Sunugukai

Sunday 4 December
Number of participants: 13
Meeting Point: Tree Tops restaurant
Leader: Jan Hart

Sorry for just a link this time, but had done a wonderful full length production with pictures and all, but then firefox decided to crash and blogger did not save a single thing that i had done. So thanks to our dear friends at active sports zimbabwe, there are some photos in thier album for you to have a look at this walk

http://www.facebook.com/activesports.zimbabwe

Lake Chivero

Saturday 30th July
Number of participants: 14
Meeting Point: Sheerwood golf club
Leader: Babara Maasdorp

This weeks walk was at lake Chivero, which is a 20- 25min drive outside of harare on the Bulawayo Road. We left the golf club at exactly 1:15pm.

The walk was  on the Hunyani hill which overlooks Lake Chivero and is behind the Mazowe sailing club and Shabalala Gardens.
Once there, we collected together and made our way up the side of the hunyani hill. It was quite a steep climb as well as quite exhausting as there was a lot of loose stone, so one had to be ever careful not to slip. Once up top there was an awesome view of the lake.

The stuff that looks like lush green grass is not grass, but a water weed that has taken up residence in the lake for years now.

The lake has sadly become over run with a water weed that is very hard to remove. The local authorities have tried for many years to tackle the weed and get rid of it, but it is an ongoing process. On the walk that day, it seemed that the weed had engulfed the Mazowe sailing club side as well as the water tower. The weed also moves with the wind, so most times it is on the other side of the lake.

Now back to the walk. So once we had reached the top of the Hunyani hill, we proceeded along the top with views of the lake on one side and views of green houses on the other side. At 3 pm, we made a rest stop to catch some well deserved rest as well as a small snack and refreshment.

After our rest, we continued on. Now the plan was to go up the hill, walk along the top, and then down the side and back round on the lake side. Once we got to the end of the hill top, we had to make the ascent down the other side of the hill, with no path to follow and again a rather steep decline, with loose rocks to deal with. After about a good 20 minute walk down the side, we came to what must be a service lane. We walked along that which took us close to the dam wall and then went away from the dame wall and along the lake shore back to the  Shabalala gardens again.

Arrived back at 4:45.

The water tower, which you can sail around when the weed is on the other side of the lake.

 

Wind currents on the lake water

View over the lake towards Jacana Sailing Club

Newsletter July 2011

The Mountain Club of Zimbabwe

July 2011

Views from the Hairy Arm-Chair

Quite a fair amount has happened since we last wrote and I trust we have captured its essence in this issue. A big event on the calendar was the talk by Mandy Ramsden at CABS Lecture Theatre last month on being the first woman from Africa to conquer the Seven Summits of the World. Only those who were there can appreciate the dedication, iron resolve and considerable resources and resourcefulness that such an achievement requires from anyone at all, let alone being the first of the fairest on this continent to do this feat. A great pity that more of our members did not see this splendid show.

Mandy tried to explain the euphoria that she felt as she approached the final apron to the summit of Everest, the last of her summits, knowing then that she was actually going to make it and how one tries to come to terms with the fact that, once done, and you have gazed down from the very Top of the World, is there anything else for the truly adventurous to do?

All I know is that I felt similar feelings of euphoria when I reached the crest of Kilimanjaro many years ago and together with my own personal guide we were the only people in the whole world to see that scene on that particular day, as the sun majestically rose above Mawenzi in the background after what Mandy and her ilk now know to be a fairly gentle three-day stroll. My own reaction was to get off the mountain as quickly as possible, down to warmer weather, cold beers and a proper meal and vowing strongly never to expose my body, head and lungs to such extremes, pain and deprivation ever again. We passed the rest of our group on our way down, exhausted beyond redemption, still trudging zombie-like, towards that ever elusive summit still hundreds of feet above them. To this day I don’t know if they ever made it or not.

Of course it’s like the process of childbirth for the female of the species. After the event, the pain, strain and exhaustion are quickly forgotten and resources permitting, we can undertake such life-threatening activities time and time again. There is always pleasure along the way.

The next frontier will be the Nine Summits of the Nine Sun Planets and Mandy has only achieved 11% of this particular target. No doubt she is having sleepless nights planning this series of life firsts. The rat is gnawing and he must be satiated.  

A luta continua!

Mulanje Conquered

By Annedore Smith

The huge boulders seemed to be getting bigger and bigger as we slowly made our way to the summit. Behind us lay a steep climb up from Chisepo Hut nearly 1000 metres below. Just a few more rocks and crevasses had to be conquered, often with the help of our unperturbed guide Simon and his team of porters. And then we stood on top of Sapitwa –the highest peak of the Mulanje mountain range in Southern Malawi with an altitude of 3003 metres.

