Bvumba Mountains

Bvumba Mountains
Bvumba Mountains

Location of the Bvumba Mountains

Highest point
Elevation 1,911 m (6,270 ft) at Castle Beacon
Coordinates 19°06′00″S 32°47′00″E / 19.10000°S 32.78333°E / -19.10000; 32.78333Coordinates: 19°06′00″S 32°47′00″E / 19.10000°S 32.78333°E / -19.10000; 32.78333
Geography
Location Zimbabwe - Mozambique
Climbing
Easiest route Hike

The Bvumba Mountains or Vumba Mountains lie on the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, approximately 25 km south east of Mutare. The Bvumba rise to Castle Beacon at 1911 metres, and are, together with the Chimanimani and Nyanga part of the Eastern Highlands in Zimbabwe bordering Mozambique. Referred to as the "Mountains of the Mist", (Bvumba is the Shona name for "mist".), as so often the early morning starts with a mist but clears by mid-morning. Although lying mostly within Zimbabwe, the mountains extend north-east into Mozambique.[1] These cool green hills shelter country hotels, a casino and golf course at the Leopard Rock Hotel and a Botanical Gardens with one of the best views in Africa.[2] The mountains are also known for their coffee plantations.

Access

On the Zimbabwean side, the Mountains are accessible by a tarred road (with many potholes) from Mutare. The Mozambique side of the mountains are can be reached from a road to the Vumba Water Bottling Plant, which leaves the main EN6 highway just west of Manica.

Mountain hikes

The climb to the prominence, Castle Beacon, is up a large granite dome. The lower slopes are a mist belt with sub-montane vegetation. Proteas are found on the higher levels.[3] Vumba Mountain, on the Mozambique side, is a steep hike to a summit with a good view of Manica and environs.[4]

Geology

The Bvumba Mountains are composed mainly of granite, being the eastern margin of the Zimbabwe craton. The Vumba granite has been dated at over 2600 Ma.[5] The granites are intruded in places by Umkondo dolerite sills,[6] of around 1110 Ma.[7][8]

Flora

The mountains are dominated by savannah woodland, including Brachystegia / miombo. There are also extensive sub-montane grasslands, local mist-belts with mosses and epiphytic and lithophytic ferns and sub-montane evergreen forest in the deeper ravines.[9][10][11] The higher levels of the mountains are sparsely vegetated, with shrubs such as proteas, aloes and Strelitzia.[3]

In the centre of the mountains lies the Bunga Forest Botanical Reserve and neighbouring Bvumba Botanical Garden. The latter is landscaped around a number of small streams and includes an important cycad collection, with 59 of the 189 known species, including Encephalartos manikensis, E. ferox, E. lehmanii, E. pterogonous, E. cycadifolius, E. eugene-maraisii.[12]

Fauna

Although small in area, the mountains are a botanical paradise and home to some of the rarest butterflies in the region. The Bvumba mountains offer exciting and varied birding opportunities. The area is probably best known as one of the main breeding areas of Swynnerton's robin[13] which lives and breeds in small patches of forest, some on private land, others within the Bunga forest.[2] Livingstone's turacos (Tauraco livinstonii) are present in large numbers though their territorial calls may often be heard long before they are seen - the brilliant crimson wing feathers sometimes visible for miles as they glide from one patch of canopy to another. A smaller number of mammals inhabit the Bvumba, perhaps the most notable of which are the leopard and the samango monkey, the latter's range being very limited. Savannah woodland adjoining the Mozambique side of the range is home to several rare reptiles including Marshall's leaf chameleon (Rhampholeon marshalli) and Arnold's skink (Proscelotes arnoldi).[11]

Archaeology

Chinhamapere Hill, on the Mozambique side of the mountains, has been a culturally important site since the Iron Age. There are well-preserved hunter-gatherer rock art paintings (comprising several human figures, some holding bows and arrows and others in trance) thought to be of around 8000 years in age, as well as contemporary ritual sites, used for rainmaking, divining and healing.[11] There are at least 86 stone age sites in the Zimbabwean portion of the mountains, some of which also continue to play roles of cultural significance.[14]

World Heritage Status

This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on August 20, 2008 in the Cultural category.[15] It was proposed by Mozambique.

Places of Special Interest

References

  1. ↑ Surveyor General of Zimbabwe and Forestry Commission, 1996. 1:250,000 Vegetation Map Series. Surveyor General of Zimbabwe, Harare
  2. 1 2 Martin, D. 1997. Bvumba: Magic in the Mist. Intro Africa Travel Guide, Africa Publishing Group.
  3. 1 2 Hyde, M.A. and Wursten, B. 2008. Flora of Zimbabwe: Location details: Castle Beacon
  4. ↑ Vumba Summitpost
  5. ↑ Thomas, B. 1999. IGCP 368 International Field Workshop in Eastern Zimbabwe and Western Mozambique. Gondwana Research, 2, 318-320
  6. ↑ Vumba facts. Vumba-nature.com
  7. ↑ Hanson, R.E., Martin, M.W., Bowring, S.A. and Munyanyiwa, H. 1999. U-Pb zircon age for the Umkondo Dolerites, eastern Zimbabwe; 1.1 Ga large igneous province in Southern Africa-East Antarctica and possible Rodinia correlations. Geology, 26, 1143-1146 .
  8. ↑ Gose, W.; Hanson, R.; Pankake, J.; Crowley, J.; Ramezani, J.; Bowring, S.; Blenkinsop, T.; Mukwakwami, J. and Dalziell, I. 2003. New paleomagnetic and geochronological data from the Mesoproterozoic Umkondo dolerites, South Africa. EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6–11 April 2003, abstract #7201
  9. ↑ Hyde, M.A. and Wursten, B. 2008. Flora of Mozambique: Location details: Bunga Views, Vumba
  10. ↑ Hyde, M.A. and Wursten, B. 2008. Flora of Zimbabwe: Location details: Globe Rock, Vumba
  11. 1 2 3 National Directorate for Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture, 2008. Vumba Mountain range, Submission by the Mozambique government for listing of a World Heritage Site.
  12. ↑ Murimba, E. 1997. The Cycad Collection of Vumba Botanical Garden, Zimbabwe. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, 2 (8)
  13. ↑ Ian Sinclair, Birds of Southern Africa, Struik Publishers 1996, p.316
  14. ↑ Archaeological surveys and ethnographic research in the Chimanimani area .
  15. ↑ Vumba Mountain Range - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  16. ↑ http://www.theleopardrock.com/
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