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Isdore Guvamombe
Victoria Falls
Upstream the Victoria Falls a school of hippos flock together, male rivalry heating up in bloody territorial conquest and the vanquished male is forced to lurk hapless on Kandaha Island until it gathers sufficient confidence to mount yet another challenge.
This is routine activity as the fight for family ascendency always reaches fever pitch towards the mating season.
Somewhere on the bank, a crocodile, that huge monster of a reptile smashes through the thick riverine undergrowth, like a turbo-charged engine towards the water, splashing into the river in sudden sluggishness, before disappearing into the raging waters.
An array of high-powered boats puff-off, hobble and nod on the instigation of the waves and the high currency, much to the delight of the passengers, while canoes ward off the deadly waters.
The boats range from those carrying eight people to those double decks carrying up to 120 people.
Hwange
On entering the gate to the main camp, fresh game dung juxtaposed with stunted, sparsely populated bush shrubbery and a water hole, give valuable clues to what happens in Zimbabwe’s undisputed theatre of the jungle — the Hwange National Park.
Buffaloes huddle and moo in formidable herds, flap their ears, nose up and challengingly spatter the ground with dung before boastfully moving off the road.
Flies hover above dotted animal droppings, a stark declaration that they are part of the ecological cycle of this last vestige of wilderness.
Day after day of cloudless skies, the fierce sun sucks moisture from the landscape, baking the earth into a dusty grey, while the withered grass is left as brittle as straw.
The sun burnt savannah and desert sand is left shimmering to the horizon, yet wildlife frolic from every corner, like ghostly figures.
Confident in the camouflage of their stripes zebras pose, heads aligned, stripes merging and flowing in motion, displaying their magnificent God-given colours, forgetting for a while that predators might be stalking them.
Giraffe race along the road — all legs and neck — yet looking elegant in their gangly awkwardness.
Their heads tower majestically above the ordinary graze-line. Protective elephants guard their young under the shed of a fat baobab tree and close to the watering hole.
The huge mounds of grey flesh make cars look like dwarfs under the armpit of a giant colossus. Slowly, tentatively, they reluctantly move off the road.
Hwange National Park is the largest game reserve in Zimbabwe, founded around 1928 and occupying 14 650 square km of a vast swathe in the north-western part of the country.
Vhumba
In the morning, slithers of startling clouds waft — again and again — their silver hue transforming light as it filters through the film of the silhouette horizon. In the final ascent to the City of Mutare, huge mountains form the eastern background, emotionally and artistically give the sky an eternal kiss.
The scenery there is that of high massifs, juxtaposed with lush green natural forests, vast plantations of pine and wattle, perennially flowing rivers, crystal clear upland rivers cascading down-slope, deep ravines and waterfalls.
South of this green mound lies the Bvumba or Vumba Range with a distinct flora and in the belly of these mountains are the Vumba Botanical Gardens, a must-see for all those who love peace and nature.
Nyanga
The road to Nyanga turns and twists with the dictates of geomorphology and the driver has to endure spectacular hair-pin curves. Huge rocks tinged grey by fungal lichens stand guarding the roadside. And, it is this spectacular grey that makes the untrained eye feel awkward where the sky kisses the mountain under a veil of the wafting mist.
Each time the sun successfully breaks the mist, which it rarely does, lush greenery meets the eye again amid rolling moorlands, high mountain heath, cascading white water rivers and pine plantations that make the day. Suddenly a roadside insignia shouts, “You are now entering Nyanga National Park!” Nyanga National Park is situated in one of the most scenic areas of Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands.
The rolling green-grey hills and perennial rivers transverse the 47 000-hectare park. The altitude of between 1 800 and 2 593 metres provides cool weather and fresh mountain air perfect for rest and relaxation. With its stunning mountainous views, numerous waterfalls, varied activities and unique flora and fauna, Nyanga
Gonarezhou
Under the blistering heat, a breeding herd of elephants blocks the way and a cow nudges its calf under a huge baobab tree on the roadside.
An irritated bull tells off a wandering calf in a no-nonsense mood, with a shriek but firm voice.
