Nyanga – Far & Wide

The Nyanga area in Zimbabwe consists of rolling hills and granite mountains with acacia, miombo and mixed woodlands, montane and lowland forests, streams, vleis and river valleys. Also though, lots of plantations – miles of tea bushes, eucalyptus, wattle and pine trees have reduced the grasslands and invaded the forested kloofs.

Nyanga National Park – Our base was Far & Wide adventure centre where we camped and also took a wooden hut with a nice little veranda which we used for cooking and meals. I found the showers fascinating: Catering as they do mainly for school groups, the communal shower room – eight showers in one stone room, all fed off these 50mm copper pipes – had an industrial look to it! We boringly all showered individually in this large granite cave!

Far & Wide is quite a spread. Beautiful stone cottages, rustic wood cabins, a lawn campsite and a huge new stone, glass and aluminium building – a convention centre? – under the tall gumtrees you can see top right in the aerial view below, where they have meals, lectures, functions, etc. And where the wifi is.

An exciting sighting! was a Black-fronted Bushshrike at the gate to the camping lawn, showing himself in the morning sun. Later, birding guide Wilson took us into the east-facing valley (the wet, misty side of the mountains) in the foreground of the aerial pic above, showing us a host of birds: Livingstone’s Turaco, Stripe-cheeked Greenbul (which buzzed me ten times but not once did I get a clear view!), Yellow-Bellied Waxbill, Roberts Warbler, Variable, Malachite, Collared and White-bellied Sunbirds, Cape Batis, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, Long-crested Eagle. In the background I thought I heard Delegorgue’s Pigeon and Lemon Dove. Damn, I really wanted to see that Stripe-cheek!

From here we ventured out on short excursions – To Pungwe Drift cottages looking for blue swallows. None were around that afternoon, but we saw Eastern Saw-wings.

And to the top of the Mutarazi Falls, the second highest falls in Africa, we’re told. From there we looked down into the Honde Valley below.

We booked two nights and stayed for four. Well, it looked like rain, we didn’t have a definite next destination and – it was lekker there!

Now we’d head south then east then north up the Honde Valley towards Aberfoyle.

~~oo0oo~~