Zim Points of Interest
"Your endless expanse of beauty holds me throughout the space in which we are apart...I have beheld your mountains and caressed your tall grasses...Eden should be so fortunate to possess such attributes..." --W.W.
Most of the border with Mozambique is consumed by the massive Gonarezhou National Park, which contains over 2,000 square miles of open wilderness. Gonarezhou is Zimbabwe's second largest park, and it was only recently opened to international tourists. Gonarezhou means "refuge for elephants", and they are among the main attraction at the park. It was here that one of the largest elephants ever recorded was shot and killed by the famous poacher Cecil Bernard in the 1920's. His name was Dhlulamithi, "taller than the trees", and one of his tusks weighed 110 kilograms. Not surprisingly, elephants here have been hunted so much that they are not particularly fond of human beings, and they should be viewed with extreme caution. Other game, however, such as king cheetah and nyala and suni antelope are less wary and equally abundant, especially near the Runde River.
Hwange National Park, which is located south of Victoria Falls and along the Botswana border, covers more than 5600 square miles (14,500 sq. km.) of highveld and semidesert. It enjoys one of the highest concentrations of wildlife in the country and is particularly renowned for its great numbers of elephant.
The Great Dyke is a linear geological formation extending about 520 km (about 325 mi) from northeast to southwest across central Zimbabwe. It was formed when molten rock forced its way into existing rock formations which later eroded. The remaining intrusions consist of four long complexes of igneous rock, ranging from about 3 to 13 km (about 2 to 8 mi) wide and varying in elevation from about 900 to 1200 m (about 2950 to 3950 ft). The areas adjacent to the Great Dyke are densely populated and contain several of Zimbabwe's larger urban centers, including Harare, Gweru, Kwekwe, Shurugwi and Zvishavane.
Deposits of high-grade chromite ore found along the Great Dyke contribute significantly to Zimbabwe's reserves of the mineral which rank among the largest in the world. The first chromite claims were staked during World War I (1914-1918), and large-scale mining began in the 1950s. Asbestos, copper, nickel, platinum and gold are also extracted from the Great Dyke in significant quantities. While the surrounding regions contain excellent farmland, the dyke's infertile and toxic soils, caused by the concentrated level of chromite, support little agriculture.
Victoria Falls, like Mount Kilimanjaro, is an emblem of the entire African continent. Spanning 5600 feet (1700 m) and dropping 420 feet (128 m) into the Zambezi Gorge, the falls create a roar - and a cloud of mist - so great that they are perceptible from a distance of 25 miles (40 km). David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary, was the first European to visit the falls during his explorations along the Zambezi River in 1855, and he named them in honour of his queen.
Further east, and further downstream from Victoria Falls, is Lake Kariba, an enormous (almost 2000 sq. mi./5200 sq. km) man-made lake. Formed between 1955 and 1959 by the damming of the Zambezi at Kariba, the lake is now an attraction in its own right. When the lake was formed, some 50,000 persons required resettling, and many wild animals were evacuated in a project called Operation Noah. Its scattered islands, clear, deep waters, and adjoining game reserve compliment each other admirably. The reserve, Matusadona National Park, was begun as a refuge for animals saved from the rising waters of the lake itself. Today, its abundant game gathers along the lake shore, particularly in the dry months, where it is easily viewed from the water.
The next major attraction along the shores of the Zambezi is Mana Pools, a region in which the Zambezi slows and spreads out into a multitude of small ponds and pools. During the dry season, the Mana Pools attract a scarcely believable abundance of wildlife, including lion, leopard, zebra and hippo in addition to an unusually wide variety of antelope species.
The landscape of Matobo National Park, a small southern park, is somewhat unnerving. All throughout the park, on hundreds of small hills, are precariously balanced free-form stacks of granite boulders. Cecil Rhodes was buried on one such hill, located just a few kilometres from the park entrance and offering a panoramic view out over the plain. With so many fine perches, it is unsurprising that Matobo has the greatest concentration of black eagles in the world. Other bird species abound as well, as do many different species of game animals. Matobo also attracts visitors to its thousands of rock paintings, many of which are amazingly well-preserved.
