Mysteries- Nyangani mountain

Mount Nyangani is one mountain that is feared by most people that live in the Eastern Highlands and Zimbabwe as a whole where a number of people have disappeared without trace.

The mountain is the highest in Zimbabwe standing at 2 592 metres (8 504 feet).

Locals say when you come across a strange colourful snake, a smouldering clay pot with no fire in sight or a brick of gold, it’s best to pretend you have not seen anything and move on.

Mt Nyangani is known, just like other places around the world, like the Bermuda Triangle and the Devil’s Triangle of Japan as being part of the mysteries and myths legends in the world.

Two girls who were hardly teenagers, daughters of a former government official Dr Tichaendepi Masaya disappeared on Mt Nyangani in 1981. Despite the massive search by locals and guides using helicopters, they have never been found.

Vanishing on this mountain is neither a myth nor a legend. It is real. There is a long-held belief by the Manyika people living around that area that says a vindictive spiritual presence on the mountain is responsible for the disappearances.

They say had the parents of the young girls sought ancestral spiritual help from the elders, the children, who are said to be in a state of suspension “chimidza”, would have been returned.

Hardly five years later, an eight-year-old tourist called Robert Ackhurst (8), vanished in that mountain. He too has since not been located.

Zayd Dada aged 31, disappeared on this mountain where he had gone hiking with friends and family, he was in the company of his wife and another couple when they climbed halfway up the mountain. The couple and his wife gave up while Zayd proceeded alone. He too disappeared and was nowhere to be found.

Mt Nyangani is no doubt infamous for common and unexplained human disappearances.

What exactly is the story behind these disappearances? I guess we will never know but that will not stop people from visiting this beautiful vast and amazing place.

Credit: Ropafadzo Mapimhidze