Online Reporter
Liberty Dube
Tourism Correspondent
AS the morning mist lifts over the green, rolling slopes of the Eastern Highlands, many visitors to Manicaland seek for the familiar tourism sites, usual and popular places, such as misty peaks, plunging waterfalls, breathtaking forests, meandering roads, tea estates in Nyanga, Chimanimani, Vumba, Mutasa, Nyanga and Mutare.
But the Eastern Highlands has a deeper, quieter heritage waiting, one rooted not in waterfalls or zip-lines, but in stones, memory and the struggle for freedom.
For those willing to stray off the tourist map, sites such as Matendera Monument, Ziwa Ruins, Dzapasi Assembly Point (also called known as Foxtrot), and other sacred or historical corners in Buhera, Rusape, Mutare and Chipinge offer a journey into Zimbabwe’s heart and history.
In the semi-arid plains of Buhera, about 50 kilometres south of Murambinda, lies Matendera, which is a stonewalled monument perched atop a granite “whale-back” outcrop.
Walking among the stones, one is struck by the sophistication and quiet dignity of the architecture, the dry-stone walls laid without mortar, granite blocks carved and set into curved, stable walls, facades decorated with herringbone and dentelle motifs; and monoliths placed atop the perimeter wall.
Archaeologists link Matendera to the same cultural grouping that built Great Zimbabwe known collectively as the Zimbabwe (madzimbahwe) culture.
Although overshadowed by the grandeur of Great Zimbabwe, Matendera stands out as the largest dzimbahwe in eastern Zimbabwe.
Today, Matendera remains remote and under-visited. As noted by tourism authorities, its neglect is tied to poor roads, lack of facilities and minimal publicity.
Yet for those who make the journey, a rather rough bumpy drive from Birchenough Bridge, across kopjes and gravel tracks, the result is worthy and profound. The silence, the stones, the memory of a precolonial civilisation long gone but not forgotten.
Buhera Rural District Council and National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) have over the years, on a yearly interval, held cultural festivals at Matendera, the popular among them, the Matendera Arts Festival, which brings various traditional groups from across the country showcasing visual and performing arts such as traditional dances, drama, poetry and music.
If Matendera speaks of ancient kingdoms, Dzapasi speaks of modern sacrifice.
The struggle, suffering and eventual triumph that birthed a new Zimbabwe.
Designated a national monument in 2017, the Dzapasi Assembly Point played a central role at the end of the liberation war.
As the ceasefire settled in 1979, thousands of fighters for independence converged at the point. Some estimates put the number of assembled fighters and collaborators at more than 5 000 — indeed, some records suggest up to 15 000 people across the wider assembly-point area.
It was at Dzapasi that the old colonial era officially ended, leading to the lowering of the union Jack, and subsequently the hoisting of the new Zimbabwe flag.
Beyond the deep stones of Matendera and the wartime trenches of Dzapasi, Manicaland hides a constellation of other heritage-rich sites.
From small sacred shrines, known only in villages around Rusape, Chipinge, and Mutare, to memorials honouring fallen heroes, these sites anchor local memory, identity and tradition.
Cultural and heritage tourism has the potential to bring real benefit to rural communities: entrance fees, guided tours, and local crafts, services— all of which could support infrastructure, schools, and clinics.
They are also a way to share our story with the world. Stories not of waterfalls or zip-lines, but of kingdoms, stones, struggle, identity, memory.
Imagine a heritage route across Buhera and beyond from the granite walls of Matendera, across the solemn plains of Dzapasi, via little-known shrines and memorials, ending perhaps in Mutare or Chipinge.
If a visitor is planning a next trip to the Eastern Highlands especially this festive season, one should be drawn by mountains, forests, waterfalls, spare a few days and take a detour to Buhera. Climbing some granite kopjes, old stone kingdoms and pausing at Dzapasi, can be exhilarating.
In doing so, one will discover a Zimbabwe beyond the usual postcard.
