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Zimbabwe Sight Seeing
Kariba Dam
Kariba dam is the second largest man made dam in the world
and ideal for game viewing, fishing boat cruises and other
water activities. It took 10 000 men four years to build the
dam. Legend has it that Nyaminyami - the River God was responsible
for the devastating once-in-a-thousand-year flood in 1958,
during the building of the massive dam. When the 290km long
Dam was completed in December 1958, Global teams tracked,
captured and relocated some 5,000 animals, including lions
and rhinos, to save them from the rising waters. Stunning
sunsets are a distinctive feature of Kariba, as are the bleached
skeletal trunks and bare branches of dead trees that were
drowned in the dam all those years ago.
Hwange National Park
Zimbabwe's greatest game park and one of Africa's largest,
is Hwange which was named for an African chief whose lands
were taken over by the invading Ndebele as a royal hunting
ground. When the Europeans arrived in the 19th century population
pressures in Rhodesia - as Zimbabwe was known before independence,
increased, and the country's animals were pushed toward the
inhospitable Botswana border. Today the salt pans, acacia
scrub and grassy plains support the densest concentration
of wildlife in Africa, including water buffalo, elephant,
lion, black rhino, and leopard, the renowned "big five" of
game viewing. Hwange has a very large concentration of giraffe
and it is also home to endangered species plus very large
and varied birdlife. To walk in the African bush, tracking
game and learning about the ecosystem, with an To travel through
Hwange National Park today is to see what much of the interior
of Africa might have been like more then 150 years ago.
Eastern Highlands
With its aloes and granite, palm trees and pine trees, Mutare
is the capital of Manicaland province but although the country's
fourth largest city, it is more of a country town. Cradled
by mountains which form Zimbabwe's eastern border with Mozambique,
it is a picturesque departure point for the nearby Bvumba
hills. These fern-drenched "Mountains of the Mist" harbour
country hotels and a casino and golf-course at the Leopard
Rock Hotel, one of Zimbabwe's finest establishments. The highlight,
however, is the Botanical Gardens complete a view of the Mozambican
floodplain flung below.
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls, affectionately abbreviated to Vic Falls, is
one of the world's greatest natural spectacles. Declared a
World Heritage Site, the falls - and much of the town of the
same name - fall within a 23,4km˛ national park, which neighbours
onto the 573km˛ Zambezi National Park. Long before the Scottish
missionary and explorer, Dr David Livingstone "discovered"
the falls on November 16, 1855, the local Batonga people had
named them Mosi-Oa-Tunya, "the smoke that thunders". Today,
the town of Victoria Falls can rightly claim the title of
"Adrenaline Capital of Africa". Still essentially a village
carved out of the African bush, Vic Falls is home to a seemingly
endless variety of adventure sports like Bungee jumping, white
water rafting and surfing. Floating above the falls in a tandem
micro light is perhaps the ultimate way to see what Livingstone's
angels saw, but for the less adventurous, there are regular
helicopter and light aircraft flights for a similar perspective.
Sundowner cruises on the broad sweep of Zambezi River upstream
of the falls, is an exquisite way to experience an African
sunset, while the more energetic can hire canoes for gentle,
guided paddling trips. But perhaps best of all is the constant
lure of the falls and a network of trails leads through the
rainforest surrounding the smoke that thunders.
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