Tag Archives: #visitzimbabwe

Khami : The ancient capital of the Torwa

Khami, Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe
Other names: Kame, Kami

Khami, Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe (Tonderai Shoko)

Khami is an ancient city located 22 kilometers west of Bulawayo spanning about 108 hectares of land. It was built around 1450 A.D and served as the capital of the Butwa (Butua) kingdom for two centuries. The edifices are believed to have been erected by the Torwa people.

The cross at Cross Ruins, Khami (Frankie Kay)

The ruins are dominated by ornately decorated terraced stone ruins. These are the Hill ruins, a three-tier platform which is opined to have hosted the royal family, the Passage ruin, two hemi-circular platforms linked by a narrow passage, the Precipice ruin, which served as a ritual centre, the Cross ruin, which house a Portuguese templar cross hewn down on one of the rocks and the Vlei ruins. The masons of the time skillfully carved the laminar granite, ubiquitous in the area, to form the chequered pattern, herring pattern, cord pattern and variegated stone blocks. The wall at some points reach heights north of 5 meters leaving the contemporary mind to ponder how imposing a look it must have cast centuries ago.

Several artefacts have been recovered from the site ranging from ivory charms, copper items, clay pots and exotic items such as those from ancient China indicating that the area was once a thriving intercontinental trade centre.

In addition to the ruins, several animal species have been noted in the area including vervet monkeys, rock hyrax(daisies), lilac-breasted rollers and African grey hornbills.
A small museum is also maintained at the site.

The ruins were declared a national monument in 1937 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

Vumba Mountains: the mountains of mist.

Vumba (Bvumba) Mountains, Manicaland

Chinyakwaremba, Vumba Mountains

Situated 10km south of the city of Mutare, the Vumba Mountains reach an altitude of 1911m at Castle Beacon, a granite dome forming one of the tallest ranges in the country. The mountains are flanked on either side by the rolling greenery of grasses, proteas, tree foliage and coffee shrubs nourished by the early morning “bvumba” (mist) formed by the inland bound moist currents from the Indian Ocean. In the valleys pristine lucid streams twist and turn and roll down granite precipices forming cataracts and rapids.
Amid the jagged granite and the wattle and pine estates, the beauteous Vumba Botanical Gardens and the Bunga Forest Botanical Reserve impose themselves with their unique fauna of Swynnerton’s robins, Livingstone’s turacos, samango monkeys and a myriad of butterfly species. The former is also home to a cycad collection including Encephalartos manikensis and Encephalartos eugene-maraisii.
To add to the saliency exhibited by the natural flora and fauna, culturally significant stone age sites also dot the area.

Top 5 things to do:
1) Hiking
2) horse riding along the Vumba countryside
3)Golfing at Leopard Rock
4)Visiting the Botanical garden and forest reserve
5) bird watching