Eastern Highlands

Without doubt, the portion of the Eastern Highlands that is most well developed and best known is the Nyanza area. At its heart is the Nyanga National Park, a gift to the nation by Cecil John Rhodes.

Situated in the northernmost part of the Eastern Highlands, the park is not a game park but there are waterbuck, steenhok, leopard, kudu, wildebeest and the area is rich in birdlife.

The upland area of Nyanga is often compared to the Scottish Highlands or the west of Ireland and there are few places more evocative of these distant climes than the area known as Little Conamara.

The nearest major centre to Nyanga is city of Mutare, rightly described as the gateway to (and from) the east for it lies at the head of one of the major routes through the eastern mountain chain and stands astride road and rail links between Beira and Harare.

A small city today, Mutare is Zimbabwe's fifth largest town. It is surrounded by mountains and is certainly one of the best laid out, most picturesque and prettiest of the towns or cities in Zimbabwe. It has a beautiful climate and is wonderfully accessible to a luxuriant natural world on its doorstep. There are nature and game reserves within a few minutes drive of the city centre but, without doubt, the greatest attraction for residents and visitors alike is to get up into the real mountains, just twenty kilometres to the south of the city.

Winters (May to September) are like luscious Mediterranean summers with warm, sunny days and cool, clear nights. There is never any snow, not even in the eastern highlands, but overnight frosts and freezing temperatures are not uncommon anywhere on the plateau.

Most of Zimbabwe's rain falls in brief afternoon deluges during electrical storms in the summer months (October to April) and bring little relief from the humidity.