Location: Chinyakwaremba

Photo: Bart Wursten
Gentle slope from the main Vumba rd

Photo: Bart Wursten
Chinyakwaremba seen from Bunga Views

Photo: Bart Wursten
Occasional grass fires improve the grassland vegetation

Photo: Bart Wursten
View from Castle Beacon towards Chinyakwaremba

Photo: Bart Wursten
Aloe arborescens on the cliffs

Photo: Bart Wursten
Chinyakwaremba from the Leopard Rock golf course. The pale yellow heads of Mariscus hemisphaericus are in the foreground.

General Information

Description

Chinyakwaremba is the Shona name for the hill behind the Leopard Rock Hotel in Vumba. It is often called Leopard Rock but this was actually the name of a huge boulder at the foot of a cliff, where now stands the Castle Guesthouse. On one side, a gentle slope gives easy access to the summit along a well-worn footpath from the main road, while the other side is a sheer cliff down to the hotel and golf course below. Parts of the mountain were seriously invaded by Australian Black Wattle (Acacia mearnsii) but private initiative of some conservation minded people in the area has largely eradicated this pest, and the combination of rehabilitated sub-montane grassland and patches of evergreen forest now offer a wide variety of interesting plants again, including Aloe rhodesiana (Aloaceae), Eulophia tenella (Orchidaceae), Aristea woodii and Gladiolus crassifolius (Iridaceae).

Useful links

View a list of records for Chinyakwaremba

View map showing records

View a list of recorders who have visited this location