Zimbabwe 2022 – Lake Kyle and Great Zimbabwe

We flew with Qatar Airways from Zagreb via Doha. Upon landing in Harare and collecting our vehicle at the airport, we immediately hit the road south.

We had just enough time to reach Denise’s Kitchen B&B near the town of Chivhu during the daylight. They also offer camping on their nice lawn, and one of the empty chalets was unlocked for us for the ablutions. It was very peaceful there, us being the only quests. Camping was very cheap, the dinner was also not bad, and in the evening we were entertained by their flock of beautiful peacocks.

The next morning we continued on A4 to Masvingo, where we did our shopping for the next week. We thought that nearby Lake Kyle (Mutirikvi) Recreational Park is the only realistic chance for us to see rhinos on this trip, so we decided to spend an afternoon there. We drove most of the game tracks near the lake shore, but couldn’t find any rhinos. Also, the other game was very sparse. But the scenery was beautiful. We checked the campsite in the park, which was not too bad, but we rather decided to spend the night nearer to the Great Zimbabwe ruins.

So we ended up on the southern shores of this man-made lake, at Clever’s Lakeview resort, formerly named Norma Jane’s. The resort was very quiet (I think we were the only guests), and there were some construction works going on. The campsite there is nice, on an immaculate lawn, and the ablutions were very clean and with hot water.

The next morning we drove to nearby Great Zimbabwe ruins. This was the largest built complex in Subsaharan Africa, flourishing between the 11th and 15th centuries AD. The enormous granite walls, towers, stairways, and platforms probably didn’t primarily have a defensive function, but their stunning architecture still baffles archeologists and historians. They are deservedly under the protection of UNESCO, proclaimed as a World Heritage Site.

We took a local guide, and she was very knowledgeable and explained the rise and the fall of this ancient city in great detail. We walked through all three complexes (The Hill Complex, The Valey Complex, and The Great Enclosure).

Exploring Great Zimbabwe took us about three hours. We planned to get to the Mabalauta part of the Gonarezhou NP on that same day, so we did it in a somewhat expedited pace, otherwise one can easily spend half a day or more among those ruins.

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