Muzarabani Rural District, is one of the eight districts in the Mashonaland Central Province of Zimbabwe. “It covers approximately 2774 square kilometres. The district is divided into 29 wards, separated by ward boundaries comprising eight communal lands, eight commercial farming and three resettlements and one urban ward” (Muzarabani District Council, 2011: 4).
The area is divided into two, that is, Upper Muzarabani and Lower Muzarabani. Lower Muzarabani has 14 wards and is further divided into two, which is drought and flood-prone areas and flood-free areas. According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat, 2012), Chadereka has an average population of 7 505 with 3704 males and 3811 females and a 4, 7 average household size. It has an average of 1594 households. Kapembere has an average 5008 total population consisting of 2411 males and 2597 females and 4, 4 average household size (Zimstat, 2012).
It is necessary to cross the Mavhuradonha Mountains when travelling from Harare northwards.
Lower Muzarabani is found below these mountains and this is known as the valley. Upper Muzarabani is out of the scope of this study. Lower Muzarabani experiences frequent floods and droughts and this part was considered as part o f the study. In the lower Muzarabani, the following areas, Chadereka, Damabakurima and Kapembere are more prone to floods and droughts. There are 5 main rivers in the lower Muzarabani (namely, Musengezi, Utete, Hoya, Musingwa and Nzoumvunda) which empty their water into the Zambezi River. This facilitates the “deposition o f alluvium or Lacustrine sediments” (Chanza and De W it 2015: 20). “These have formed the bedrock o f the livelihoods o f most o f the households in Muzarabani” (Chanza and De Wit, 2015: 20). The soils are rich and fertile and they make wetlands (matimba) more productive.
Approximately 64% o f the total population o f the district resides in the lower Muzarabani escarpment (Muzarabani Rural District Council, 2015: 4). This is an area plagued by limited rainfall and vegetation, inaccessibility o f some areas and basic necessities (schools, clinics and sources of clean water) attributed to poor road network especially during the wet season. The remaining 36% o f the population is confined to the upper Muzarabani region which has favourable weather conditions as well as an efficient road network (Muzarabani Rural District Development Committee, 2015: 9). With a mean annual temperature o f 20 degrees centigrade, upper Muzarabani is relatively cool in contrast with the hot Zambezi valley (Lower Muzarabani) that experiences a mean temperature of 25 degrees centigrade. Total annual rainfall ranges from 450mm - 600mm and 750mm - 1000mm for Lower and Upper Muzarabani respectively.
Generally, effective planting rains come late in lower Muzarabani around 30 November each year, whereas effective planting rains in Upper Muzarabani start in mid-October. Between the months of August to November, Lower Muzarabani is relatively hot with mean monthly temperatures o f 35 Degrees Celsius. Currently, rainfall patterns have become somewhat unpredictable and this is reducing agricultural productivity very significantly. The Mavhuradonha Mountain Range is the major landform feature in the district. At its apex, the altitude is 1200 metres above sea level (Muzarabani Rural District Council document, 2015:
3). The range is composed mainly o f igneous rocks such as granite, which are rich in minerals such as platinum, chrome and alluvial gold. The range, also known as the Dande Range, is the main physical barrier that divides the district into two operational areas, which herein are
referred to as the Lower Muzarabani and Upper Muzarabani. Upper Muzarabani in general is composed of hilly, broken and flat-rolling terrain. This area is mainly covered with red, loam soils as well as sandy soils which particularly favour maize and tobacco farming.
Lower Muzarabani is generally flat land with broken terrain attributed to poor land use practices that have led to the formation of gullies in most areas within the valley. “The area is associated with the valley or lowland people linguistically referred to as the Goba or Gova, meaning wetland or riverine valley (Chanza and De Wit, 2015: 20). The risks posed in the valley are expressed by the word ‘Muzarabani’, its Shona name (an extensive flood plain) meaning that when it rains, the valley, which is the lower Muzarabani, is flooded with water.
In addition, lower Muzarabani is commonly known as Dande Valley because it is just below the Mavhuradonha Mountains.
The area has a mixture of black clay-loamy soils that have poor drainage. Most of the fields in this area often get water-logged. Lower Muzarabani has a network of rivers and tributaries. As a result of being flat land, the area is prone to flooding during the rainy season. There are five main agro-ecological regions in Zimbabwe that are grouped on the basis of climatic conditions, vegetation and soil type. “Region 1 receiving over 1000 mm per year, Region 11 receiving 750-1000mm per year, Region 111 receiving between 650-800 mm per year, region IV receiving between 400-650 and is subject to seasonal droughts and region V which receives below 450 mm per year (erratic rainfall)” (Mutasa, 2011: 5). Lower Muzarabani falls under region IV which is characterised by “semi-extensive farming that is expected to appropriately respond to the periodic seasonal droughts and severe dry spells common during the rainy season” (De Wit and Chanza, 2015: 21). Upper Muzarabani, is dominated by the organised arable, grazing and settlement activities. Upper Muzarabani arable land requires conservation structures such as contour ridges, while the slope (0-2%) in Lower Muzarabani does not warrant the establishment of contour ridges.
The district has two camps in the Mavhuradonha Range of Mountains. The Mavhuradonha Wilderness area on the Zambezi Escarpment used to attract many tourists in the 1990s.
Currently there is a decline in the number of tourists who visit the area. The district is privileged to have diverse wildlife and scenic places such as Bats Caves that are tourist attractions.
Currently the district is engaged in sport hunting and eco-tourism managed in line with
CAMPFIRE principles. Elephants, lions, hippopotamus, leopards, buffaloes, kudus and crocodiles are some of the species found in the district.
The Map showing the Location of study site in Zimbabwe
Figure 5:1: The map of Zimbabwe showing the location of Muzarabani Source: Department of Surveyor General, Zimbabwe (2015)
Figure 5.1 above shows the location of study sites in Zimbabwe. It also demonstrates the reason why the area is prone to floods as it is surrounded by big rivers such as Hoya to the East and Nzoumvunda to the West. In addition, the map also shows that the district is part of the remote areas of Zimbabwe. The area is now densely populated. The majority of people are poor and infrastructural development is lagging behind as residents still need to put up with bad roads and run-down bridges which have not been repaired since Cyclone Eline in 2000. Some residents depend on cross-border trade with Mozambique, gold panning and farming. The majority of people used to rely on cotton farming but they are very few people who are growing that crop because of the incessant droughts and the crop itself is no longer paying adequately
on the market. Growing of sesame seed, ground nuts and drought resistant crops is becoming very common in the area.
There is also conflict between elephants and human population within the area as elephants frequently cause damage to crops and people’s lives. During the wet season (January to March), elephants damage crops such as millet, maize and groundnuts. During the dry season, vegetables grown near the rivers are destroyed. Elephants roam widely during the wet season in the lower Muzarabani because water is easily available and there is thick vegetation cover especially in the areas that are close to the river. These elephants are also attracted to major rivers during the dry season because that is where they find water. From February to May 2016, three cases of people killed by elephants were recorded. Patches of sacred forests are also favoured by elephants as refuge zones especially during the dry season. Locals become victims of elephants especially when they want to pick wild fruits locally known as M a sau (Ziziphus Mauritiana) when they are in season. There is also a wide range of animals besides elephants and these include lions, hyenas, buffaloes, buck and a variety of reptiles and birds.