorities.
Currently, Zimbabwe has introduced a multi-currency system. Money from almost all over the world is legal tender in the country: Australian dollar, British pound, Botswana pula, Chinese yuan, euro, Indian rupee, Japanese yen, South African rand. The dominant currency in circulation is the US dollar. All prices in stores, restaurants and even in the park where the famous balancing stones are located are indicated in dollars. "Bond coins" in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents can be obtained upon change.
But the stones could make a comeback in new banknote designs in Zimbabwe's bountiful currency basket. Most recently, the country's government introduced a “bond” pegged to the US dollar and decorated with the same stones that were used on the old Zimbabwean dollar. Currently only the $2 bond is in circulation, but the government plans to gradually introduce $5, $10, $20 and $50 bills in the future.
Tying local money to the exchange rate of another country is unusual, but by no means unique. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a convertible mark, initially pegged to the German mark and now to the euro at a one-to-one rate. For about 50 years there was de facto parity between the Irish and United Kingdom pounds. Concerns remain among many Zimbabweans who remember the old Zimbabwean dollars well. They live in the hope that their new money will be as strong, stable and unshakable as the three majestic rocks depicted on it.
Good to know
To get to the stones, the easiest way is to rent a car or hire a taxi driver who knows the way.
Antiquity gave us seven wonders of the world, each of which is a unique architectural structure. Since then, the list, begun by Herodotus, has been constantly updated, including new man-made masterpieces. However, natural wonders can amaze the imagination much more than those that our civilization can create! One of them is balancing stones, which can be found in different parts of our planet!
On the website Kultorologia.ru we have already written about, as well as about the lady. These sculptors create amazing pyramids of stones of different sizes, although at first glance this seems impossible. However, people have an excellent role model - nature made sure that people had something to inherit!
Balancing stones look very extreme: it feels like the block is about to fall off its pedestal and roll down. In fact, the “top” is often firmly connected to the base. In Utah, USA, near Arches National Park there is one of the famous balancing giants. The total height of this natural miracle is 39 m, and the top hanging over the base is 16.75 m!
The Balancing Stone, located on Long Island in Nova Scotia, arguably defies the laws of gravity! A 9-meter column stands on the very edge of the rock, forming a gap into which you can even look if you wish!
But Idol Rock is one of the representatives of a whole English “family” called Brimham Rocks. Under the influence of water, low temperatures and wind, these stones took on bizarre shapes resembling various animals - elephants, hippos and bears.
The Kjeragbolten boulder is a popular subject for tourist photographs! He was stuck in a massive crevice of the Norwegian mountain Kjerag at an altitude of 984 m above the abyss. It’s easy to reach even without special equipment; it’s a great place for those who like to thrill!
But the “five” of incredible wonders is completed by the Golden Stone (Kyaiktiyo) - a huge granite boulder covered with gold leaf, balancing at more than a kilometer above the abyss on Mount Chaittiyo in Burma. Pilgrims believe that the Golden Stone with the pagoda is held by a thread of Buddha!
Here the truth is born from myths, the laws of nature rule and Western logic is not very applicable. The editor of Around the World found himself in the fabulous world of Africa.
-...There were eight kings who ruled one after another. They lived here on the hill, and their wives lived down there. Behind the huge oval wall - in the Great Enclosure - there was a residence main wife king. The rest, the young ones, had houses in the valley. The first king had 200 wives. And a lot of children. At that time, it was the custom of the Shona people to inherit wives. When the first king died, his eldest son became the second king and, in addition to his wives, took his father's wives - all except his mother. And the third king took the remaining wives of the first and second and also his own. This continued until the eighth king, so the population of wives and children grew and grew...
Storyteller Dorothy, a portly woman in her forties, works as a tour guide in Great Zimbabwe. She takes visitors around the UNESCO World Heritage site three to four times a day. Climbing a stone path to the hill where the ancients performed rituals, overlooking the great surroundings, the monumental complex - the Great Enclosure - and the “Potemkin” Shona village. And also a local museum, where eight stone Birds of Zimbabwe, found by archaeologists on a hilltop, “sleep” in the darkness, amid regular power outages. Seven are original, one is a copy. And the very first one became a symbol of the country. Dorothy is right about this. Otherwise it's just very convincing.