The MCZ outing, planned by Michael Laban, started on the Saturday before Easter and lasted until Easter Monday. On the first day, we left Harare just after 5.00 a.m. and drove all the way through Mozambique to Zomba. There we stayed with Charlotte, a German doctor and member of the Mountain Club of Malawi, who had helped us substantially with the organisation of this trip. In her lovely house, we enjoyed a super curry which Val and Dee had prepared for all of us. 

The next morning, we should have started very early to drive about 100 kilometres to the Likhubula Forest Station at the bottom of the Mulanje range and begin with the ascent of its steep slopes. However, we got delayed somehow and left the base camp only at about 11.00 a.m. This meant that the slower climbers didn’t make it to the ridge until late, and the last stretch to Lichenya Hut had to be conquered in total darkness, with only torches showing the way. By 9.00 p.m., we were finally all reunited and tucked into a delicious chilli con-carne prepared by Charlotte according to the traditions of Mulanje climbers. Under a clear moonlit sky and relatively moderate temperatures, we all slept outside on the veranda that night.

The next day, we took it easy by MCZ high impact standards. We “only” walked for about four to five hours to Chisepo Hut, the base camp for Sapitwa. On the way, we experienced that Mulanje is not just a paradise for mountaineers but for nature lovers as well. It has a very rich and stunning forest reserve which is home to a vast variety of endemic plants and animal species. In one stretch of rain forest, we saw so many shades of green that we thought there ought to be just as many different words to describe these colours. We didn’t see many animals, though – maybe MCZ people are just too noisy on their walks and scare them off. Charlotte, however, discovered a small chameleon and took some fantastic photos. (Editors Note She undoubtedly saw a Mulanje Dwarf Chameleon, a lifer for chameleon hunters, found only on this mountain. They are about one-third the size of our own common flap-necked chameleons. It was shedding its skin which all reptiles (other than tortoises and turtles) do as they grow and probably explains why even some humans are colder than others and therefore scaly by nature).

The relentlessly steep climb up to Sapitwa determined the whole next morning until midday. Finally, Rob, Michael, Betty, Val and Annedore reached the peak – as did Ulrike and Johanna, two German ladies who had joined us on this trip. Charlotte, Dee and Isla preferred to stay at Chisepo. 

The view was not as spectacular as it could have been without the clouds, but there was a great sense of achievement having made it to the top. 

The descent meant conquering further boulders and took us again past an interesting cave with characteristics that gave ample room to fantasy. 

You need to get up at the crack of dawn, to see the Pussy Cave of Sapitwa! 

 

Editor’s note: Where’s the connection with cats????

As we got down further, the rocks got increasingly slippery and potentially lethal in places where they were covered with coarse grass. At one point, Val had a nasty fall but fortunately only injured her fingers whilst Annedore badly strained a shoulder muscle. But tough ladies (Writer’s interpretation-Ed) won’t be deterred from continuing their mountain adventure.

The next two nights were spent at Frances Hut on the Chambe Plateau. On the way, we met Maggie O’Toole, the chairperson of the Mountain Club of Malawi – out to conquer another part of the massive Mulanje range. (Editors note: Not quite, rather embarrassingly for us they were actually going straight to the summit of Sapitwa and back down to Chisepo hut in one day It took us two and a half days.) A photo of her and Rob Jarvis documented a new unity between her club and ours. 

Chairpersons of Malawi (Maggie O’Toole) and Zimbabwe (Rob Jarvis) Mountain Clubs, cross paths at the top of Skyline down the track from Chambe Plateau

An attempt to reach Chambe Peak had to be given up due to weather conditions – dense clouds and very slippery rocks. But lovely shorter walks and some relaxation at the hut still made for a perfect stay. On Friday morning, we said bye-bye to the higher ranges of Mulanje and came down the so-called Skyline Path, the steepest part of all. The sense of achievement when everybody reached the base camp, safe and sound was a very emotional sensation indeed. 

The rest of the trip was touristy. On the way to Gorongosa Park, the plan was to reach Mocuba in Mozambique in time for a good meal of prawns with a friend of Rob’s. However, the drive over 200 kilometres dirt track proved a great challenge, and some of us reached Mocuba only late in the evening. We eventually ate in a restaurant with the charming atmosphere of a waiting room at a railway station, whilst Rob still tried to locate his friend – a road construction engineer who might help us with accommodation. He was found, and we promptly spent the night in a new dormitory for road builders.

