For the 3rd year running, we decided to spend Christmas and New Year on a road trip, exploring from Zambia into the surrounding countries. It’s mid-summer in southern Africa and we live in a very hot river valley, so we sought altitude to escape the heat, and water to cool off! We planned an ambitious road journey of 5,000kms through 2 countries.
Our journey took us from our home in eastern Zambia, south to Chipata, west to Lusaka and then south through Harare to Zimbabwe’s eastern highlands. After a week exploring the grassland, pine forests and indigenous rain forests of Nyanga, we set off south-east to Inhassoro on the Mozambique coast. Just over 2,600kms in each direction.
After crossing the Zambezi at Chirundu, we traversed the valley floor and then started to climb the escarpment on the Zimbabwe side. The views back over the Zambezi and into the distant Zambezi Valley were spectacular.
On the drive into the Nyanga region, we could see a storm building….
…we didn’t know that, at that stage, we would have over 260mm of rain in the following 48 hours, around 15% of the area’s annual rainfall….
…apparently this is a superb lookout over the borderlands between Zimbabwe and Mozambique!
At times we were living in a cloud, with visibility down to a few meters!
On Christmas Eve, the morning dawned clear, and we started to explore more widely beyond our self-catered cottages at Mtarazi Falls.
Once the rain cleared, the area revealed its beauty and the inhabitants emerged, ready to feed again after 48 hours of deluge! This Roberts’s warbler is endemic to the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe.
More common across Africa are Yellow Warblers.
The very localised Chirinda Apalis, first found in an area of forest close to Nyanga.
Busy and noisy, and commonly in the heart of bird-parties feeding in the woodlands, a Yellow-streaked Greenbul forages for insects under the peeling bark.
The Olive Bush-shrike is common throughout the region but is skulking and shy like all members of its family. This one caught a beautifully camouflaged caterpillar in a tree very close to me (this image is full-frame), allowing me some extreme close up shots of its fawn-coloured chest.
The outlooks were clear and the views towards Mozambique spectacular.
Looking back towards Mtarazi Falls from the Valley below.
Far & Wide have set up two rope walkways across the Mtarazi Falls. One is upstream of the falls, and one at the point where the water cascades over the edge and down the cliff. There is roughly 800mm of vertical drop, broken up into a series of tumbling cascades, but without doubt the bridge feels extremely high!
With feet back on solid ground, we walked to the outlooks and Kirstie found her own rock seat to admire the view.
After those 2 days of heavy rain the air was very clear.
Taking a picnic lunch to Pongwe Falls in Nyanga.
The next stop was the Mozambique coast, where we took a week relaxing and enjoying the marine wildlife….
…sea stars, green turtles and beautiful fish.
We feel very fortunate to have so much beauty on our doorstep. However, there are beautiful areas to be discovered in many parts of the world, and a road trip is a great way to get to know an area well, with time to chat with residents and understand the wildlife, communities and conservation landscape.
Nyanga NP is part of a series of upland areas in eastern Zimbabwe and western Mozambique which includes Vumba and Chimanimani NP. It’s beautiful, rugged, wild and accessible, and I’d return there without a second thought. These isolated patches of Afro-montane forest are very important sinks of biodiversity and, being fragmented due to topography, are vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts. Careful management of habitat and appropriate tourism are key to their survival.