Dorothy tells things that you cannot read anywhere: not in archaeological reports, not on the UNESCO website, not even on Wikipedia. You can’t read it, because the ancestors of the Shona people didn’t have a written language, and archaeologists haven’t discovered much to understand what was really going on here and when.
The name Great Zimbabwe, according to the main version, comes from Dzimba-dza-mabwe, which means “big houses made of stone” in the Karanga dialect of the Shona language. It is in honor of these ruins of the supposed capital of the ancient Monomotapa empire that the state of Zimbabwe, the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia, is named.
Before Zimbabwe's independence, local authorities avoided acknowledging the fact that the ruins of Great Zimbabwe were of African origin. Of course, the idea of the ancient statehood of the indigenous population was not as pleasant to the colonialists as the once seriously believed versions of the mines of King Solomon and the palace of the Queen of Sheba. And in this sense, the oral folk tradition as presented by Dorothy has a right to exist. As it comes back, so will it respond.
Echo. Tale of a Cave
Squeezing between huge boulders and thousand-year-old dry-built walls of rough-hewn but perfectly fitted stones, Dorothy and I reach almost the top. The woman wipes the sweat from her forehead and climbs into the grotto with a low ceiling, sits on a stone and shouts at the top of her lungs, cupping her hands like a megaphone: “Zebra-ah! Zebraa!!! Leo number one!!!" And the sound, starting from the distant hills and walls of Great Zimbabwe, echoes back from different directions. And Dorothy explains:
This is the Royal Cave. When the king wanted to spend time with one of his wives, he would come here and shout out the name of her totem. This is how it was customary among the Shona to give people the names of totem animals. You cannot hunt your animal, you cannot eat it. For example, if your totem is a baboon, then you cannot eat a baboon... So, since there were many zebras, cheetahs or lions, the king assigned them numbers: Lion number one, number two and so on. When he wanted to call Zebra (Maduve in our language), he shouted from the cave: “Maduve-ee!” The echo carried the cry everywhere, and Maduwe, hearing it, ran upstairs to see her king. Try to climb inside and shout: “Zebra!!! Gepa-a-ard! Leo number one!!!"
Number one. The Tale of Bobesi
Ranger Madison Siakalangu and I tracked the Lion King in Hwange National Park for almost two days. During this time, Madison became my guide, teacher and breadwinner for me and my two companions. He screamed like an elephant, laughed like a leopard, sang in the voices of Zimbabwean birds, he saw kudu antelopes merging with the trees at a distance of a kilometer or a warthog swarming in the bushes. We met countless herds of zebras in collaboration with waterbucks, wildebeests and impalas, shameless elephants and delicate giraffes came out to us in droves. And sometimes we ourselves saw something in the distant bushes, but this “something” turned out to be, in the language of experienced rangers, an ordinary ALT, that is Animal Looking Thing- “something that looks like an animal.”
Finally, on the morning of the third day, after a night spent in the camp Somalia Expedition with monkeys cavorting on the tarpaulin roof of the bungalow and elephants arguing violently just around the corner, Madison led us to Him. The lion reclined proudly in the bush, not paying attention to the jeep that stopped ten steps away from him. Appreciating our insignificance, the beast imposingly fell on its side and dozed off.
Does he have a name? Or are you just numbering the lions? - I ask Madison.
Of course there is. All lions have names. This is Bobesi, which means "strong". Remember the famous Cecil the Lion? Much has been written about him; he lived here in Hwange. He was killed in the summer of 2015 by the American dentist Walter Palmer, in a very bad way. This would-be hunter shot him with a bow and wounded him... They found and finished off Cecil only the next day. Then people all over the world were indignant. So here it is. Bobesi was a lone lion. After Cecil's death, he led his pride. Everyone was worried that Bobesi would kill the male cubs. Because this is usually what happens when a new leader comes to the pride. But Bobesi did not do this. He accepted everyone. Now there are eight females and two males, three to four years old, in his pride.
