Enjoy nature’s endless generosity and elegance

Ngezi and the Central Plateau

Hippos flop together, male rivalry heating up in bloody territorial fights and the vanquished male is forced to lurk hapless on the open plain until it gathers sufficient confidence to mount another challenge.

Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, shaggy waterbuck wonders on the marshy dam banks, while baboons and monkeys obviously used to human visitors, lackadaisically move on, as if nothing is happening.

Contrasting with the intimacy of the grassy savannah forest and its expansive view eastward is a seething dam, whose wall forms a fantastic waterfall during the rainy season.

From the lodges, the gushing water provides overnight symphony that accompanies the visitor into memorable deep slumber.

But prepare for intermittent sing-along from hippos that seem to be gifted more in discord than in melody, all night long.

Rolling grassy hills enclose the tranquil beauty of Ngezi Dam, each one coloured green or brown, the epitome of the passers-by Great Dyke Range, Zimbabwe’s ceremonial nerve centre of minerals and subsequent mining activities.

In between the rock outcrops are flat patches of savannah land along the dam and they define 12 campsites for Ngezi Recreational Park.

With self-catering lodges run by National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the recreational park in the heart of Mhondoro, is the place to be for those who love nature and want to enjoy a quite weekend, away from the hullabaloo of city life.

One can simply choose camping along the dam or relaxing in the self-catering lodges.

Chilojo Cliffs

The sun wasn’t yet up, but the sky already had a softly glow — a misty gold and yellow hue. An ethereal fog swirled over the cliffs, forming a low-slung cloud bank out of which rose a spectre of hills and mountains.

It looked like a line of ghosts from where I stood on the back of a truck. All around dew drops glinted on mopane, baobab, acacias, cobwebs, mosses and the wings of dragon flies.

Suddenly the serenity was broken by a herd of elephants, making all manner of noises during their early morning meal. They never looked worried by my presence.

In tow was a herd of zebras. I tried to take photos, but they shot off like bullets, attracting the attention of elephants that seemed to notice me for the first time.

The sun rose imperceptibly and the Chilojo Cliffs bravely shouted: “Good morning Zimbabwe!” shaking off the lethargy of sleep.

The Chilojo Cliffs are one of the most prominent natural features of the Gonarezhou National Park. Visible from 50km away, morning and evening light give the cliffs a rich hue and dramatically silhouette the distinctive baobab trees.

These trees are the source of the famous “cream of tartar”. The flowers are pollinated by bats and are a delicacy for antelopes. Composed of oxide-rich sandstone, the cliffs are spectacularly colourful at sunset.

South and south-east of Chiredzi in Zimbabwe, the slightly uneven Pliocene erosion surface extends across the Karoo sediments, basalts and granophyres, at an elevation of approximately 380 metres.

Along the northern boundary of the Chipinda Pools area of the Gonarezhou National Park, the Chiwonje Hills form a north-east-trending ridge with summit plantation.

The Chinhoyi Caves

It is difficult to explain the feeling. Strange isn’t it? The Chinhoyi Caves always exude an aura of myth and mystery that would excite and provoke an adrenaline rush in any visitor.

Only a few chirping birds give a sign of life to the caves whose dearth of sound is like the innards of a grave!

The silence as one descends into the intricate network of caves is both eerie and profound, yet the grottos and the huge sleeping pool form a spectacular combination in which reality defies tourism hyperbole.

It is a geomorphologic spectacle whose grandeur Zimbabwe has done little to market to international tourists.

The caves are grossly under-marketed and they have largely remained an untapped tourist attraction, except for a few people who trickle there. When climbing down the steep granite steps it is easy for tourists to imagine approaching an abyss of darkness as light suddenly varnishes. The experience is hair-raising.

The caves are a limestone shaft linked by a maze of passages and caves, at the foot of which lies a huge pool whose limpid and translucent gothic water maintains the same level 24/7.

Inexplicably, the water defies common meteorological logic by remaining at the same temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.

It is this deep blue pool beneath the sparkling cobalt stone that is known as the “Sleeping Pool’’.

Myth and mystery has it that one cannot successfully throw a stone across the seemingly small pool as the sacred spirits that watch over the pool will catch the stone and cast a curse upon the stone thrower.

Oral tradition has it that at the bottom of the Sleeping Pool lies immured the bones of fallen Shona tribal heroes who died after they were thrown in by Nguni raiders in pre-colonial Zimbabwe.

The story is that it was in this pool that Nguni raiders flung their victims of battle to “sleep to eternity” when they fought notorious Shona outlaw Nyamakwere.

Prior to the incident, Nyamakwere is said to have used the caves as his stronghold in which he killed and threw his victims. He was eventually overthrown by Chief Chinhoyi of the NeMakonde dynasty, hence the name of the city, Chinhoyi.

The Nemakonde (bastardised to Lomagundi by white colonial settlers) who resided in the area and often fell victim to Nguni raiders know the pool less euphemistically as “Chirorodziva”, the pool of the fallen heroes.

Ironically, it is a spitting distance from the site of the Battle of Chinhoyi — the fierce maiden gun battle between the black nationalists and white Rhodesian settlers that marked the beginning of Zimbabwe’s protracted liberation struggle.

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