The drive to Gorongosa Park the next day was a very long one, and some of us didn’t make it to the entrance gate before dusk. (Others with more ambition and a faster car took in Quelimane as well-Ed). Fortunately, Portuguese speaking Ulrike could twist the arms of the guards to bend the rules and still let us in, and finally we were reunited at the restaurant near the camp site and lodges. The game drive early the next morning was crowned with success: We saw two lions and many different species of antelopes and birds as well as warthogs and baboons.

From Gorongosa, we drove to Chimoio to drop Ulrike at her house,

(Editors note: We also saw the Boeing 747 restaurant almost completed) and then made our way to Mutare where we camped out in the house of Rob’s sister – who would probably have got the shock of her life, had she returned home from her Easter vacation unexpectedly. While most of the group just wanted to rest, Rob and Annedore ventured out on pub crawl which turned into a somewhat miserable experience, given the dire entertainment facilities of this sleepy town. 

(Editor’s note: Mutare is actually the third largest city in Zimbabwe and foreign aid workers should accord it due respect, being Saturday, it was just a bad night. The official city policy is to discourage drunkards and layabouts and reinforce home-grown family values.)

Big Tree in Mutare, home of Bigfoot

Before returning to Harare the next day, Easter Monday, an exploratory trip was made to Stapleford near Penhalonga in order to inspect the facilities at the John Meikle Forest Research Station. This was going to be our base for the conquest of Mount Gurunguwe four weeks later.

FROM CASHEL TO BURMA VALLEY, 28-31 OCTOBER 2010,

by TEMPE VAN DER RUIT

Early on Thursday morning, Doug and I met Roger, from the Vumba and four other members of the Mountain Club, Barbara, Zia, David and Michael, at the Buttress’ beautiful home in the Vumba. Peter Buttress and his wife kindly agreed to be drivers for us. We drove to Cashel, and after getting permission from both the police and the forestry office, we drove with two guides up the rough forest road which took us onto the plateau on top of the mountain north of Cashel. Peter and Maryann left us up there and drove our cars back to the Vumba. Lovely rolling grassland recently burned but with short green grass and lots of spring flowers, stretched out before us – a great place from which to start our hike.

We set off happily. But it did not take long before some of us began to regret all the heavy food, fresh fruit , cucumbers and tins we had packed. We sat down for our first rest and heard a man shouting at us, “Keys, keys!” Whoops, Doug had forgotten to give Peter the keys for our car.

WATER

From the highlands of Cashel we dropped onto the narrow ridge going North between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. On our left were the pine forests of Nyambeya, and a waterfall dropping into the valley. On our right the ground fell away into Mozambique. Ahead we could see the big climb up to the Himalaya (Tsetsera) Mountains. (7 000 feet) We followed a firebreak, then a forest road and then a path along the ridge until we got to the end of the ridge below cliffs. Here we planned to find water and spend the night but no such luck. There was no water in the forest. By now all our water bottles were running low and it was getting late. Anxious and exhausted we pressed on up and up the mountain. At the top Barbara spotted a tree fern and said,”There will be water there.” She was right. What a relief. There was a little stream, with a pool for us to bath in. We just had time to put up bivvies before dark. Not far below our high, rather exposed camp, the stream dropped over a cliff into Mozambique. All that night we listened to cow bells tinkling.

RUINS AND FOXGLOVES 

 

In the morning we were still feeling weary so we made a leisurely start, and enjoyed watching the cloud inversion. As the sun got higher the cloud layer rose until the mist poured in over the cliffs to cover us. The mist did not stay long. It was a lovely day and the top of the Himalaya is pretty level so walking was easy. We made our way to the north eastern side of the plateau where Mr J V M de Carvalho farmed (in Mozambique but next to the border) until Mozambique’s independence. He lived in a mansion, built around a courtyard and grew potatoes and kept pigs and had a state of the art dairy. Now its all in ruins. On our side of the border there are also ruined stone houses – only the walls and the gardens remain. Fuchsias, agapanthus, peach trees and hydrangeas abound, but the most beautiful were the foxgloves, full of flowers in every shade of mauve, growing in profusion amid wild daisies with silvery leaves. The only other humans up here were a couple of herders.

YELLOW WOOD FORESTS AND SPINEY TREE FERNS 

 

After lunch, under pine trees, among foxgloves on Carvalho’s farm, we walked down the road on the northern side of Tsetsera, the road marked Himalaya on the main road south of Mutare. Soon after Carvalho’s gate posts we left the road and followed a path which took us north some more, into a valley where we camped in a forest next to a stream, with a Buffspotted Flufftail calling mourningfully through the night. There were storms around but fortunately we never had any rain the entire four days. Saturday morning we started early, climbed up a steep slope onto a high ridge in the mist which took us north east along the border next to Banti Forest Area. We followed Doug’s GPS directions until breakfast time, still high on the ridge in the mist. Now and again it would clear giving us tantalizing views of endless mountains, valley and forests. When the contours on the map looked like we were going to get to a dead end of cliffs, we unwillingly left our lovely ridge and plunged down into the forests of Banti. There was no more easy walking on a path now. We had to bundu bash our way through the undergrowth, monkey ropes and creepers, and climb over and around fallen trees and slither down steep leafy slopes. Michael, who was not well from the start of the walk, had by now developed terrible blisters and every step was an agony for him. But there were compensations. It was cool and shady in the forest and we were thrilled to see huge, moss and fern covered yellow wood trees, and next to the streams there were groves of silvery, spiny tree ferns.