Is Bobesi hunting?
No. He guards the territory. Males rarely hunt. This is usually done by lionesses. They bring spoils to the King.
An offering to the king. A Wives' Tale
Three paths lead here to the hill. We climbed the ancient one,” repeats the portly storyteller Dorothy again, “and there is also a new one, it was laid in the 19th century, and another old one - Vodnaya, Watergate Pass. This route was used to bring water from the valley to the king's hill. The wives did it. It was hard for them to walk up with water under the scorching sun.
Why wives? Were there no servants?
Dorothy smiles slyly, but quickly finds the answer:
Because that was the tradition. The king wanted his wives to bring him water.
And did the first wife wear it?
No, everyone except the first wife. She lived in the palace and did not go up herself. The King came down to her in the Great Enclosure when he wanted to see her.
Rarely does a Zimbabwean woman walk without a load. Driving through the streets of Harare and its suburbs, here and there you see repeating scenes: men sitting under blooming jacaranda trees waiting for work, and women carrying a bundle on their heads, a child on their backs and - often - another, future one, in their bellies. There are many children here, high birth rates, high deaths. But these women are as beautiful as jacarandas.
Why are there so many women with a burden on their heads and not a single man? - I ask the driver Mubaiwa, with whom we are traveling around Zimbabwe.
Such a tradition,” Mubaiwa replies, flashing his hippopotamus gaze. - Why do men wear something on their heads? We have hands. We're smart. So everything is fine.
Bypassing. A Tale of Normal Heroes
Mubaiwa is not easy. He is not an ordinary driver. He doesn’t even really know the route, but he seems to know the job entrusted to him (quite likely) by the party and the government: to keep an eye on the guests. Sometimes his gaze is heavy, like that of a buffalo emerging from the forest at night, sometimes cheerful, like that of a hippopotamus swimming with friends in the Zambezi River a kilometer before its free fall into the abyss. Our other kind chocolate angel is Nadya, who looks like a freely grazing impala and the king’s first wife at the same time.
What kind of character are you Zimbabweans? - I ask Nadya over late dinner at the lodge Khayelitshe, hidden in the forest among the granite boulders of Matobo National Park. Khayelitshe translated from the Ndebele language as “house of stones”. There is no mobile communication for several kilometers around here. Just nature, stones balanced on top of each other, and a house with four guest rooms, the furnishings of which look like a collection of trophies from a Victorian traveler, collected from all over the world. Every detail - from the steps and stools made of dried wood to the bathtub on wrought-iron legs in the middle of the room - is delightful. And the lodge is not four years old. Hospitable and witty.
We are friendly, smart and adventurous. We will always figure out how to make money. And what’s important is that if we encounter a problem, we won’t hit it head-on: we’ll find a way around it,” Nadya draws a workaround with her finger on the table.
Why decide something now, when tomorrow it may no longer be needed or someone else will have to decide it not for you?.. Looking at the lives of people in Zimbabwe, here and there you see examples of this approach and you think that many problems would be nice and decide. Poverty, disease, unemployment, bureaucracy... But when you observe wild life in the savannah, you understand that finding a workaround is a wise compromise, dictated by nature itself, in which people and animals coexist. Here is a family of giraffes moving towards the water and, seeing a jeep on the road, they turn around and go around the artificial lake a mile away to approach from the other side. Here is a snake curled up in a rut on the road - the ranger will not drive it away, but will turn into the bushes. Here the path is blocked by a tree knocked down by an elephant - no one will rush to remove it either, if they can go around it. But the reason is not laziness, but the policy of non-interference: everything in nature should take its course. You can’t disturb it and you don’t always need to help it, so as not to upset the ecological balance.
Balance. The Tale of Stones in Balance
Balance is a fragile word that has a special meaning in Zimbabwe. Amazing rock formations - granite boulders lying one on top of the other in incredible balance - are found everywhere in the country. This is the result of volcanic activity, weathering and erosion of soft rocks.
