ZIMBABWE: Mt Nyangani

APRIL 2006

We left Pretoria around 22h00 and ended at Beitbridge around 3. Characters were tested but by sunrise we were on our way. We decided to first go to Nyangani and arrived at Mutare at 14h00. Before we even though of settling down we went sighseeing in Vumba and promptly decided to stay two nights. By 16h30 I had a nice shower and after some beers I slept like a baby.

27 April 2006:

We got up at 05h00 and after coffee we were on our way to Nyanga. What a pleasant drive – there were not a lot of vehicles on the road and we were surrounded by mountains. It is possible to sleep at the park and it took us 90 minutes to get to Nyangani’s top. We paid $10 p.p and $5 vor our vehicle What a lovely shy mountain. Clouds covered her most the time. It was such an honour to be on her. A big piece of my heart was left behind but after seeing the spectacular view at Honde valley, I was feeling much better.

CHIMANIMANI

The Chimanimani is raw beauty on a vast scale. We arrived at Chimanimani national park at 15h30 and because of the mist rolling in we pitched our tents at the car park. ($12 entrance fee per person, $5 per vehicle and $6 camping p.p.p.n.).

The next morning we started our hike to Mt Binga at 08h00. We arrived at the spotlessly kept hut at 10h30. Two scouts came to chat to us and explained that the rifles they were carrying were meant to shoot the illegal miners, which left me speechless and feeling much safer. They told us that the path to the top was clearly marked and we should reach Mt Binga by 15h00.

When we were still hiking at 15h00 with Mt Binga nowhere in site we came to the mutual agreement that we were lost. We also agreed that we must have followed one of the thousands of paths made by the illegal miners (there were at least 15 of them panning for gold in the river but we didn't stay to find out if they were friendly). The mist was rolling in and taking Jimmy's thumb as a measuring tool, we came to the conclusion that we were very far off the map in Mozambique. Since we didn't have Mt Binga's coordinates, Jimmy decided to calculate it using his thumb, my hiking stick, a book and the waypoints of the hut and camp.

By 17h00 it was confirmed! We were totally lost. Keeping in mind the warning about the land mines we decided to pitch the tent in a spot we hoped were safe from the smugglers. We must have looked a sight moving around on the rocks trying to avoid "possible landmines". Once the mist cleared we were greeted by trillions of bright stars.

The sunrise was spectacular and we started our hike shortly afterwards. We followed a path going in the general direction of where we thought Mt Binga must lie and an hour later we were very close to the peak. We didn't read the manual properly and decided after an hour of struggling to get to the top that there must be an easier route. Walking around we soon found a clearly marked path – straight to the top! What a fine-looking site!

I did warn Jimmy that I can't help crying when I have to go down a beautiful mountain so he didn't seem very concerned when my tears came. We were back at the camp by 15h00.

Chimanimani is a beautiful mountain and my only regret is that we didn't spend more time on her. The scouts keep her clean and we could only fill a small bag with rubbish – apparently left behind by the smugglers. According to the register the following hikers were on Chimanimani in 2006: 217 from Zimbabwe, 6 from South-Africa, 2 from England, 2 from Denmark, 3 from Finland, 4 from Italy, 2 from Israel, 1 from Germany, 1 from Netherlands and 1 from America.

Going through Beit Bridge on our way back was a pleasure. We went through at 6h00 and it took us no more than 20 minutes.

I do not know what the rest of Zimbabwe look like. The villagers at Chimanimani did seem surprised to see us. Apart from the encounter with the smugglers I felt very safe. Petrol was readily available and in Mutare we paid R12 a liter.