At last towards lunchtime we finally broke out of the high forest onto grassy slopes which took us down into the valley where we joined a huge path, a diamond dealers’ highway into Mozambique I think. It was tempting to stay on it but we wanted to go further north following the Nindi River towards the Guild’s old farm on the Burma Valley side of Banti, so we bravely entered the forest again and battled on down the valley. It got easier again when we climbed up out of the riverine forest and into the Brachystegia woodland on a ridge coming off Binga Mountain, which we then followed down into the gorge. It was getting late again so when our ridge petered out at the river we quickly scouted for some level ground in the forest and made camp.

MORE RUINS

Our final day, we had arranged to meet the Buttresses at Heather Guild’s farm, by the Nyamatoa Barns, that afternoon, so we started early and did some more laborious bundu bashing and rock hopping down the river. Of course it got hotter and hotter as we descended and we were glad of a dip by brunch time. It was a pretty stream with huge cliffs of granite on the sides and huge trees. Sadly after brunch we came to a weir and a huge old clay pipe, supported on countless pillars of rocks, took half the water out of “our” river. But it was easy to walk along the pipeline which soon took us to Lindsay and Ann Guild’s old farm. We had been warned to avoid this area because the farm was taken by an obnoxious warvet-ess. We did come across Lindsay’s old farm school and compound, all beautifully built but now burned and in ruins. What a crying shame. Six years ago my daughters and I came this way on horse back and it was then a thriving productive farm.

The last leg down to the road on Heather’s farm was hot and further than I expected, but again the vegetation was beautiful. The Prince of Wales feathers (Brachystegia boehmii) were in new leaf. We were very glad to see the Buttresses and we really enjoyed the cold drinks which they brought for us. It was a wonderful walk. Thanks go to the Buttresses, and to Roger and Barbara for organizing the hike, and to Doug for leading us so well and patiently.

Zimbabwe’s Zeven Zummits

After listening to Mandy Ramsden’s talk recently we resolved to draw up our own list of seven summits that members should do at least once in their mountaineering careers. However we have ten provinces and in any case the seven highest summits are not necessarily the seven highest climbs.

One option might be to do the seven highest peaks in the most mountainous provinces and leave Matabeleland North and South, and Harare out of the equation. The Kopje is hardly a challenge, although the Matobos has a lot to offer.

Or we choose the seven peaks which have the highest vertical climb from where you park (or start) to the summit. But you include Inyangani and Binga regardless. It could be something that we do all summits once every seven years, or one summit a year for seven years, or one a weekend (month) for seven weeks (months), the possibilities are endless.

Any ideas??? The Malawians do the Top to Toe of Malawi over two days every Easter.

Send your Magnificent Seven ideas to Lorraine Regadas: lorraine@zimbiz.net

The Conquest of Gurunguwe

By Annedore Smith

It was an absolute first for the Mountain Club of Zimbabwe. On Saturday, 21^st May 2011, five MCZ members and four associates stood on the summit of Mt. Gurunguwe, the “Mother of all Mountains” in the Eastern Highlands. MCZ chairman Rob Jarvis was recorded as the first person ever to plank the beacon on the peak successfully with feet in Mozambique, torso in Zimbabwe, head in the clouds. And the view from the top would have been one of Paradise regained, if only all the clouds had lifted.

A closeness to Paradise well before time was, however, experienced by five MCZ members, who got stuck in Rusape when Val’s car broke down on the way to Stapleford near Penhalonga. Smoke came out of the engine before it packed up completely, and there was no chance for the five ladies in this vehicle to travel any further. Resigned to their apparent fate of being stranded in Rusape for the night and missing out on the mountain climb the next day, they accepted the offer of accommodation – yes! – in an old people’s home. However, a heroic Laurie Watermeyer came to the rescue and saved these ladies from waiting for God with one foot in the grave. 

