The Sunday Mail
Grace-Anita Kaerasora CCOSA Student
At night the lake is a wide silence, without imagination but take one glimpse at the glorious blue water beneath a so much foot long hole and one’s imagination may run wild. Among the various tourist sites in Zimbabwe, Chinhoyi caves is definitely the least marketed. From The Victoria falls, to the great Zimbabwe ruins, as well as the Nyanga mountains, Chinhoyi caves, located in Mashonaland West, not only provides satisfaction to the eye but also tells of a strong Zimbabwean history that most aren’t aware of.
The traditional name for the caves is “Chirorodziva” meaning “pool of the fallen” derived from an incident which took place in the 1830s when the Angoni tribe whilst moving north surprised some Shona tribe heroes and flung them into the pool.
Radiating an aura that commands appreciation, no other foxy attraction in Zimbabwe competes with the 150 feet swallow hole cave that is home to the sleeping pool which attracts foreign divers.
Legend says this was an execution arena for Nyamakwere, a Shona outlaw and gave birth to the legend of the whispers of the fallen still being heard by those who care to listen.
It is such alluring sublimity that can never stop a writer from writing about it simply because it has been written about before.
Journeying from Harare, it is quite the tedious drive to the small town of Chinhoyi. What is astonishing is that whether you’re first timer or a regular, the caves, and mostly the mysterious sleeping pool which exudes calm, reflect an inexplicable blue hue, clear as crystal, are an enticing place to visit one too many a time.
Nobody is spared an intense panting session as the exit from below the swallow hole is an ascension of rock stairs up 150 feet. Despite the mysteriousness of the caves, what draws a geographer’s attention is the living proof of the existence of limestone and the processes of stalagmite and stalactite formations where minerals in the rock mixed with rain water and dropped onto the ground or froze mid-air forming spectacular pillars.
The dark cave, once entered, follows smooth and narrow tunnels and caverns and if you happen to watch too much telly, you’d be paranoid enough to presume ghosts could lurk inside.
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