page_title: Nyanga National Park
section_title: History of the park
hierarchical_section_title: Nyanga National Park / History of the park
caption_attribution_description: English: Stormclouds over the Kwaraguza area, acquired by Nyanga National Park in the late 1990s
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: The national park is one of the oldest in Zimbabwe, established as Rhodes Inyanga National Park, a bequest from Cecil Rhodes. The original park borders extended beyond Udu Dam, along the east bank of the Nyangombe River to the north of the current park boundary. This extension was sold in the 1970s, but the Warrendale section, immediately beyond Udu Dam, had been recovered by the early 1980s.
  The park nearly doubled in size with the late 1990s purchase of most of the Inyanga Block and Kwaraguza farms. These purchases expanded the national park to the north and east of Mount Nyangani, incorporating some important areas of montane rainforest, the source area of the Kairezi River and Nyama Falls. The incorporation of Nyazengu farm in 2014, previously an enclave within the park, completed the formal protection of Mount Nyangani and the headwaters of the Pungwe River, although Nyazengu had been operated as a private nature reserve until 2000 and as unincorporated council land after the designation and acquisition of Nyazengu farm in 2000.
  The current name Nyanga reflects the correct vernacular pronunciation of the area.
caption: Stormclouds over the Kwaraguza area, acquired by Nyanga National Park in the late 1990s.
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