eBusiness Weekly
Tawanda Musarurwa
Tourism has tended to branch out into these various and interesting sub-sectors: cultural tourism, wildlife tourism, ecotourism, urban tourism, township tourism and such-like.
So introducing another branch wouldn’t exactly be bucking that trend. How does ‘economic tourism’ sound?
Since it is all too clear that tourists travel for varied reasons, ‘economic tourism’ would then entail the business of providing tours and services for tourists visiting areas of interesting economic activity.
The Honde Valley’s expansive tea estates provide a compelling argument for this type of tourism.
Tea Estates in the area include the Eastern Highlands Tea Estate (which is arguably the largest), Katiyo Tea Estate, Aberfoyle Plantations, and the Rumbizi and Chiwira tea estates.
Some of these plantations have been in existence since the 1950s and considering the sturdiness of the tea crop, they should be there for a long time to come.
Vast mountains covered in beautiful green tea crop, even, green and rippling, these agricultural valleys mesmerise the eyes.
Additionally, driving on twisty mountain roads can be quite an enjoyable activity.
Granted Zimbabwe is not the only country in the world that grows tea, but it’s the absolute distinctiveness of the Eastern Highlands’ milieu and climate that contribute to our plantations’ inimitability.
The Eastern Highlands are an area in the eastern border of the country that is dominated for about 300 kilometers by hills and mountains that form the edge of the central plateau.
They extend from the rolling downlands and steep scarps of Nyanga in the north to the sheer quartzite cliffs of the Chimanimani Mountains in the south.
Tea has been grown in the region since the 1950s and besides tourism itself is the other most significant economic activity in the region.
So why not just combine the two?
Israel, as a case in point, offers international tourists tours of its successful agricultural experiment despite being essentially desert country.
The Honde Valley’s tea estates are just part of the broader and diversified habitats that make the whole area ideal for tourist activities such as birding.
The other habitats include: lowland and riverine forest, marsh, miombo woodland, and maize lands.
It is precisely the combination of these habitats that make the Honde Valley one of the premier birding destinations in the country, if not the region.
According to birding guides in the area, some of the ‘specials’ discerning birders may find include: Anchieta’s Tchagra, Moustached Grass-Warbler, Red-winged Warbler, Black-winged Bishop, Red-faced Crimsonwing, Lesser Seedcracker, Singing Cisticola, Twinspot Indigobird which parasitizes the Red-throated Twinspot, Scarce Swift, Pallid Honeyguide, and the Green-backed Woodpecker.
There are also the Stripe-cheeked Greenbul, Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, White-eared Barbet, Pale Batis, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Variable Sunbird, Bronzy Sunbird, Olive Sunbird, Yellow-bellied Waxbill, Grey Waxbill, Blue-spotted Wood-Dove, Black-fronted Bush-Shrike.
Besides the birding experience, the Eastern Highlands have always been a popular holiday area for local and international tourists, providing trout fishing, white-water rafting, mountain-hiking, canoeing, highly impressive scenery and the coolest weather in the country.
SIDENOTE:
EASTERN Highlands Plantations are located in the beautiful Honde Valley at the foot of Mount Inyangani. The tea, surrounded by natural forest, is processed through two factories, Wamba and Zindi. The estate has two perennial rivers flowing through it. These rivers provide water hydro-electricity generation and for irrigation for the tea. In 1997 the Nyawamba dam was constructed to store 17,5 million cubic metres of water. It covers an area of 184 hectares and is a significant asset to the estate and the wider valley community.
