Honde Valley

The Honde valley drops away below the Nyanga escarpment towards the Mozambican border, and the difference in altitude changes everything: the highlands above are cool grassland and pine, while the valley floor is warm, wet and planted with tea and bananas on estates that run for kilometres. The Mutarazi falls come off the escarpment into the head of the valley, and villages and smallholdings fill the ground between the estates.

The landscape

• The tea estates - large plantations covering the valley floor.
• The escarpment - the wall dropping from the highlands into the valley.
• The Mutarazi falls - the waterfall coming off the escarpment at the valley head.
• The banana smallholdings - the crop grown between the estates.

When to go

April to October is the dry season and best for the roads. Summer from late October to April is hot and humid, while winter nights from May to July can fall to a few degrees above freezing. Estate visits need arranging.

Before you go

The tarred road into the valley drops some 800 metres in about 20 kilometres in tight bends, with dirt roads beyond. Estate visits must be arranged in advance rather than dropped in on.

Nearby

Mutarazi Falls are above, and Mutare is southwest.

Key facts