Nyanga

The Eastern Highlands encapsulate the diversity of Zimbabwe's visual riches. It is a story of mountain, valley, waterfall and stream. Yet, how the tempo changes as the sweep progresses 300 km, from austere Nyanga in the north, through the sensual allure of the Vumba to the lonely splendour of the Chimanimani in the south, thereafter the great primeval forests giving way to a pastoral patchwork.

Nyanga lies at the north end of a long mountain chain. Its plateau is at an altitude of 2 133 metres, rising to 2 592 metres at the summit of Mount Nyangani where the unwary are said to become invisible and disappear forever on its mist-shrouded slopes. As one approaches Nyanga, the mountain range appears gradually, rippling away in cerulean waves to lap at an equally blue horizon. Then the forests and myriad streams appear--but in early winter, the roads are incandescent with yellow wattle, a line of golden sunbursts against the sombre backdrop of pines.

Gracious hotels of international repute offer every comfort, from roaring log fires and traditional teas to the castanet song of the roulette wheel. The serious Nyanga devotee, though, will want to spend most hours roaming the enchanting Nyanga National Park and the surrounding areas.

Pungwe Falls

Pungwe is Nyanga at its most majestic with the Pungwe Falls plunging 243 metres through a deep, densely-wooded gorge. Eight kilometres away at Honde View there is a panoramic vista of the vast valley linking the mountains. Here, the Mutarazi Falls, Zimbabwe's highest, stream like mercury over a vertical escarpment 762 metres into the Honde Valley below.

Nyangombe Falls

The Nyangombe Falls are different again: frivolous crystal chandeliers cascading over rocks exquisitely chiselled by the elements. Lovely Nyamziwa are perhaps less spectacular but have their own evocative appeal--a place indeed for secret thoughts.

Nyanga's dams, too, have different faces. Mare, queen of them all, is set amid gently rolling valleys

and downs; Rhodes is pretty and prosaic, the fisheran's delight; Udu has a more untamed flavour. Little Connemara is an unexpected pool of blue, as if a piece of the sky had fallen upon the dark upland moors.

Vumba Mountains

Mutare is Zimbabwe's fourth largest city, and charms all comers. Cradled by granite mountains, bedecked with flamboyants, it also has a large aloe and cycad collection in its park. Mutare's museum includes a transport gallery; horse-drawn carriages and steam locomotives are just two of the attractions.

Just outside the city, there's the National Trust area of Murahwa's Hill with its famous Gong Rock (so named because it is shaped like an old dinner gong and, when banged with a stick, resounds like one).

The road to the Vumba winds upwards from Mutare climbing 609 metres to the junction at Cloudlands. If Nyanga's air can be likened to dry champagne, then that of the Vumba is a cabernet: rich,' heady, mellow. It is kind to vegetation; the Vumba Botanical Gardens are 30 ha of terraces crammed with flowers and shrubs. Although the spring garden in August is a joy, the end of the year is equally breathtaking when the pinks, blues and lilacs of hydrangeas, fuchsias and begonias are put on display.

Set in the Vumba Mountains, the Leopard Rock Hotel affords a spectacular view and is well worth a visit. Before it, far below, lies the tropical beauty of the Burma Valley; behind it is Chinyakwaramba, "the hill that sat down". Folk lore has it that the people who once lived here displeased the spirits, who caused the mountain to crumble and envelop them. Today, though, no bad vibes remain to disturb the tranquil loveliness of this spot.

Chimanimani Mountains

The next call must be the Chimanimani Mountains. Fifty kilometres long, they rise to a height of 2 440 metres. There's a fairytale quality about them: the white quartzite sparkles in the sun like a sugar candy mountain, beckoning, promising. Mists veil the peaks in the early morning, but lift to reveal unparalleled beauty: crystalline streams are bordered with ferns and orchids, massed purple lassandria, bushes of wild sweet peas, traveller's joy and the sugar-pink Zimbabwe creeper with its fragile bell flower, tangle in profusion. Come winter, the ground is a treasure trove of protea. An ancient pathway leads up into the mountain fastness passing cedar and yellow-wood trees. Laughing doves, larks, eagles, swallows and swifts are the familiars of these forests. Watch out for eland: the Chimanimani has a protected herd of these, the largest of antelope. The region glitters with falling waters, and without doubt the most intrinsically beautiful of them all is Bridal Veil Falls with its delicate water tracery spilling 50 metres into a natural swimming pool.

Chirinda Forest