ZIMBABWE'S ATTRACTIONS

Chimanimani National Park

The Chimanimani mountains are geologically unique in Zimbabwe. The apparently modest size of the peaks – Binga, the highest is 2240m – give no idea of their scale, the mountains rising in rugged ridges. Sheltering in this fortress is the Chimanimani National Park, an enthralling wilderness of rocks, caves, waterfalls and gentle valleys.

Between the park’s mountain-hut and the spiring peaks shared with Mozambique, spreads the ample Bundi valley. Spliced by the Bundi river, this is covered in grass which changes from wet-season green to maizey yellow and dried brown after the rains subside. Its downhill course is broken by a series of waterfalls splashing into icy cola-coloured pools, with smooth rocks to bask on.

Giant tree strelizias (wild bananas), tree ferns and cycads fringe the banks, while the grass slopes are dotted with bright yellow helichrysm, grass-aloes, and small mauve gladioli. But it’s the rocks on the way up the valley which are most astonishing. Completely different from the graniteside formations peppering much of Zimbabwe, the folded and faulted silvery schist and quartz has been sculpted into fantastical stone forms. In the fine white soil, wild hibiscus, heather, aromatic tree shrubs and firey pincushions grow.