adminFreedom Mutanda
ZIMBABWE is endowed with flora and fauna and other God-made creations dotted all over the beautiful country the great Tovera bequeathed us.
In every district, there is something we can raise our arms in the air about and say, ‘We have tourist attractions in our area.’
We find ourselves asking the government to help unlock value and make our country the envy of SADC, Africa and indeed the whole world.
Everywhere I go, I hear moans from people who want a magic wand to transform our lives. King Midas, in a fanciful story, begged to have his ability to transform anything to gold be taken away from him yet prior to that he had prided himself in having the power to change anything to gold.
Therefore, we don’t want a magic slap on the face to make it as a country in economic terms.
We need to look within ourselves for that extra push to propel us forward starting with complementing government efforts to transform the socio-economic status of this great nation.
Fittingly, the government brought on board Zim-Asset, a home grown economic blue print.
Our economy, battered as it were by a combination of ruinous sanctions and plain cry babies does not need whiners but amadoda sibili.
Tourism, before the advent of sanctions in 2002, used to be the fastest growing sector hand-in-hand with horticulture. All of a sudden, the tourist arrivals reached trickle levels as the major source market, Europe, the Americas and the Japan market dwindled.
District councils must power Zim-Asset through a deliberate policy of encouraging domestic tourism within their districts. A department of tourism has to be functional. We are using the dollar and with it we can make our economy grow.
China’s economy has grown by leaps and bounds over the past two decades by ensuring that its large population consumed what its industries produce. If the Chinese had relied on buying everything else from outside its borders, it would have been a Third World country as we write.
Nyanga has the Ziwa ruins, Nyangani Mountains and other scenic attractions.
Manicaland has great potential to reach dizzy heights in terms of getting income out of tourism. Almost all districts in the eastern province have tourist attractions that can boost tourist arrivals in their areas. What has become of the Mutiusinazita fame in Buhera district?
The question is: are all stakeholders in unison when it comes to enhancing the pull factor that is Manicaland or as usual they are waiting for central government to make things happen as it were?
That mentality of thinking that Harare must make the economy tick is one that needs to be re-visited by every patriotic Zimbabwean.
Chipinge has quite a number of areas of interest apart from the revered Big Tree that is in the middle of Chirinda Forest. Even then, those who live in Mount Selinda and its environs may not have gone to the heart of the forest and see that natural wonder.
Chief Mapungwana used to have a favourite opening statement whenever he visited our school. I always marveled at his words. He would bellow, “Chihwe chirema, chinoremera vari kure, vari pedyo vanotamba nacho.”
Years later, I understand the deeper meaning of that seemingly simple statement.
He intimated that the chieftainship of the Mapungwana dynasty may appear petty in the eyes of his subordinates but for those who perceive it from afar, they have nothing but awe and utmost respect.
I haven’t digressed.
When one is close to a tourist attraction, one pays scant attention to it and actually and wonders what the hullabaloo is all about concerning the tourist site.
David Livingstone was so overawed by Mosi oa Tunya-the smoke that thunders that he lied to the whole world that he was the first to behold the magnificent sight.
It might have been good if he had said he was the first European to reach there. No, he had the audacity to christen the natural wonder “Victoria Falls.”
The indigenous people who had watched the phenomenon for thousands of years were not people to be consulted because in his warped way of thinking, they were not civilised. He found no reason to consult them on the name of that natural wonder.
Chipinge has a natural cave located in the Gumira area under Headman Ndapingwa.
It is a geographical marvel. Some people nearby know of its existence but they do not think it can be a crowd puller. However, it is incumbent upon local government leaders in the form of traditional chiefs to augment government efforts by making such wonders of nature fall under the public domain.
Schools would make a bee-line to Gumira by now to be part of the fascinating gifts the almighty bestowed upon the area.
Just after Kondo Village, there is a natural geyser commonly referred to as a hot-spring. When this writer arrived there, he saw some people busy bathing a mere five metres from the natural wonder oblivious of the tourist attraction close to them.
There was nothing built to alert people of the site. We cry about lack of money to develop our areas and castigate authorities on the unemployment drowning the nation.
Here is an opportunity to embark on domestic tourism but the rural district council officials spurn it.
Many people can derive immense benefits from utilising the tourist attractions that are close to their areas.
In the Madhuku area in Chipinge, there are caves that have paintings of the earliest people to live in this part of the world.
How many are aware of that in the district or the schools around that area?
We talk about indigenising our education system but exposing our students to those natural tourist sites in our area is a step forward towards complementing government efforts to boost tourism.
As we face the future stoically, let us remember to mobilise resources through a district culture and tourism department to identify those tourist attractions and make concerted efforts to allow domestic tourism to flourish in our respective districts.
Together we can get out of this economic quagmire.
Someone said a hole will always reach the end of its journey. We have reached that end. The only way is up and up we will go as a nation.
Online Reporter