So late on Friday, we all were finally reunited at our base camp – or should one call it altitude camp? – at the John Meikle Forest Research Station, perched 1 600 metres high on a slope right opposite Mt. Gurunguwe. A well appointed guesthouse offered us superb accommodation as well as a kitchen and ample space for eating and socialising around an open fire. Whoever made it there on Friday night was rewarded by pot roast chicken a la Jarvis and Watermeyer with lots of beer in the gravy as well as in the cans and bottles that were emptied to wash the food down.

Rob’s wake-up call the next morning at five a.m. was relentless as usual. Shortly after six, we were driving down the hill into the valley that separated us from the 1865 metres high Gurunguwe. At the river crossing at the very bottom (about 600 metres in altitude), one group decided that this mountain was just one number too big for the faint-hearted. Some of them started to walk back to our altitude camp on the forest road, others drove back and then had a long walk in the woods above the research station. The intrepid explorers, however, started their assault on the “Mother of all Mountains” deemed unclimbable so far – determined to conquer an altitude of 1200 metres in one day.

It was tough! The steep slopes were covered with thick tufts of coarse grass, which often made it difficult to see where you were actually going. Sometimes one had to cling to trees to make it to the next level of altitude. An additional hazard was posed by “George” and “Jackson”, Laurie’s two Jack Russels. They obviously saw no problem in walking backwards and forwards many times – even between the climbers’ legs, if they happened to be in the way. Three people came down after having conquered well over half of the mountain, two others stopped before the final ascent to the summit and waited for the intrepid explorers to return.

The latter reached the peak after a five-hour climb at around one p.m. and took many photos in order to prove to the rest of the world that they had really made it. The descent was just as demanding, bearing in mind the steepness of the slopes and the roughness of the terrain. Even Rob admitted that this was a high impact walk and finally he reported on the MCZ Facebook page: 

“Well, we conquered Mt. Gurunguwe, nine at the top, two two-thirds up, three half way up, seven at the river, two at base camp and one on the road between Harare and Stapleford. Not bad. Five hours up, three and a half down, no deaths.” – A very encouraging note indeed!!!

Mt. Gurunguwe straddles the Zimbabwe Mozambique Border and is a clear 1 200 metre climb from the river at the base to the summit.

Obviously, a great day like this had to end with a great evening. With much enthusiasm, everybody tucked into the superb food – a beef curry as well as Bolognaise sauce – provided by Lorraine Regadas. Afterwards an unstoppable Laurie entertained us all with an unusual encounter between a smart baboon and an unfortunate leopard. The party of the night owls went on until very late, whilst the morning larks preferred an early night after such an exhausting day.

Sunday morning brought some more excitement. Dee Apple and Isla Grundy decided to do the forest walk above the research station which others had done the day before with a local guide. Without the latter, even Chris joining them with “George” and “Jackson” couldn’t save them from getting lost in the mist, and a walk that should have lasted for three hours at the most turned into a six-hour ordeal. When the local guide Simba finally found them and brought them back to civilisation, the rest of the group was already enjoying lunch at La Rochelle – after having been given an insight into the research station’s tree conservation programme by the exuberant manager Titus. But all’s well that ends well – and this can certainly be said about this extraordinary MCZ outing. 

Editors note: Gurunguwe means Big Rock in the local language and there is no doubt it is a mother of a rock under all that tufty grass. A beautiful rainforest straddles the shoulder of the mountain about 400m below the summit. In November MCZ will be returning to photograph the views from the summit which unfortunately were shrouded in mist on this attempt. Of interest to plant lovers were endemic cycads Encephalartos manikensis growing in habitat on the lower slopes and a species of Hibiscus found only on Chimanimani before, right on the uppermost ridges.

Christon Bank

Hi all,

This weekend we were off to Christon Bank which is about a 20 min drive outside of Harare on the Mazowe road and then take a left. Our leader for this walk was Babara Maasdorp. There was a total of 18 participants. We met at Marge Dewdeny's house at 1pm for a 1:15 start, we were a little late leaving as some people arrived late, but none the less we managed to round everyone up and into cars and off we went.

Once in Christon Bank we parked at someone’s house (sorry not good with names) and then collected and did a quick head count, then we were off. The lady at which we were allowed to park our cars joined us on the walk.

a small glimpse of winter colours

About 30 minutes into our walk, we were accompanied by 3 dogs that had managed to get out from someone's house and decided to come for a walk with us. They  were a jack russel, an german shepard and a Labrador. They were very excited to see us. I must warn you that the german sherpard must have rolled in something delicious, as he smelled from some wonderful perfume, so we had the pleasure of this perfume now and again as he pushed his way past us. At the peak of the mountain, we made a small rest stop to enjoy the view down the valley is the Mazowe dam. On the other side of the valley is the estate of Bredan kamp who is a wealthy person who is well connected to the Zimbabwe government.