Do you see the mother carrying the baby over her shoulders? - Mubaiwa points to bizarre pyramids of stones, as if built by a giant child. - These balancing stones are called “Mother and Child”.
Matobo National Park is also known as Matobo Hills. These hills are entirely made of granite. The Bushmen who lived here two thousand years ago left hundreds of rock paintings in caves and on granite boulders.
Do you want to see the grave of an Englishman? - Nadya asks a rhetorical question.
A few kilometers - and we find ourselves in one of the most beautiful places in the country, on the Malindijimu hill. The top of this granite monolith, where giant boulders are frozen, which are about to roll, but do not roll, is also called the Hill of Spirits and the Picture of the World. And this otherworldly picture of the world is fascinating. For the local peoples - Shona and Ndebele - Malindijimu has been a sacred hill since ancient times, where religious rituals were held. And in 1902, the “evil genius” of South Africa, the “architect of apartheid” Cecil Rhodes, was buried here, after whom, in fact, the colony was named Southern Rhodesia. He ordered a resting place in advance. On the back slope of the hill is another memorial - a mass grave of 34 British from the Shangani (Wilson) patrol defeated by the Ndebele tribes in 1893. The cemetery of the European invaders does not please the locals. In 2012, Zimbabwean farmers even approached President Robert Mugabe with a proposal to exhume the remains of Rhodes, who, in their opinion, became the cause of the drought in the country, and send them to the UK to restore the broken balance. It didn't work out. But the boulders stand, maintaining the cosmic balance of the world picture.
The balance of stones in the Epworth area, 13 kilometers from Harare, is completely different. Here, in a completely earthly manner, people build adobe dwellings between huge boulders. This is illegal and they can be evicted at any time, but the locals feel protected by the large, balanced stones. Not far from their homes, in the park Balancing rocks you can see the most important composition of boulders in Zimbabwe, the image of which has adorned Zimbabwean money since its appearance in 1980. As a symbol of independence and balance.
Bonds and dollars. A tale about money
Today the country has no money of its own. In 2009, the Zimbabwean dollar was withdrawn from circulation due to hyperinflation. Now up to $100 trillion in banknotes issued in 2008 are being sold as souvenirs to tourists. The official currency in the country, which gained independence from Great Britain, is the US dollar. But these dollars are also in great short supply: people do not have cash. In front of each bank branch, queues of tens and hundreds of people line up in front of each bank branch from early morning. But inventive Zimbabweans, who, according to Nadia, will always find an opportunity to make money, have found it. After all, this is a fairy tale about money.
To fill the cash vacuum, the country issued banknotes - bonds - in denominations of two and five Zimbabwean dollars in 2016. In fact, this mythical money is not backed by anything, but in everyday life it perfectly replaces hard American money. The bonds also feature the famous balancing stones. This means that everything will be fine with this country. In any case, women carrying children on their shoulders and men waiting to work under the jacaranda trees believe in bright prospects.
Epilogue. A tale for later
This is a fairy tale about a rainbow. Rainbows blooming over Victoria Falls in the morning and afternoon. On every good sunny day. Perhaps I got to Victoria Falls on the wrong day. Mosi-oa-Tunya, as the locals call the waterfall (“thundering smoke” translated from the Tonga language), was slightly thinner for the season, but it thundered, smoked, fogged the surroundings and even rained down. Probably, the god of the Zambezi River Nyami-Nyami was a little out of balance. In the Devil's Pool, crazy swimmers were again swimming over the abyss, crazy bungee jumpers were again jumping from the bridge near the waterfall. They are all non-locals, and they are all trying to conquer. Nyami-Nyami said: not this time. The day of the rainbow will come. And everyone will see a rainbow in balance over Zimbabwe.
Location orientation
Republic of Zimbabwe
Square 390,757 km² (60th place in the world)
Population 16 million people (74th place)
Population density 41 people/km²
GDP$17.105 billion
GDP per capita$1149
Official languages English, Shona, Northern Ndebele and 13 more
Ethnic composition Africans 99.4% (of which 82% Shona, 14% Ndebele), whites less than 0.5%
ATTRACTIONS ruins of Great Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls, Mana Pools, Hwange, Matobo national parks.
