To continue our magical experience, our guide took us to Giants’ Playground, an area of geological wonder, and one that mesmerized my geologist husband. This place is filled with a maze of massive stacked dolerite rock formations, as if left there in haste by a gang of kid giants who were suddenly summoned for snack time. The name conjures an image of a prehistoric playground littered with “rock Lego” blocks or “rock Jenga” pieces.
These structures are said to have been formed by Mother Nature 180 million years ago when the super continent Pangaea was separating due to tectonic plate movement. From what I understood, molten lava flowed through the cracks in the overlaying rock and then millions of years of erosion weathered away the softer sedimentary rocks to expose the hard dolerite. My husband, for sure, could provide a better description, but since this is not a geological journal, I am keeping it simple.
We wandered around this out-of-this world landscape and took photos. I remarked that this would be the perfect place for kids (and kids-at-heart like us) to play hide-and-seek or engage in a pretend-Star Wars game!
Like little children navigating a giant labyrinth, we climbed some of the rocks along the way, played with the little critters scampering about, and looked for African bugs, while avoiding the poisonous plants that our guide warned us about (forgot the name of the plant but he showed us a sample and told us not to touch any part of the plant). Luckily, we emerged from the Giants' Playground unscathed and ready for the next adventure.
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