The Bvumba Mountains or Vumba Mountains straddle the

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

border, and are situated some 10 km south east of

Mutare Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 in the surr ...

. The Bvumba rise to

Castle Beacon A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but u ...

at 1,911 metres, and are, together with the

Chimanimani Mountains The Chimanimani Mountains are a mountain range on the border of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The mountains are in the southern portion of the Eastern Highlands, or Manica Highlands, a belt of highlands that extend north and south along the internat ...

to the south and

Nyanga Mountains Mount Nyangani (formerly Mount Inyangani) is the highest mountain in Zimbabwe at . The mountain is located within Nyanga National Park in Nyanga District, about northwest of Mutare. The summit lies atop a small outcrop of rock around above the s ...

to the north, part of the

Eastern Highlands :''"Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, and part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia.'' The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbabw ...

of the

Manicaland Manicaland is a province in eastern Zimbabwe. After Harare Province, it is the country's second-most populous province, with a population of 2.037 million, as of the 2022 census. After Harare and Bulawayo provinces, it is Zimbabwe's third-most ...

and adjacent Manica provinces. They are referred to as the "Mountains of the Mist" (Bvumba being the

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people * Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today Shona may also refer to: * ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing * Shona (given name) * S ...

word for "mist"), as so often the early morning starts with a

mist Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in the cold air, usually by condensation. Physically, it is an example of a dispersion. It is most commonly seen where water vapor in warm, moist air meets sudden cooling, such a ...

which clears by mid-morning. Although lying mostly within Zimbabwe, the mountains extend north-eastward to Mount Vumba (or Monte Vumba) in Mozambique. They are capped by cool, green hills which shelter country hotels, a casino and golf course at the Leopard Rock Hotel and a Botanical Garden with one of the best views in Africa. The mountains are also known for their

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

Access

On the Zimbabwean side, the Mountains are accessible by a tarred road from

. The Mozambican side of the mountains can be reached from a road to the

Vumba Water Bottling Plant The Bvumba Mountains or Vumba Mountains straddle the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, and are situated some 10 km south east of Mutare. The Bvumba rise to Castle Beacon at 1,911 metres, and are, together with the Chimanimani Mountains to the south ...

, which leaves the main EN6 highway just west of Manica.

Mountain hikes

The climb to the prominence,

, is up a large

granite dome Granite domes are domical hills composed of granite with bare rock exposed over most of the surface. Generally, domical features such as these are known as bornhardts. Bornhardts can form in any type of plutonic rock but are typically composed o ...

. The lower slopes form a mist belt with sub-montane vegetation.

Protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

s are found on the higher levels.Hyde, M.A. and Wursten, B. 2008. ''Flora of Zimbabwe''
Location details: Castle Beacon
/ref> Vumba Mountain, on the Mozambique side, is a steep hike to a summit with a good view of Manica and environs.

Geology

The Bvumba Mountains are composed mainly of granite which forms the eastern margin of the

Zimbabwe Craton The Zimbabwe Craton is an area in Southern Africa of ancient continental crust, being a part of the ancient continent of Western Gondwana, with rocks dating back to the early Archean Eon, possibly as early as 3.46 billion years ago ( Ga.). The c ...

. The Vumba granite has been dated at over 2,600 Ma. The granites are intruded in places by Umkondo dolerite sills which are dated to about 1,110 Ma.

Flora

The mountains are dominated by savannah woodland, including ''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezi ...

'' /

miombo The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

. 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.Hyde, M.A. and Wursten, B. 2008. ''Flora of Mozambique''
Location details: Bunga Views, Vumba
/ref>Hyde, M.A. and Wursten, B. 2008. ''Flora of Zimbabwe''
Location details: Globe Rock, Vumba
/ref> The higher levels of the mountains are sparsely vegetated with shrubs such as

protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). Etymology The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...

aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Accessed on: 06 Nov 2022 The most wi ...

s and Strelitzia. In the centre of the mountains lies the

Bunga Forest Botanical Reserve The Bunga Forest Botanical Reserve conserves mist-forest along the southern slopes of the Bvumba Mountains in the Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe. It is the largest conserved area in the Bvumba highlands, and can be accessed from various points along ...

and neighbouring Bvumba

Botanical Garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

. 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 ''Encephalartos manikensis'' (Gorongo Cycad, Gorongowe Cycad) is a species of cycad that is native to Mozambique and Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between ...

'', '' E. ferox'', '' E. lehmannii'', '' E. pterogonus'', '' E. cycadifolius'' and '' E. eugene-maraisii''.

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 Swynnerton's robin (''Swynnertonia swynnertoni'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Swynnertonia''. The common and Latin names commemorate the entomologist Charles Swynnerton. Range and habitat ...

which lives and breeds in small patches of forest, some on private land, others within the Bunga forest.

Livingstone's turaco Livingstone's turaco (''Tauraco livingstonii'') is a species of bird in the family Musophagidae, which was named for Charles Livingstone, the brother of David Livingstone. It is distributed through the subtropical lowlands of southeastern Afri ...

s are present in large numbers. Their territorial calls are typically heard long before they are seen, yet their brilliant crimson wing feathers are striking from afar 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 The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, ...

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 and Arnold's skink.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.

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 8,000 years in age, as well as contemporary ritual sites, used for rainmaking, divining and healing. There are at least 86 stone age sites in the Zimbabwean portion of the mountains, and the cultural significance of some of these are still observed at the present time.

World Heritage Status

This site was added to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Tentative List on August 20, 2008 in the Cultural category. It was proposed by

Places of special interest

* Manchester Gardens – a landscaped garden with the Reserve arranged about a series of artificially created streams and dams * Elim Mission Memorial – a plaque at the start of the

Eagle School Eagle School was an Independent school, independent, Preparatory school (United Kingdom), preparatory Boarding school, boarding school for boys aged 7 to 14 years situated in the Vumba Mountains near Umtali, Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe). The s ...

Road - to the memory of the innocent victims of the Elim Mission Massacre 1978 * Leopard Rock Hotel – a golf resort and casino * The Refuge or Castle – now a sunset balcony for Leopard Rock Hotel guests and a wedding venue * Leopard Rock * Chinziwa Scout Park * Kwayedza Lodge * Cloudlands * Cripps Family Burial Plot * White Horse Inn – at the end of the tar on Lauranceville Road * Map-off – a place with various fauna and flora overlooking the border * Prince of Wales view – a cliff that overlooks Forbes border post near Cloudlands * Castle beacon or Bvumba Heights, situated 1,900 m above sea level

References

{{Authority control Eastern Highlands Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic Geography of Manicaland Province Mountain ranges of Mozambique Mountains of Zimbabwe Mutare District