TRADITIONAL DISH sadza - porridge made from ground corn.
TRADITIONAL DRINKS chibuku - sorghum beer, mukumbi - wine made from marula fruits, kachasu - home distillate.
SOUVENIRS animal figurines made of soapstone, teak tableware, decorations made of animal bones and beads, traditional masks, textiles.
DISTANCE from Moscow to Harare ~8200 km (from 14 hours flight excluding transfers)
TIME one hour behind Moscow
VISA placed at the border for $30
CURRENCY U.S. $
Photo: HEMIS / LEGION-MEDIA (x3), HEMIS, PHOTONONSTOP,DPA/LEGION-MEDIA(x2)
The editors would like to thank the Zimbabwe Tourism Office (ZTA), the company www.ftsafari.ru and personally Mr. Ndlovu (AFRICAN BUSH CAMPS) for their assistance in preparing the material.
A balancing rock is a naturally occurring geological formation where a large rock, sometimes of enormous size, rests on other rocks, rocks or glacial deposits. Some such stones appear to be balanced, but are actually connected to the base of the rock by a pedestal or rod.
The most interesting "sculptures" have their own names, for example "Balancing Rock" is an education at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is easily accessible via a paved road and is a popular spot among tourists who like to climb onto it to take photos. Although this is now prohibited.
In Utah, USA, near Arches National Park there is one of the famous balancing giants. The total height of this natural miracle is 39 m, and the top hanging over the base is 16.75 m!
Ergaki - national natural park- in ancient times this place was considered the most important sacred territory of Tuvan shamans.
However, over time, ordinary tourists and young people with backpacks flocked here in search of adventure.
One of the main attractions of the Ergaki mountain range is this famous multi-ton balancing fragment of granite-syenite rock hanging on the edge of a cliff, with a volume of more than 30 m³ and weighing at least 50 tons (some argue that the size is much larger) hanging over Lake Raduzhnoe.
High above Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Forest lies an amazing group of balancing rocks.
The harder "overburden" sits on softer sandstone pedestals that eventually eroded away, resulting in these balancing rocks.
The softer sandstone will eventually crumble, leaving behind rocks scattered everywhere, creating sometimes simply unearthly landscapes. Glen Canyon National Park is located in the state
Arizona, USA.
Balancing rock in St. Mary's Sound on Long Island, Nova Scotia, seems to laugh at gravity as it balances on the edge of the cliff below. A 9-meter column stands on the very edge of the rock, forming a gap into which you can even look if you wish!
Brimham Rocks or "Idol Stone" are balancing rock formations in North Yorkshire, England.
Huge stones literally float in the air, supported by a tiny boulder (compared to their size). The stones rise almost 30 meters in Nidderdale National Park. It's incredible how this 200-ton block is supported on a small pyramidal stone.
Under the influence of water, low temperatures and wind, these stones took on bizarre shapes resembling various animals - elephants, hippos and bears.
Kjeragbolten is the most dangerous stone in the world. It is located at an altitude of 1084 m above the abyss. What makes it dangerous is the fact that almost every tourist in Norway tries to tickle his nerves by climbing this block of stone with a volume of about 5 m3. It’s easy to reach even without special equipment; it’s a great place for those who like to thrill! A popular subject for tourist photographs!
A small gust of wind can throw such a brave person into the abyss. IN good weather This is unlikely to happen, but it’s still not worth the risk.
The name Kjeragbolten means "Kjerag Cobblestone".
Chaittiyo Pagoda (also known as the Golden Stone)- a huge granite boulder covered with gold leaf, balancing more than a kilometer above the precipice on Mount Chaittiyo in Burma. A well known Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar. This is a small pagoda of 7.3 meters, built on granite cobblestones covered with tinsel.
Pilgrims believe that the Golden Stone with the pagoda is held by a thread of Buddha! The stone seems to mock gravity, hanging over the edge of the hill.