View from the top of the Gomo overlooking Bredan Kamp's estate.

Private runway and all.

The view of the Mazowe Dam

After our rest stop, we descended down the gomo and into the valley below. We had to do quite a bit Bundu Bashing (making our own track through the bush) as there was some quite thick bush and no paths to follow. By the time we got to the bottom of the gomo we were coated with silver leaf seeds, which we managed to spread further as we took them off while continueing on our walk.

Now the plan was to go up the mountain, down into the valley and round and into another small valley and that would take us back, but we ended up going up the gomo, then down the gomo, and then getting a bit lost at the base of the gomo and ended up climbing back up the same gomo we just spent 25 minutes climbing our way down, but with a slightly different route back up.

Next weekend's walk will be led by Loraine and Alice at Silvera House out in the Arcturus Area.

Masambura

This last weekend's sunday walk was in the masambura area, which is 65km from harare out on the domboshava road and then take a left at the sign to chinamora junior school. The leader of the walk was Rolf. We left sam levi's village on a chilly sunday morning at 7:15, with 12 of us. The drive out there was a good 1:45. The road was not bad, but it was nice to have 4x4. We did come across an 'only in africa' bus stop. This bus stop was just a sign hanging down from the over hanging tree, priceless!

Bush bus stop

The first Gomo we climbed

We arrived at our destination around 8:30 and starting walking at 8:45. We set out and passed through some locals ploughing the fields and getting them ready for the spring to arrive. They had a quite ingenious system setup for watering the fields. They would have these polly pipes which they would put into the nearest stream, and then channel the water to the field using natural gavity.

Now the first gomo (local slang for mountain or hill) we climbed did not have a name on the map, but the hill across from it was called Chamatura. We had to do some bush wacking before we got on the first gomo, but then again that is nothing new in the mountain club of Zimbabwe, we make our own paths whether there is one there or not. After about 1/2 hour we were climbing up the side of the gomo. The rock was quite interesting in that it looked like gravel which had been cemented together, but the rock is granite. Another interesting thing was that walking on this expanse of rock was like walking in a desert, but made of rock, as the surface area which the rock covered was expansive.

Just to give you an idea of the desert of rock.

At 10:00 am we had a welcome rest stop on the top of this gomo with stunning 360 degree views.

One of many views to come

Chamatura to the left

After our rest stop, we continued on the top of this gomo and then made our way down it and towards chamatura. we then proceeded along the base of chamatura to find a route up. Rolf wanted to try an different way up but we just ended up on a rocky area which was rather hard to get up. Luckily to our rescue came a kid that showed us the way up, and thanks to Richard who can speak some shona as the kid did not speak English.After a rather hard climb up the side of chamatura and everyone gasping for air, we had a small stop, then it was onward and upwards again to the top of chamatura where we would have lunch.

After lunch Rolf told us that on the way back down there is a cave with bushman paintings in it. Unfortunatley children are begining to damage these old art forms, as you can see from the photo below.

Rock paintings. Sadly being lost slowly.

Some aloes were still in flower

after a 30 min walk down the rest of the gomo, we reached the cars exhausted, tired and ready for a good cup of tea. We thanked our locals and in payment that kindly agreed to look after our cars, then went to an old cattle dip not far from where we parked to sit under the gum trees and enjoy the last of the sunday.

Stay tuned for this coming Saturday, as Barbara Maasdorp will be leading us on a walk in the Christon Bank area.

Inyaguri

Leader: Richard
Distance From Harare: 1 hour drive
Number of Participants: 13
Name of Host: Mr Chinyemba

We left Sam Levis village in Borrowdale a little late (1:25) as apossed
to the 1:15 start, as there was a slight challenge getting people into
cars, but after we were sorted, we were off on the Borrowdale road out
towards Domboshava, but then made a turn towards Borrowdale Brooke. Past
Borrowdale Brooke, and onto a dirt road that looked like it was made for
development as there was many other roads going off from it. We were
following Richard who knew the way to Mr Chinyemba's house, and it took
us a good hour to get there as we had to navigate roads that were not
marked, but none the less we managed to find the house and at around
2:20 we left the cars at the house and were off into the surrounding area.
Our guides were Mr Chinyemba's Children who accompanied us on the walk
in the area. Our route took us down the valley and then up a hill where
we then proceeded up a hill to get to a waterfall that Mr Chinyemba had
told us about. His children knew better where it was, so we followed
them. We could certainly hear the waterfall.

After about 20 minutes of climbing the hill and battling with the bush,
we came to the waterfall. We then proceeded to climb up the side of the
waterfall to the top, once there we had a break and enjoyed the view of
the surrounding area. After a short, we crossed over the river & tracked
our way back.
Next weekend is a walk in the Chidabgwe area.

