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.