The ManicaPost
Obert Chifamba Post Correspondent
THE foggy, exotic landscape of what now remains of the once-imposing Mafungautsi Forest in Gokwe South recently gave me an opportunity to experience the beautiful sunrise hues of the not-too-distant past while locals were making their way to their fields.
Yes, the soft rays of the sun that should have brought warmth to a new day only acted to re-assert the reality of the yawning gaps that now litter Mafungautsi Forest.
A lot of things have happened to this one-time fortress of nature that was declared a gazetted forest in 1954 by the then Rhodesian government.
It was duly accorded the same status at independence by the Zimbabwean Government.
Once a nature’s haven teeming with game and many bird species, the forest that sits on 82 100 hectares of land used to be a favourite spot for both locals and visitors to relax and reconnect.
There were herds of zebras and other small game that would roam the forest freely.
Today, the likeliest sound that may greet you in the forest is the sharphowling of a baboon and the gibbering of monkeys.
These are the only forms of wildlife that have managed to co-exist with the people that have settled on approximately 11 640ha of land where they are doing their farming activities, illegal sand quarrying and timber exploitation.
The shaping up of these settlements, largely considered illegal by conservationists, has given birth to Ngondoma, Nyamazana, Zanda and Lutope settlements in the precincts of the forest.
The forest lies along the Mafungautsi and Charama plateaus at an altitude of just over 1 200m and boasts a mean maximum temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and receives between 600 and 800mm of rain per year, factors that are quite favourable for travel.
Kalahari sands cover the bulk of Mafungautsi Forest and the surrounding areas making it unsuitable for agricultural activities.
Forestry Commission manages the forest, the third largest of the 21 State forests in Zimbabwe since it falls under the category of woodlands and forests on state lands and protected areas.
Mafungautsi was primarily gazetted as a watershed of the Lutope, Ngondoma, Mbumbusi and Sengwa rivers that discharge into the Mighty Zambezi on which the Kariba Dam and the Victoria Falls are located.
This makes the forest a very important geographical feature that has over the years been an attraction to many a tourists.
Forestry Commission information and communications manager, Ms Violet Makoto, recently revealed that tourists used to come to the forest for various missions.
Some would come to do research on the numerous bird species that were part of the forest’s bionetwork, while others would come just to do art paintings of the landscape though wild animals were always at the top of the pile of preferences, she explained.
“Many enquiries on bird species that populated the forest would come to the Forestry Commission and we would direct visitors on where to go to find the species of their choices.
It seems the birds are no longer there now, they have gone away. Probably they could not stand the continued presence of humans and their domestic animals here.
In 2016 there was only one enquiry from a person who wanted to do landscape painting,” said Ms Makoto.
Mafungautsi Forest is now the only remnant of the vast Miombo woodland, which used to cover the Mafungautsi and Charama plateaus. It contains tree species of commercial value such as teak and mukwa.
Of course remnants of such trees also remain now after concerted illegal wood poaching activities that went on unchecked in the forest for long periods of time.
The area is also Miombo woodlands, which are the largest of the Flora Zambesiaca, dominated by Brachstegia spp and Julbinardia globiflora and is host to other important species such as Baikiaea plurijuga, Pterocarpus angolensis and Afzelia quanzensis for timber production.
Indigenous fruit tree species found in the forest include Uapaca kirkiana, Vangueria infausta, Strychnos cocculoides, Parinari curetillifolia and Sclerocarya birrea to name just a few.
After a day’s tour, the tourist can always retreat to camp at Lutope Lodge in the environs of the forest to experience the feel of sleeping comfortably in the wilderness.
The lodges are good for both backpackers and conventional campers, as they can do self-catering preparing meals of choice.
Besides the remnants of game, birds, Miombo woodlands and the general aesthetics of Mafungautsi’s remaining vegetation, tourists can cool off dipping their feet in water moving down a small but magnificent waterfall along the Mbumbusi River.
The fact that it starts just a few metres from a bridge on the river creates good viewing opportunities for both passers-by and travellers pausing to appreciate the beauty of nature at play.
You don’t want to imagine this waterfall just disappearing a few years from now due to silting upstream, do you? If this were to happen, humanity around Mafungautsi would be guilty of a heinous crime against nature and economic development, as they would have suffocated a possible source of income through tourist arrivals.
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