Planking In Africa

Rob Jarvis First person ever to plank on Mt Gurunguwe successfully, feet in Mozambique, torso in Zimbabwe, head in the clouds!

Gurunguwe Weekend

A quick response from Rob Jarvis on their weekend trip to Gurunguwe.

Well we conquered Mt. Gurunguwe, nine at the top, two two thirds up, three half way, seven at the river, two at base camp and one on road between Harare and Stapleford. Not bad. 5 hours up, three and a half down, no deaths.

April Newsletter

The Mountain Club of Zimbabwe

(Mountains Only Peak Beneath our Feet)

April 2011

Pontifications from the Chair

Greetings one and all!!

It has been a grand year so far, this issue gives you some insight into our activities since last December and I must say that members have moved into top gear as Zimbabwe recovers from the Lost Decade.

The Great Gairezi River Expedition finished successfully with more or less 8 explorers navigating the un-navigable. I eat humble pie, it was meticulously planned and executed, although the equipment, or some of it, was as worn and torn as some of us by the end! We learnt a bitter lesson about personal hygiene, water from a crystal clear Gairezi in September may be totally palatable, but in December when the river is raging brown with cattle and human detritus from the Nyamaropa Valley, it is anything but potable. Some are not over their woes yet! Laurie Watermeyer gave a brilliant, but one-sided, story of how the expedition went and he has been asked to present the same to a wider audience at 5 pm on 18 May at St Georges for the Pre-History Society, and anyone else who would like to attend.

This Easter weekend a very few of us go to climb Malawi’s Great Massif, Mulanje. A big thank you to Michael Laban for organizing this and to the Malawi Mountain Club for taking us under their wing for a few days. We look forward to reciprocating in due course.

In May the Club will do a full frontal assault on the magnificent Gurunguwe Mountain, which dominates the Zimbabwe/Mozambique border a few kilometres north of Mutare, the gateway to paradise. At over 1 800 metres it is as tall as Gorongosa, but the summit of Gurunguwe is squeezed in to a two kilometre block and does not stretch for ten. We look forward to a report on the conquest of this last wild frontier in the region.

What else is new, Lynda has new knees, Alan has married his sweetheart and Laurie Watermeyers’ dogs have been untangled from the hind legs of sundry stock in the Nyanga North area. All good news in a heartwarming sort of way.

Oh and if you are really adventurous you can join the Hackers an acronym for people who regularly tempt death on our rivers as they rage uncontrollably seawards. They usually do this in canoes and kayaks, but there is a lot of time spent bobbing! They are always wet behind the ears!

Rob Jarvis

Some Thoughts On Meandering

By Mafungi

Murehwa

There have been some great walks this year already with perhaps the best a return to Murehwa where a multi-ridged granite conglomerate was scaled in February. Led by Rob Fisher and Rob Jarvis the beauty of the four-pronged summit was somewhat palled by the headlong descent down a river course from the top. One marriage I know of, was very rocky by the end of the day.

The lack of any cattle spoor should have been a giveaway, if cows cannot get into the valley it is usually for good reason, it is impassable! However we have to go back, the only peak we didn’t go to has the ancient ruins according to the locals and many of our members are interested in this sort of thing.

Momwe

Last weekend Phillippa Marrett led a walk in the Momwe area, which is about 15kms due north of Ngomakurira. The rocks here are spectacular with the granite being a very orange colour and weathered in strange rifts and valleys with some outcrops having multiple handholds etched into them. Right near the summit there is a large rock pool nearly a metre deep and the size of a home swimming pool. It was brimming with water, a little green, but otherwise water.

We saw a lone elephant shrew skipping across the rocks and many skinks and rock lizards. The last time the Club visited this mountain there were klipspringer but on this occasion only ravens croaked their way across the sky. One nightjar flew up from our very feet and an Augur Buzzard abandoned the summit for us. Some buff-coloured shrikes objected us taking lunch in their mountain acacia woodland on the way down, but the incessant chatter of the socialites amongst us soon shut them up and they gave up the fight for flight.

The beacon at the top shows signs of having been blasted by lightning and chunks of concrete have been blown away from the base. Steer clear of the top if you are ever caught in a storm.

Marge has cleverly recruited a youngish Irish girl, Kate, to join recently and this means that all jokes are heartily laughed at! No matter how weak they are, which is very morale boosting to the older crowd who know no new jokes and take unkindly to being the butt of one.

Ngomakurira

A favourite with Iain Bell, the walk around the mountain was enjoyed by more than twenty people and some braved the descent down into the large cave on the rock face where San depictions of elephant and other large game point to a very different ecosystem around Harare than we see today. The Museums and Monuments Authority has pushed up prices and it now costs $4 each to visit these shrines.