This is the third most important place for Buddhists in Burma after Shwedagon Pagoda and Mahamuni Pagoda. They say that one look at the Golden Stone is enough for a person to convert to Buddhism.
The Golden Stone is located at an elevation of 1100 m above sea level, on top of Kelasa Hill.
Mahabalipuram, India - Krishna's oil stone. This is a huge natural boulder on a hill that seems to laugh at all the laws of physics.
He will save you from the heat with his shadow, unless, of course, you are afraid to sit under him.
Balancing stone in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Mushroom stone in Timna National Park, Israel.
Mother and Child Stones in the National Park in Zimbabwe. (Photo by Susan E Adams; Source: Flickr)
Balancing stones in Epworth, Zimbabwe. But these blocks are even depicted on the money of Zimbabwe - an interesting formation that is located 13 kilometers from the capital of this African state, Harare.
Chiremba Balancing Rocks is a typical example of nature's painstaking work, which has been going on for many thousands of years. However, there are a couple of dozen similar “dancing” boulders in Zimbabwe - although the rest are all smaller in size.
The Australian Aborigines who live here are called Devil's boulders to Karlu Karlu. These huge round boulders of red granite are located against the backdrop of a beautiful landscape. The diameter of these boulders can range from 50 cm to 60 m in cross section. Some are arranged in a very bizarre way, balancing on top of each other. Devil's Boulders formed millions of years ago when molten magma found its way beneath sandstone and cooled to form granite.
Years and environmental factors have caused erosion, allowing us to witness these amazing natural phenomena today. For Australian Aborigines, Devil's Boulders have a special spiritual meaning.
Balancing rocks on the San Andreas fault
in the San Bernardino Mountains, Southern California, USA
Balancing stone at Lake Omak, Washington State, USA
Sacred balancing stone of Lake Omak. Located in the southern part, about a kilometer from the coast.
Kummakivi stone in Valtola,
Province of South Savonia, Finland
"Mexican Hat" balancing rock on the San Juan River, Utah, USA
The American state of Utah is a formation called the “Sombrero” (or Mexican hat):
This piece of rock really resembles a sombrero from a distance. It is more than 18 meters wide and about 2 meters thick. This miracle of nature also cannot avoid gradual destruction, since the Hat was formed from sandstone.
Balancing stones in Karelia, Russia
Balancing stones in Torcal National Park, Province of Malaga, El Torcal de Antequera in Andalusia, Spain. The amazing cairn is very ancient and very stable.
The sun, wind and rain made the stones look like cakes. Every year many tourists come to see this natural monument. And although the structure is quite stable, climbing it is still not recommended.
Balancing stone in Israel
Balancing stone in the suburb of Glen Innes,
New South Wales, Australia
Peyro Clabado in France. This strange granite boulder, weighing 780 tons, was formed due to the gradual destruction of granite rock. Over time, it will all turn into sand, but now it is simply an amazing sight.
Immortal Bridge- this is the name given to this creation of nature. Located on Mount Tai in Shandong Province, China. The bridge consists of 5 boulders that rest against steep cliffs on the sides. And this whole structure hangs over the abyss.
Balancing stones always attract not only tourists, but also geologists from all over the world. They look very mysterious. What holds such huge stones to the ground? Why haven't they fallen yet? Nature has taken care of this, but man can only guess.
Balancing Stones, Colorado, USA
Several million years ago, what is now Colorado was a shallow inland sea that eventually turned into sandstone. In this place, the “Garden of the Gods” was formed as a result of the erosion of fine sandstone. Natural processes such as erosion and weathering have created works of art from stones. It looks like this rock is about to fall.
Balancing rocks in Zimbabwe
Initially these stones protected soft rocks, but they were eroded over time. The stones were exposed to the environment: rains, earthquakes, and so on. As a result, the rock cracked, the stones collapsed and formed into intricate figures. They are famous for being depicted on the country's currency.
