In a relay style movement, the people kept shifting their vegetable gardens and orchards up stream as the rivulet dried and the position of the spring changed due to siltation. The worst drought in Zimbabwe s history in 1992 did not help the situation. Dambakupetwa is a traditional kraal found in a village called Chinyamusaka, about 70 kilometers northwest of Nyanga town in Eastern Zimbabwe. Nyanga is one of Zimbabwe s most popular tourist destinations, well-known for its exquisite landscapes. The village is found in natural region four, where rainfall is erratic and low, between just 450 and 550 millimeters a year.
Drought is common here.
Nyanga district as a whole has a very unique rainfall pattern, containing examples of all five of the country s geographical regions, with some areas receiving high rainfall and others receiving very little. Dambakupetwa falls under this latter category. When the community realized they could not go any further up the stream, they decided that they had to do something about it. They held a meeting with their traditional leaders and decided it was time to act to stop the practices that had almost led to their own extinction. We sat with our leaders to find a solution.