Even More Zimbabwe Mountains

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The Road Chose Me Volume 2: Three years and 54,000 miles around Africa

Still exploring the remote mountains we wander into the town of Nyanga, perched under Zimbabwe’s tallest mountain, Nyangani (2592m/8555ft.). Camping with the mountain as the backdrop is stunning, and of course it’s all free. We wander through the Rhodes Museum which gives us great insight into the man who built this country and for which it was originally named (Rhodesia).

Camping at Drifters

As a highlight we also make a stop at the extremely famous Drifters Backpackers. This is the scene of the book by Douglas Rogers. The book tells the story of the horrible decline of Zimbabwe under President Mugabe’s rule from the boom of the late 90’s through 2008 with hyper-hyper inflation. Amazingly, the Rogers family managed to always find a way to survive – not always strictly legal ways – which are downright hilarious. The book is actually a comedy and reminds me heavily of the show M.A.S.H or the book Catch 22 – laden with situations so absurd they defy belief, though it’s absolutely all fact.
The book is a brilliant way to understand what happened in Zimbabwe and how locals managed to survive and get on with life anyway. Grab a copy if you have any interest in Zimbabwe!

The mountains of Zim are spectacular

I got us a little lost on some logging roads – great for camping though!

Wild Camping near Nyangani mountain

We feel privileged to meet the owner of Drifters and one of the main characters from the book – they are still there though the backpackers closed long ago since tourism took a dive. We thoroughly enjoy hearing all the stories and seeing the locations – it’s a bit like walking into Hogwart’s Castle. It happens to be a Friday and so to continue the Drifters tradition we make massive pizzas in our dutch oven over the fire – Emily has been getting more and more creative with the huge steel pot and the pizzas are delicious.

Sounds like a great destination to me… eventually!

Hiking up worlds view

The view from the top of Worlds View

One afternoon we hike up to the top of World’s View, a spectacular 360 view out over the Eastern Highlands, then wild camp at a remote waterfall far back in an isolated valley. The view at sunrise defies belief.

Morning views over the Pungwe Falls and valley

Standing on top of Pungwe Falls

Hiking into a mighty waterfall

The mountains in Zim are stunning!

-Dan