page_title: Nyanga National Park
section_title: Archaeological, historical cultural sites
hierarchical_section_title: Nyanga National Park / Features / Archaeological, historical cultural sites
caption_attribution_description: English: Reconstructed pit structure near Rhodes Dam, Nyanga National Park, , probably used as a cattle pen. Not used as a slave pit, nor as a gold ore slurry tank.
context_page_description: Nyanga National Park lies in the north of Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands. One of the first national parks to be declared in the country, it contains the highest land in Zimbabwe, with green hills and perennial rivers. Most of its terrain consists of rolling downland, sometimes lightly wooded, lying at altitudes between 1,800–2,593 metres. Mount Nyangani, the highest point in Zimbabwe, lies in the centre of the park and Mutarazi Falls, Zimbabwe's highest waterfall, is in the south of the park. Nyanga National park incorporates the former Mutarazi Falls National Park on its southern boundary.
context_section_description: Fifteenth to seventeenth century ruins of the Ziwa people (upland culture) have been found throughout Nyanga. The ruins include homesteads, centred on pit structures thought to have been used as cattle-pens and larger hill-top settlements, referred to as Forts. The pit structures were once referred to as slave pits, but that interpretation has generally been not supported by archaeologists and is now discredited. There are three sites which can be readily accessed by tourists: Chawomera Fort is located above the Nyangombe River, on a gravel road north of the park headquarters. In addition to the fort, there are several pit structures. Nyangwe Fort, near Mare Dam, is the most extensive and best-preserved ruin in the park. It is a top a small hill with good views over the Mare valley. Near the park headquarters is a reconstructed pit structure - the homestead around a pit structure has been rebuilt and a site museum established. Several other sites have spectacular locations, such as the fort which overlooks the confluence of the Nyangombe and Nyaumziwa rivers and a small fort on top of a hill just west of Mount Nyangani. However these two sites are not easily accessible.
  Associated with the ruins are extensive agricultural terracing and irrigation furrows. Iron extraction was practised, mainly to support the complex agricultural technology.
  The core areas of the park were once the private estate of Cecil Rhodes. He acquired it with the aim of growing apples and raising sheep, and spent the last years of his life at his homestead near Rhodes Dam. This homestead is now the Rhodes Museum and Rhodes Nyanga Hotel.
caption: Reconstructed pit structure near Rhodes Dam, Nyanga National Park, probably used as a cattle pen.
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