A friend and I have just returned from Chimanimani, having
climbed Binga and surrounds, what was meant to be a fairly strenuous but
pleasant trip to the mountains ended up leaving a real sour taste in our mouths
and a dent in our pocket .
Prior to going to the summit of Kweza we camped the night
next to the river blow it and left the next morning, at no stage did we see any
people, only signs of panning all the way along the river.
As we have done in the past we hid our main packs
and took only the bare essentials to the top.
On our return around midday we found that all of our kit had
been stolen and we now had to make our way from Kweza to the national parks
office given we had no sleeping gear, food etc .” The Hut” which many people
know, has no water as the pump is broken and quite honestly looks like it is
becoming a dumping ground for any hikers refuse.
Suffice to stay that we made it back to the National Parks
office before dark and on reporting the incident was told that this was a
first incident of its kind and they would send a ranger to the area!!
In conclusion it is obvious that we were observed from the
time we arrived on the plateau and the thieves are probably illegal
panners.
The lesson learnt here is that there are thieves watching
anyone entering the area so take special care of your kit and if allowed to
continue in this way I can see camping out at night could result in even more
brazen acts of theft or maybe violence if you do not keep your wits about you.
If you feel this is worth passing on to your readers please
do so.
One positive from the trip was that we spent a night at the
Chimanimani Hotel where for $50.00 we had a great room and breakfast coupled
with excellent service and courtesy.
Regards
Mike Wilson
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment