So what in the world is 'gudza'?

From, Chilo, the lowest point in Zimbabwe, we climb almost 2000 meters on our drive to Chimanimani in the Eastern Highlands

On the side of the mountain sits the hamlet of Biriwiri, where we have arranged to stop and see a group of women make something from (almost) nothing. We are given an enthusiastic and traditional welcome, with singing, dancing and much laughter, before being ushered inside out of the hot sun.

 

As our eyes adjust to the light, we see we’re in a small ‘general store’ selling children's clothes, laundry soap and other basic essentials, but much of the space is given over to hats, bags, dolls, doormats and countless other items made from ‘gudza’. To make it, Muunze (Mountain Acacia) trees are stripped of their bark, which is then boiled in water until soft. After a thorough pounding using a giant pestle and mortar, the resulting fibre is rolled by hand into lengths of yarn. Weaving is done by hand, with no loom, pattern or implement other than the woman’s fingers and an idea in her head of what she’d like the finished product to be. All dyes are from locally grown plants and buttons hand cut from small pieces of wood. Oh and we are told the bark replenishes within a short time, so the process is entirely sustainable.

 

 

We choose a selection of bags and tablemats to bring back and will be interested to see how our customers feel about products made from this very unusual material.

Hippos in the pan

To get to the lake, we must first be poled across the Save river in a small boat and climb aboard a jeep. Thomas, our guide and driver, is carrying a heavy pickaxe, which he stows in the back before taking us on a bit of a thrill ride through low bush. At one point, a  huge and grumpy-looking bull elephant blocks our path and there is a bit of a standoff: as he starts charging towards us, we are suddenly reversing along the track at high speed. Having shown us who’s boss, he slopes off and we are able to continue, dropping steeply down onto wet sand and then full steam ahead through water to the other side of the Runde river. 

There seems to be no way up from the riverbed, but out  jumps our guide with  pick in hand and starts fashioning a ramp. A few minutes later, we roar up into a grassy, open area, where we see herds of impala, elephant, zebra, buffalo and many more wild creatures. At one stage we seem to have constant animal activity on all sides and it’s like being at an Imax movie.  A few more dips and climbs later, the stunningly beautiful Machanu ‘pan’ (as waterholes are known here) stretches out in front of us. Partly covered in waterlilies, the whole area is alive with birds and the heads of countless hippopotami pop up through the vegetation.

Easter with the elephants

The Easter weekend is a big holiday here and most people try to leave the city to visit family in the rural areas or relax in one of the country’s National Parks. This is a perfect excuse to stop ‘work’ for a few days, so we drive down to Gonarezhou to stay at the new and fabulous Chilo Gorge Lodge. It’s a long drive on a terrible road and we arrive at 4pm feeling hot, dusty and maybe just a little bit stressed.

After Nadine’s welcome and the delicious lunch she has kept for us, we do a quick change and join the 3km walk to the Chivirira waterfall. Nadine’s husband John is our guide and the rifle he carries is a reminder that this is one of the remotest and wildest places in Southern Africa.Locals believe that dhows used to tie up near here to offload their cargo,after navigating the Save river through Mozambique. Sipping our‘sundowners’ at the falls after a stiff climb to the top, it doesn't seem too implausible.

Next day, the sound of hippos grunting just below our room wakes me up, just as the sun is rising. There’s a lot of diving and resurfacing so, every time we try a headcount, there seems to be one more. Eventually they settle down and seven of them spend most of the day basking in the sun. During breakfast, a small herd of elephants crosses the river a short distance from the lodge. A couple of hours later, we see the fences they have trampled to get into a maize field and steal the crop that should have fed a village family for a year.  If they keep coming back, one of them will suffer the death penalty for their greed. The community here respect the environment and actively support wildlife conservation, but people have to survive here too.