The elephants tolerate people for a few moments but as soon as their snorkelling trunks sniff out they retreat in polite disgust.
A few metres away, giraffes forage the bush, heads up in indignation above stunted Mopane bush shrubbery. The Mopane bush shrubbery is level at about two metres high, on a browse line that looks as neatly trimmed as a schoolboy’s new haircut.
At sunset, a lion roars, sending shivers down the spines of every living species there, particularly the impala that scamper for dear life and the big baboon that strides to a huge tree in a hunched and swaggering gait. Stubbornly looking back the huge baboon barks a loud “boohoo!” as if shouting obscenities to the king of the jungle, before climbing up the tree.
Thereafter, three lions scramble out of the silhouette Mopane shade but immediately melt into the thicket of trees so fast and silently that not all of us are lucky to see their frosty-brown faces or blurs of tails.
The impala, kudu and waterbuck bound swiftly out of sight for, behold, the king of the jungle has spoken!
Then there is the appearance of python-like roots of sausage trees alongside the dry banks of Mwenezi River, the main source of water in the jungle.
The Mwenezi River itself turns silver and gold with strips of sand and smoothened rocks between steep banks and quiet deep blue pools.
Once in a while a kingfisher eagle hovers over the pool in aerial acrobatics and shutter our illusion with a splash on the murky waters. One fish is gone!
This is Gonarezhou, Zimbabwe’s gateway to the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park and epicentre of jungle life, where untamed wild animals roam wild and free.
Chilojo Cliffs
In early morning sun is not fast to rise here, but the sky becomes softly aglow — a misty gold and yellow hue. An ethereal fog always swirls over the cliffs, forming a low-slung cloud bank out of which rises a spectre of hills and mountains. From a vintage point, it looks like a line of ghosts. All around dew drops glint on mopane, baobab, acacias, cobwebs, mosses and the wings of dragon flies.
Suddenly the serenity is broken by a herd of elephants, making all manner of noises as they scoff their breakfast. They never look worried anyone’s presence.
In is herd of zebras. If you try a snap you might win but if they notice you, they shot off like bullets, attracting the attention of elephants that seemed to notice me for the first time.
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.
MANA POOLS
After angrily gushing out of the wrath of the cruel turbines in its escape from Lake Kariba, the Zambezi River water appears a bit fatigued as it disappears into a narrow gorge that looks like an abyss.
Surprisingly, the river thereafter, emerges from the deep gorge reinvigorated and spreading into a flattened, fertile and vast expanse of floodplain that geomorphology condemned into twists and turns that systematically formed four “mana” in Shona) pools, and ox-bow lakes.
The mighty Zambezi River flows through the Lower Zambezi Valley bordering Zimbabwe and Zambia, as a huge rift in the earth’s crust. Over the millennia the Zambezi has rushed through this valley creating islands, channels and sandbanks.
Old river meanders, left in the mineral-rich volcanic soils, have formed into small ox-bow lakes surrounded by lush vegetation and tall old stands of mahogany and ebony.
This abundance of water and luxuriant greenery accounts for the valley’s wealth of big game. Within the stunted bush shrubbery and lush vegetation surrounding the four huge pools, buffalo graze hurriedly conscious of stalking lions and appear always restless while on the trees, chirping birds somersault from one branch to another.
Under the canopy of whipping riverine trees, a spitting distance away, elegant eland mix with shaggy water buck, radiant butterflies flutter gently between flowering shrubs while dragon flies hover above lily flowers.
For those who have fallen in love with nature, the effortless aerial displays of dragonflies on the lily-studded water ponds are a spectacle to watch.
There are also flycatchers, white-collared pratincole, banded snake eagle and yellow spotted nicator birds.
It is common spectacle to see a huge elephant bull, stand on its hind legs, its trunk attempting to reach for its lunch from a sausage tree. This is Mana Pools, where Zambezi River changed its course a long time ago due to massive siltation, forming four distinct ox-bow lakes.
This is the first of a series of tourism tapestries, that will make your life change, once you visit. Next issue will be about hotels and restaurants.
Online Reporter