Nyanga National Park

About this place

Nyanga National Park lies in the north of Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands, one of the country's oldest parks and home to its highest land. It has rolling green downland, perennial rivers and waterfalls between 1,800 and 2,593 metres, with air far cooler than the rest of the country, quite unlike the usual image of savanna. It was set up as Rhodes Inyanga National Park, a bequest from Cecil Rhodes. It nearly doubled in size with farm purchases in the late 1990s, and protection of Mount Nyangani was completed in 2014. That mountain is Zimbabwe's highest at 2,592 metres. Mutarazi Falls, the country's highest waterfall, drops in two tiers into the Honde Valley. The area also holds old stone pit structures. You see wide meadows and small forests, with Mutarazi falling from the edge of the escarpment. At the Pungwe the river drops into a deep green valley, and at Nyangombe water runs over broad rocks. Dams such as Udu and Rhodes are stocked with trout. Kudu, reedbuck, Samango monkeys and blue duiker live here, the last two found only in the Eastern Highlands. The park's mapped point is 60.8 km in a straight line north of Mutare. Mist can come down suddenly on Mount Nyangani, so take a guide and map and do not climb in bad weather. Nights are cold, so bring warm clothes. Stay back from the edges of the falls, as rocks are slippery and drops sudden.