THE unison recently shown by scribes from various stables in their quest to highlight and promote the country’s premier tourist resorts, especially Kumakomoyo, is quite phenomenal.
travelling & touring:with Burzil Dube
The Eastern Highlands is popularly known as Kumakomoyo and is home to the country’s premier hospitality industry.
It goes without saying that the Eastern Highlands is bestowed with natural and man-made hospitality facets making it among the most sought-after places for both business and leisure.
When companies and corporates prefer having their strategic review workshops, what usually comes to mind is places such as Victoria Falls, Eastern Highlands or Kariba even though the first two rule the roost.
Calls have been made for flight revival by major carriers such as Air Zimbabwe complemented by budget airlines such as fastjet among others.
There is utmost need for the national airline to look at ways on how such routes as that of the provincial capital of Kumakomoyo can be brought on board in efforts to up the game in domestic tourism.
As a travelling and touring journo, yours truly envisages a time when there will be a glut of so-called tourists (read local visitors) in rarely visited areas.
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It is not only about having eateries and accommodation places, but other natural features such as Zimbabwe’s longest natural sand beach that is situated in Binga.
The district is also home to the country’s various hot springs.
Talking of hot springs, what comes to mind is the Nyanyadzi hot springs in Manicaland, which are predominantly known in tourism circles and continue to entice travellers using the Masvingo-Mutare highway.
However, there is scant knowledge concerning the Binga hot springs, which yours truly is informed could be the country’s biggest and also least in terms of tourism patronage maybe due to geographical location.
It is also believed that the country’s hottest springs are found in Binga and this can be attributed to the district’s all-year-round hot weather conditions.
Folklore has it that the liquid from Binga hot springs has some form of supernatural powers where hundreds of people flock to get the “healing waters”.
Whether this is true or not, this has to be left for another day.
Tourist places in Manicaland have of late been in the media limelight for all the good reasons and this is a very positive development in domestic tourism promotion.
Yours truly having last visited some of the facilities a few years ago, the majority of them have since been transformed to international standards.
During that period I also climbed the numinous Nyangani Mountains, which is the highest in the country where strange and spine-chilling stories have been written and narrated about human disappearances at times occuring without trace.
Yours truly had the privilege to visit Mutarazi Falls during those yesteryears where one would lie by the stomach to have a “spectacular view” of the falls.
The zipline or skywalk facilities were non-existent during that particular period and there are calls from certain travel enthusiasts for the introduction of bungee-jumping at Mutarazi Falls as well.
Those two above-mentioned facilities were introduced last year and have already proved to be a hit among local visitors even though these adrenalin-filled activities are not for the fainthearted.
The skyline and skywalk activities enables a visitor at the site to “skywalk” across the 760m high chasm and in the process observing the falls head-on. Bungee jumping is currently based in Victoria Falls only.
On the other hand, a dual 90m zipline and cableway would be parallel overlooking Mutarazi River waterfall. The zipline is reputed to be the world’s highest.
The proverbial second bite of cherry for yours truly is beckoning and it is only a matter of time.
Yours truly, just like in previous Travelling and Touring columns, will continue to clamour on the need for hospitality amenities situated in this province to also rise to the occasion and emulate their Eastern Highlands counterparts.
Much has been said and written about tourist facilities located in and around Victoria Falls.
The town will next month be officially granted city status and is also among the country’s leading premier holiday and business resorts.
The other day yours truly was in unison with Dumisani Nsingo and Nkosilathi Sibanda my fellow scribes that Binga with its sandy beaches is a tourism giant in the making, but publicity is somehow not up to scratch.
To the uninitiated, Binga centre is situated on the shores of the mighty Zambezi River and south of Kariba town while it also lies along the Zambezi escarpment.
While the place is known for its unmatched cultural significance, there has been a gradual increase in state-of-the-art lodges and other related facilities as well as all types of boat cruises.
It is also one of the shortest routes to Kariba via the Zambezi River if one is coming from Bulawayo, Hwange or Victoria Falls.
Upstream of the Zambezi River, there is Msuna Fishing Resort whose self-catering chalets are constructed on an island and tiger fishing is among the favourite pristine activities.
The place is a favourite outing for those, who are interested in having a quiet and serene atmosphere where any form of disturbance is non-existent.
Those who have been to the place will bear witness that the habitation was carefully selected whose utmost motive was peace of the mind.
The list of numerous “unheralded” tourist attraction places is long and most of them are ideal for the domestic sector.
The onus is also on the particular players to be seen and heard just like what those Kumakomoyo are currently doing.
l Comments always welcome on: [email protected] or Twitter: @DubeBurzil