Of course some of the group just had to get lost, some before we started, although they caught up and some after the visit to the cave. No deaths, so it ended up pretty much as planned. Alice regaled Rob with stories about her mis-spent youth (long gone!) at the back. Rob had been relegated to the back for misbehaviour on the previous trip.

 

Jingo School or Thereabouts

 

Lorraine’s walk to the mountain close to Jingo school had all the hallmarks of a comedy. Thirty-eight people in thirty-six cars turned up, the line wound around the mountain several times going up and even more coming down. However the view from the top was worth seeing and a juvenile Black Eagle was pestered repeatedly by smaller birds of prey as he caught an updraught and shot high into the sky above us. Below the sun squirrels gave vent to a terrified chatter. They make very good snacks for eagles. Juvenile black eagles are a beautiful golden-brown colour and only after about a year off the nest do they develop the distinctive black colouration with a white V on their backs. Black Eagles lay two eggs and when the second hatches the first born eaglet will peck his sibling to death, an instinctive reaction because there usually is not enough food for two.

For this trip we were joined by a Herald reporter, which was a little unusual and he was non-plussed when told that the reason the Chairman was lifting up all the flat stones en-route was “He is looking for rock-spiders and snakes in the grass”.

Great Zimbabwe and Glenlivet

The weekend was organised by Annedore Smith,a new and enthusiastic member of our Club, and our host for the weekend was Mir Selem who had all 11 of us comfortably accommodated in his home.

All went well with initial plans to meet at 1.15pm and to load up Val's vehicle and mine for departure at 1.30pm. By the time we cleared the Chitungwiza roundabout it was 2.30pm and time to begin to relax and destress from the chaotic drive up to this point. The road to Masvingo was in fair repair with not too many heavy vehicles to pass. We arrived in Masvingo +/- 5.30pm.

Upon arrival at Mir Selem's home, a braai fire had already been started and we were welcomed by some residents of Masvingo who were also joining in the braai. After settling in and booking our places for the night, we settled down to a very enjoyable evening around the braai and lots of exchange of conversations took place.

On Saturday morning it was planned that we would visit Great Zimbabwe, leaving the house at 9.00am. Upon arriving at Great Zimbabwe we had a very informative talk from the guide at the Museum and then proceeded to climb the Ruins. The Ruins are still most definitely worth a visit.

Aimless Mountain Club members trying to figure out the origins of Great Zimbabwe!

After climbing to the top we proceeded down to the "enclosure" and also to the grain bin symbol where we were met by another guide who also was very informative. After a well spent morning at the Ruins we all proceeded to Lake Mtirikwe where we entered the camping ground and had a picnic lunch.

We then drove to the Dam Wall - magnificent sight and took numerous photos. There were many colourful lizards who became very inquisitive and obviously are fed by tourists at this photographic spot. We decided at this point that we would take the scenic route round the lake and make our way to Glenlivet Hotel where we would stop over and have dinner. The scenic route took us approximately an hour with reasonable road conditions. The only "complaint" being that on some parts of the road the "lantana" had protruded into the road (waiting to scratch my car) - but by taking care this was not a serious issue.

We arrived at Glenlivet Hotel at 3.00pm. As we had the whole afternoon ahead of us we all agreed to do a climb on one of the beautiful mountains which overlooked the hotel and also the Lake. This climb took us the whole afternoon and we arrived back at the hotel at 5.00 to order our well deserved refreshments. It must be pointed out that we were all amazed at the dense vegetation in all the areas we walked and climbed. Can only say "beautiful" to see.

We all settled down to dinner at 7.30pm. After dinner, now being 9.00pm we headed back to Masvingo. Upon arrival at the house we sat out in Mir Selem's garden with some of us having a glass of wine or Amarula.

On Sunday morning we briefly packed up before heading for another exploratory walk to a disused gold mine. This took us up until 11.00am when we returned to the house where a lovely cold meal was awaiting us before our departure to Harare.

The trip back was pleasant apart from Val having a puncture - unfortunately an irreparable tyre at that. Michael and Christian assisted heroically in removing the lock (with great effort) on the spare tyre and getting Val back on the road.

We arrived home at 7.00pm.

Our thanks must go to Annedore and Mir Selem for a most memorable weekend.

Lorraine Regadas

First entry of many to come

Hi all, My name is Chrisitan and I Live in Zimbabwe, Harare to be exact and I like going for walks with the mountain club of Zimbabwe and this is a group that explores the areas in and around Harare and Zimbabwe to do walking and experience the landscape and beauty of this country.