Group of balancing stones in Chiricahua National Park, Arizona
27 years ago, Turkey Creek (or Caldera) volcano erupted. Fiery lava swept across what is now Arizona, and more than 1,600 feet of ash and pumice covered the ground. From these substances, a rock called “tuff” was formed over time. But it is not dense and rigid enough, so it began to crumble. However, despite this, the American Geological Survey reassures residents and tourists: there is no danger that these rocks will be eroded within several thousand years.
Miraculously, a rock that doesn't fall near the San Andreas Fault, Nevada, California
If there is one place in the country where balancing rocks simply cannot exist, it is the San Andreas Fault. There are so many earthquakes in this place that the stones should have collapsed a long time ago. But they stand there, and at least they were formed 10,000 years ago and survived 50 major earthquakes. Scientists continue to try to uncover the mystery of these rocks. Therefore, different versions are presented every year. One of them says that the stones are located between the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults. Thus, this space is subject to less ground vibration.
Stone Idol, Yorkshire, UK
The strange rocks of Brimham, among which the Idol stone stands out, were formed about 400 million years ago, when the area was flooded by a river. That is, the stones were at the bottom of the reservoir. The surrounding mountains were covered with glaciers, and where there are glaciers, glacial winds always blow. Strong winds and sand created a beautiful rock, which the Yorkshiremen call the Idol.
Balancing stone Kummakivi, Finland
The name of the stone translates as “strange rock”. Scientists are still puzzled as to how the boulders moved. There is a hypothesis that when the glacier began to retreat, the stones moved back.
Balancing Rock, Mount Holiston, Massachusetts
This stone has a very unusual look. Local residents tell a legend that George Washington himself, while traveling around the state, tried to push the stone down. But apparently he failed.
Kjeragbolten, Norway
Also known as rocking stone. It is called the most dangerous in the world. The stone is located above a huge abyss at an altitude of 1000 meters. Very often tourists try to climb it, but a strong gust of wind can instantly blow a person off the cliff.
The stone is not attractive in any way externally, but the fact that it is located between the rocks attracts travelers to it like a magnet. It seems that the cobblestone is simply hanging in the air, stuck between two rocks.
Krishna Butter Ball, Mahabalipuram, India
Quite an unusual and mysterious rock. The stone has its own legend, according to which in 1908 the British governor decided that this rock was dangerous and needed to be removed as quickly as possible. Seven elephants could not move the stone from its place. And the elephant, as you know, can transport very heavy loads.
The diameter of this stone is 5 meters. It is located on an absolutely smooth slope, thereby showing a person that he managed to break the laws of physics. If we return to mythology, the stone symbolizes a ball of butter, which the god Krishna loved so much.
Gold stone in Myanmar
According to local legend, the rock is held at such a height by only one hair of the Buddha. The stone was placed on it 2500 years ago. A pagoda was opened at the top of the mountain. Small houses have been erected along the perimeter, where pilgrims can stay overnight. There is a version that this stone can be swung by a couple of people, and a rope can be inserted under it. By the way, women are prohibited from approaching the Golden Stone. This is connected with a legend that says that it is a woman who can throw a stone into the abyss.
Artificially made balancing stones
Recently, the art of creating various figures using balancing stones has become popular. For some creative people, the childhood hobby of putting pebbles in a pile has grown into a real life's work. Many viewers cannot believe their eyes how a whole pile of different stones rests on one crumb. Masters assure that the main thing is to find balance. The only drawback of these works is that they cannot be viewed for a long time. Sometimes one gust of wind is enough for the entire sculpture to turn into just a pile of scattered stones.
But even here it is not without criticism; removing rocks for balancing can lead to erosion of soil layers, as well as destroy the homes of small animals.
Balancing stones Aker comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
In 2014, the European Space Agency, using the latest equipment, discovered three strange bodies on comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, barely touching the surface. They are similar to the balancing stones found on Earth. Their origin is mysterious. The bodies could have arisen due to the fact that the comet approached the Sun, and the ice around these objects melted. Perhaps various processes are occurring on the cosmic body, which resulted in the movement of these stones. Scientists say they intend to continue to monitor the comet and its mysterious bodies. Perhaps over time the reason for their occurrence will become obvious.
