Chizinga Chemmering

28/03/10

My knees ache, the crisp early morning air tickles my throat with every gasping inhalation as I lean forward considerably into my next uphill step, my knees frighteningly close to my heaving chest.

Despite the considerable effort I was making in the yellow morning light the dauntingly far away crest didn’t seem to be getting any closer, the steepness of the climb only seemed to be getting steeper and my resolve steadily weaker. I noticed a large and invitingly flat rock a short distance up the slope and several sweaty, almost lifelike moments later had heaved myself alongside it. With renewed energy and an eagerness to get the heavy and destabilising pack off my back I did a short rendition of the hiking-boot-two-step as the weight and motion of me unslinging my pack in eagerness nearly sent me rolling to the bottom of the slope.

After the momentary balance related excitement I eased myself triumphantly onto the flat rock, steadied my breathing and for the first time had a view that extended further than the sloping ground six inches from my face. Despite the fact that we where only half way up the slope the view was a breathtaking 180 degree view of brown, green, mauve and a hundred more shades of miombo forest autumn coating the valley floor and the opposite slope, already well below our elevated viewpoint. As the view defeated my best attempts to catch my running breath a large raptor soared overhead in the morning spirals, the lazy effortless swoops, turns and glides suggesting the bird was as enraptured with the view as I was.

This painfully acquired view was part of one of Zimbabwe’s least visited and unfortunately most underrated wilderness areas, the Umfurudzi Safari Area, although when you had the perch and vista that I did you had to wonder why the tourists weren’t flocking to the area. This vast track of unspoilt Zimbabwean wilderness lies only +-150km from the capital in what is an easy two hour drive. The last half an hour of the journey will have you speechless in anticipation as each new view rolls out around the next bumpy corner, the limitless undulating horizon inviting you further and making you question why you hadn’t visited the area before or aren’t staying longer now.

With these thoughts floating around my head a soft hand on my shoulder and an inquisitive “are you alright” brought me swiftly back to reality, my girlfriend had come up silently behind me and, being naturally fitter than I am, was encouraging us to press on, or up in this case. Unfortunately the angle didn’t become any less steep and the crest continuously looked unreachable but fortunately as we climbed higher the view only got better and served as encouraging inspiration to keep pushing to the end.

Many many short breaths later with aching thighs we reached the summit, only to be told by our smiling guide Tedius, who irritatingly hadn’t seemed out of breath all morning or even broken a sweat, that the journey was not over and the hardest part was to come! Unbelievingly and with a fair amount of trepidation we followed the direction of his outstretched hand through a tangle of thick, almost impenetrable tangle of trees, bushes and lianas to a jumble of large balancing rocks that only barely managed to push through the foliage. Nestled atop this rock crown was the only man made creation in the area, the noticeably straight concrete and metallic trig beacon stood out awkwardly against the mass of lush tangles below it.

Invigorated by the end in sight we undauntingly pushed, leaned and generally coaxed ourselves through the undergrowth, or abovegrowth as would seem appropriate at this height, to the bottom of the rock formation. Here, with a slightly more serious face our guide instructed us to leave our packs against the rocks and follow his “exact steps”, literally, as there was only one very precise route over the large rocks to the summit.

Gulping with anticipation and a little fear of the daunting balancing act to follow we obeyed and with adamant fascination watched each and every placement of Tedius’ limbs on the red and green stained rocks. A few minutes later, after a rapid rock rabbit like scramble up the rocks, the speed more of an intended distraction by our guide as often large portions of your body would be momentarily suspended over sucking voids that ended at the bottom of the valley.

Despite this we reached the Mecca of the steel rail that was long ago hammered into the now sheer rock face, only a few hand rungs between us and the top and sweaty victory! Despite the resultant red-faced weariness and general body ache from the hands and knees scramble the view from the top was more even more breathtaking than any previous vistas. A 360 degree view opened up around us, from the slowly winding Mazowe River glinting on the eastern horizon to the even more dauntingly wooded slopes of the Madziwa mountains to the west.

The smiles spread as quickly as each new turn of the head revealed more detail in the valleys below, the unparralled vantage point gloriously advocating the large, harsh beautiful expansiveness of the Umfurudzi. There is no better feeling of accomplishment that bonds one to an area, view or fellow climbers like being above the bird calls with the wind at your back and the world at your feet.

A sudden and uncontrollable thought pierces my euphoric revelling, what does the name of this mountain mean? Chizinga? The intimidating massif that looks unconquerable from the valleys below. I put the question to Tedius, and as he stares out at the view formulating the correct English, or approximate in this case, translation my mind quickly darts to all the possible romantic names that could sum up such an experience and beauty.

“The right translation is very difficult” announced Tedius emphatically “but, it is a very old saying, passed down through the generations, meaning to crawl and painful move through a very thick wooded slope, with difficulty”. The translation became immediately apparent to my girlfriend who earlier had, while negotiating a particularly thick area, slipped, lost balance, stumbled, flailed and eventually regained her balance all in one comedic and clumsy motion.

“Ah!” we both acknowledge with a smile, the brief intrusion of harsh reality did nothing to spoil the euphoria, yes we had chemmered a lot but we had eventually overcome Chizinga!