CLEFT ROCK ENCLOSURE
This enclosure lies to the east of the Platform Enclosure, and its west wall is the same as forms the east wall of that enclosure. At all other points its sides are formed by cliffs and large boulders rising to the height of some 50 ft. and 60 ft. The west side is 46 ft. long, and its north and south sides are about 86 ft. each in length, these meeting at their extreme east.
Cleft Rock, which is so very often seen in photographs of the Zimbabwe ruins, rises for about 25 ft. above the surface of the enclosure on its north side and extends downwards for 15 ft. below it on the outside. It is 3 ft. 10 in. to 4 ft. 6 in. wide throughout. Possibly it was an ancient ascent from the Rock Holes Walk, as a quantity of wall débris lies at its outside base.
All the divisional walls of the interior are undoubtedly of Makalanga construction, and the local Makalanga claim them as having been made early in the time of Mokomo, the previous Zimbabwe chief, whose kraal occupied the north summit of this hill. This remark does not apply to the buttresses on either side of the west entrance.
THE CLEFT ROCK, CLEFT ROCK ENCLOSURE, LOOKING SOUTH FROM EXTERIOR, ACROPOLIS
A NATURAL ARCHWAY IN CENTRAL PASSAGE, ACROPOLIS
The enclosure is approached on the south-west by the recently opened passage at the north foot of The Platform steps, also on the west by the squared entrance from the Platform Enclosure, and on the south it is believed to have had an entrance through the Buttress Passage (described later). The huge pile of stone-wall débris on the south side was recently stacked here, having been removed from the Platform Enclosure and passage.