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Isdore Guvamombe: Reflections

Back in the village in the land of milk, honey and dust or Guruve this villager had always dreamt of going far and wide to see other lands, monuments and amusements.After leaving the job to tether goats, lock up chickens, other livestock and little everything else, we arrived in Chilojo Cliffs, yonder in Gonarezhou and Karitundundu wee! It was indeed something else. My ancestors, those who saw the virginity of the sun, have really not seen this one, for, there is nothing like this in the proverbial land of stupid plenty.

The sun wasn’t yet up, but the sky was already softly aglow — a misty gold and yellow hue. An ethereal fog swirled over the cliffs, forming a low-slung cloud bank out of which rose a spectre of hills and mountains.

It looked like a line of ghosts from where I stood on the back of a truck.

All around dew drops glinted on mopane, baobab, acacias, cobwebs, mosses and the wings of dragon flies.

Suddenly the serenity was broken by a herd of elephant, making all manner of noises as they scoffed their breakfast.

They never looked worried of my presence.

In tow was a herd of zebra. I tried to snap photos, but they shot off like bullets, attracting the attention of elephants that seemed to notice me for the first time.

The sun rose imperceptibly, and wow, the Chilojo Cliffs bravely shouted: “Good Morning Zimbabwe!” shaking off the lethargy of sleep.

The Chilojo Cliffs are one of the most prominent natural features of Gonarezhou National Park. Visible from 50km away, morning and evening light gives the cliffs a rich hue and dramatically silhouette the distinctive baobab trees.

These trees are the source of the famous “cream of tartar”.

The flowers are pollinated by bats and are a delicacy for antelopes.

Composed of oxide-rich sandstone, the cliffs are spectacularly colourful at sunset.

South and south-east of Chiredzi in Zimbabwe, the slightly uneven Pliocene erosion surface extends across the Karoo sediments, basalts and granophyres, at an elevation of approximately 380 metres.

Along the northern boundary of the Chipinda Pools area of the Gonarezhou National Park, the Chiwonje Hills form a north-east trending ridge with summit planation.

The highest points at Makamandima (578m) and Mutandahwe (571m) are in accord with the lowest position of the post-African erosion surface to the north.

The northern scarp of the Chiwonje Hills coincides with the basalt-granophyre contact, thereby showing the greater resistance of the more acid rocks. West of the Runde River this same belt of resistant marginal granophyre gives rise to the Sibonja Hills.

The Chilojo Cliffs (previously called the Clarendon Cliffs) are composed of the coarse, terrestrial Jurassic, Cretaceous sandstones and conglomerates named the Malvernia Beds by Cox (1963), which occupy the extreme south-eastern corner of Zimbabwe.

The cliffs trend east-west for approximately 20 km immediately south of the Runde River and 180 metres above the river course.

The form of the cliffs is two-fold, with the near-vertical lower and upper sections separated from each other by a gently-sloping terrace up to 500 metres wide.

This terrace is scoured by gullies which cut through the lower cliff to the river bed.

South of the cliff face, the bevel extends into Mozambique territory at an altitude of approximately 370m, thereby forming the Chilojo Plateau.

This is clearly an erosion surface and is regarded as the Pliocene level.

Eroded into the Chilojo Plateau are several small valleys and stream courses, lie the Nyamasikana River which, together with the Runde River and the widespread terrace along its northern bank, comprise the Quaternary erosion cycle.

Eastward, towards the confluence of the Runde and Save rivers, the Chilojo Cliffs fade out and the descent from the Plateau to the river bed is gentle with the two cycles merging into each other through a composite zone.

Full article on www.herald.co.zw