Kalahari Lost City (Farini's City)
Lost City · Lost City of the Kalahari · Farini City · Tchassangara?
Claim 1885 discovery of 'ancient' ruins (claimed 1000+ years)·Claimed unknown builder 'similar to Zimbabwe' / Phoenician by Farini·🇧🇼 Kalahari Desert, central Kalahari sandveld south of Letlhakane / near Lekhubu Island, Botswana
About
About Kalahari Lost City (Farini's City)
Guillermo Farini (William Hunt) 1885 book Through the Kalahari Desert claimed discovering ruined city with massive mortared stone walls forming half-bow and cross, 'Phoenician-type' cyclopean, exhibited photographs at Royal Geographical Society. Farini delivered to Lord Granville. Subsequent searches 1886–1964 (F. V. Kirby, A. A. Andersen, P. A. Cole) found only dolorite sills and pan walls mistaken for walls; 1930s aerial survey revealed natural quartzite ridge pattern at –22 24.
1964 University Witwatersrand expedition declared walls natural Karoo dolerite. Paranormal books still repeat; geologist E. C. Tabler 1925 identified photos as natural ridge at Erongo? Actually Makgadikadi. Rediscovered lineage: Farini's son manipulated? Still searched until 2013 satellite.
Why it mattersClassic 'lost city via showman-prospector' archetype – parallel to El Dorado and Cibola but 19th c. African; demonstrates Kalahari geomorphology misidentification.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Which exact dolerite ridge photographed? Kopong Hills candidate
Theories
- 01Light angle at sunset makes dolerite joints look mortared
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Claimed ancient pre-Bantu
- Period
- Claim 1885 discovery of 'ancient' ruins (claimed 1000+ years)
- Culture
- Claimed unknown builder 'similar to Zimbabwe' / Phoenician by Farini
- Purpose
- Mythic desert metropolis
- Abandoned
- Not applicable
- Rediscovered
- 1885 Farini photographs; 1886 re-search fails; 1964 Alun Roberts disproves
- Excavation
- Not applicable
May 1885
Farini claims sight of ruined city near great salt pan
1886
Royal Geographical Society expedition fails
1962–64
Roberts aerial geol survey maps dolorite sill mimicking wall
2014
Wilderness Safari satellite re-examination confirms no city Kalahari sandveld
On the ground
Structures & features
22.0000° S · 24.5000° E · 1050 m · 3 mapped features
Farini wall ridge (claimed locus)
phantom centerHalf-bow dolorite sill photo location guessed
22.0000° S · 24.5000° ELekhubu Island (real landmark nearby)
island boulderGreat Zimbabwe-era kraal not lost city
20.8900° S · 25.8400° ERoyal Geographical Society lecture (archive)
archive1886 exhibit location where hoax shown London
51.5000° N · 0.1600° W