BINGA

This trip went down at the very beginning of April.

It was epic. Which is why it has taken so long to post about it.

Without getting into all the details of our misadventures at the apex of the Chimanimani mountains, I will leave you with the following lessons learned:

1. It's going to take SEVERAL days so bring lots of food and water treatment supplies.

2. To get there by chapa, you take a chapa to Sussendenga and from there you take the "Rutanda" chapa100 (open-bed-truck) and ask to get dropped by the park gate (an hour into the trip). The chapa100 will wait until it's full to leave unless you pay a big chunk of change. It's another 4 km to the park gate. The park entry fee is 100 mt for Mozers/DIRE holders and 200 for foreigners. It's another 100 mt per night to sleep inside the park borders. They will tell you chapas run in both directions every 30 minutes, but you could wait 3 or 4 hours.

Here's the kicker: IT'S ANOTHER 18 km FROM THE GATE TO THE BASE OF THE MOUNTAIN. It's a boring walk along a long road. It took us five hours. All told, we left Chimoio at 6:00am, but only got to the base of Binga at 5:00pm.

3. The guides are easy to find in the village at the base of the mountain. They will show you where to pitch your tents and tell you what expect the next day (although it may be a sugar-coated version if that's what you want to hear). They charge 500 mt per guide per day. They can go a month with only one visitor, so this price seems pretty fair.

4.  The first river we crossed at the beginning of the hike was super slippery and the guide just raced across it with no warning to those behind him. Be careful - it's easy to slip and fall in the water.

The accent is steep and tiring in parts. Don't waste time swimming and resting by every river you see because there is an amazing gorge with a watering hole and cool photo ops near the top.  That's where you drop your stuff and return to for the night after summiting. It should take about 6 hours to that spot, and another 3 from there to the top (without packs).

5. The reason I said don't waste time is that it will still take several hours to get TO the peak and if you dilly-dally, you wont get back DOWN to your camp site before dark. That is what happened to us and all we packed for that summit hike was water and snacks - no flashlights. This created a giant ordeal - the kind you don't call home about.

6. Unless you have many days to kill and want to test the endurance of your legs and mind on everlasting, uneventful terrain, DON'T GO BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT. If you want to "just do it" get a ride in a 4x4 vehicle all the way to the base of the mountain, relax and enjoy your trip from there.

All that said, we saw amazing views, gained great pride from having been at the highest point in the country, and lived an epic, life-altering experience. No regrets.

Zembe Round II

We took the Sussendenga chapa from Chimoio and disembarked at Zembe.

It was incredibly easy to find our young guides from the last trip to turn over prints featuring them from our very first club hike. The way up seemed familiar, but when we summited, it was on a lower peak than the last time, and there was no crossing over to another one. It was just as well because the group was full of beginners including a guy who had ended fourteen years of smoking the week before.

Aside from a few tense moments that involved bouldering (free rock climbing), it was a lovely journey. We had plenty of time to rest (two hours) at the bottom before a chapa with a few spare seats showed up to take us back to Chimoio.

the elephant grass can't stop us

The mountain behind ISPM is short drive from Chimoio. Once outside the city, the landscape gives way to great freestanding rock structures that just invite you to try to get to the top. And try we did.

Upon arriving as far as the road could take us, we were able to convince a few men from the village to take us up to look for a crashed plane in a cave. After some discussion about whether such a site even existed in the area. Finally, the men explained that usually, they just go to the base of the mountain to pray, and rarely try to go through the elephant grass to the top, but they humored us and led the way up.


Hiking through the towering stalks of elephant grass made hiking a bit difficult, and by the time we reached the “base” of the mountain, we were all pretty tired. We stopped at the base for a prayer and a 5 met offering and then continued onward toward our destination. After about an hour of fighting the grass, we reached the saddle, only to find no plane or cave.

Not to be let down, we decided to hug the crack to one site of the rock face and shimmy to the top for the view. Not one person seemed willing to just stop at the saddle (except maybe our guides). The view from the top (or the near top as we decided to turn back once the face got too steep) was well worth worth it as we were rewarded with a beautiful landscape spotted with caniso rooves and family machambas.

Down from the mountain, northward bound...

This weekend we will take a pause from our normal Saturday outing to mourn the departure of our Club's VP as he seeks new adventures (and maybe some new rocks) in Nampula city.

Hopefuly the break will also give us time to produce a report of last week's search for colonial era plane wreckage in the mountain beyond ISPM...

Sussundenga Hiking

On Saturday I explored Sussundenga, south of Chimoio past Mt. Zembe, with a friend. We mostly walked around the bustling rural town, checking out the food and clothes markets and the "night life" around the main square. On Saturday we climbed a small mountain (large hill?) near the clothes market. There was a small concrete structure halfway up, and a round structure at the top covered with grass and apparently abandoned.

The summit afforded us great views of the surrounding terrain and Mt. Zembe in the distance. We encountered a Christian group praying and meditating, so we snapped a few photos, quietly ate a snack, and headed back into town to buy a chicken for dinner. You can get a chapa to Sussundenga from the main bus terminal in Chimoio.

This weekend the Manica Hiking Club will take to the trail again, and I plan to pick up a machete for Manica Province´s formidable elephant grass.

Old Rock Paintings

This archeological hike was awesome.  The old lady took us up into the hills and blessed the rock spirits with some up beat songs before we got a good gander at the ancient stick figures.  We still need to find out how old they are.  And post some pictures. 

On the way back, the old lady was super talkative in a language none of us understood!  The only things she could say in Portuguese were cinquenta (two dollars) and acabou (done - as in "lets keep moving").

No hike this week as most members are out of town.  Next time we're thinking Vumba, or a chill day at the reservoir that may or may not have introduced giraffe and zebra.

Hike 2: Cabeça do Velho (Old Man's Head)

It could have been a little less slippery, but it was still a great hike. We parked by the school and walked straight up the face, trying to keep to the dry spots. Early on we crossed a small river and almost got charged 50 mets to borrow a bench to help get our shoes back on without getting dirt in them. 

Higher up we found people praying, some joggers showing off running circles around our hike, and some primates in the distance.  The views of the city from one side, and the plains from the other were beautiful.  And looking over the highest edge into the mouth area we spotted a possible future picnic location. 

Ultimately, we were able to summit the old man's forehead and nose.  On a future trip, we will probably find a path to the mouth and another to the chin.