The Sunday Mail
THE majestic Mount Nyangani, which sits at 2,592 metres high, is the highest point in Zimbabwe.
It is located within the breathtakingly scenic forests of the Nyanga National Park in the Eastern Highlands. Its perpetually mist-covered peak gives it an imposing and mysterious appearance. It is also known for dramatic weather changes.
Local folklore says Mount Nyangani is inhabited by powerful ancient spirits and is a sacred place, long feared by its people and meant to be approached with caution.
Numerous rules must be followed when venturing there. One may not enter sacred locations on the mountain, lest they get lost and be doomed to aimlessly wander on the mountain until the angered spirits are appeased. Legend has it that if one comes across a colourful snake, a pot with no fire or a brick of gold -it is the spirits playing a trick on them. When that happens, it is best to ignore the sighting and quickly move on.
It is also recommended not to wear any red clothing when touring Mount Nyangani, as this is said to greatly upset the spirits. There are ways to avoid the spirits’ wrath while on the mountain. Refraining by all means from relieving oneself on the mountain, avoiding profanity and abstaining from any sort of sexual activity are some of them.
But if the phenomena associated with this place are anything to go by, there is something more at work here beyond the peddled myths.
Visitors and locals who have come to the mysterious mountain have experienced a wide range of strangeness.
The weather is said to have a malevolent mind of its own, with gusts of wind known to “attack” at the most inopportune times.
There are also numerous reports of visitors becoming dazed, confused or disoriented for no apparent reason.
Then there are the unidentifiable sounds, strange lights and animals that seem to watch and follow visitors around. In addition to all of this, Mount Nyangani is perhaps most known for its mysterious disappearances – swallowing up hapless tourists. Although it is unknown just how many people have actually vanished on Mount Nyangani, there are many fairly modern cases of disappearances that have remained unsolved.
A number of such disappearances occurred in the 1980s. In 1981, two teenage daughters of a former Government minister, Tichaendepi Masaya vanished without a trace on the mountain.
A massive search for them could not avail any evidence of what had become of them. Their disappearance remains a complete mystery. A few years later, a 12-year-old schoolboy named Robert Ackhurst, who wandered off from a group on a school field trip, seems to have completely stepped off the face of the earth. Robert’s teacher was purportedly so upset that he had lost a child under his care such that he committed suicide the following year.
The ’80s would see at least three more inexplicable disappearances on the mountain. But perhaps even stranger than those who have vanished without a trace on the mysterious Mount Nyangani are those who have disappeared, only to reappear later, with bizarre stories to tell.
Those who reappeared have been reported to have been in a trance-like state when they were found. What goes on at Mount Nyangani largely depends on who you are talking to.
The tribes of the area spin fabulous yarns of angry wandering spirits, dark magic and forbidden zones. Tribal elders have long warned that it is absolutely necessary to follow the rules of the mountain and not to anger the many roaming spirits that eternally guard Mount Nyangani.
Whatever the causes behind it, Mount Nyangani remains a mysterious place that marries stunning natural beauty with ominous legends, strange phenomena and sinister vanishings.
What mysteries and perils, natural or otherwise, hide in those mists? What happened to those who climbed the mountain and never returned? Were they victims of the hazards of hiking or did the mountain choose to keep them for itself?
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