Nyanga National Park

Nyanga National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
View across central Nyanga National Park from Mount Nyangani. The Pungwe River rises in the moorland on the left. The prominent hill at Ziwa can be seen in the distance and the Troutbeck Plateau on the far right.
Location	Nyanga District, Zimbabwe
Nearest city	Mutare
Coordinates	18°17′13″S 32°43′30″E / 18.287°S 32.725°E / -18.287; 32.725Coordinates: 18°17′13″S 32°43′30″E / 18.287°S 32.725°E / -18.287; 32.725
Area	472 km2 (182 sq mi)
Established	1926
Governing body	Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority

Nyanga National Park lies in the north of Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands. One of the first national parks to be declared in the country, it contains the highest land in Zimbabwe, with green hills and perennial rivers. Most of its terrain consists of rolling downland, sometimes lightly wooded, lying at altitudes between 1,800–2,593 metres (6,560–7,544 feet). Mount Nyangani, the highest point in Zimbabwe, lies in the centre of the park and Mutarazi Falls, Zimbabwe's highest waterfall, is in the south of the park. Nyanga National park incorporates the former Mutarazi Falls National Park on its southern boundary.

The national park is one of the oldest in Zimbabwe, established as Rhodes Inyanga National Park, a bequest from Cecil Rhodes. The original park borders extended beyond Udu Dam, along the east bank of the Nyangombe River to the north of the current park boundary. This extension was sold in the 1970s, but the Warrendale section, immediately beyond Udu Dam, had been recovered by the early 1980s.

The park nearly doubled in size with the late 1990s purchase of most of the Inyanga Block and Kwaraguza farms. These purchases expanded the national park to the north and east of Mount Nyangani, incorporating some important areas of montane rainforest, the source area of the Kayirezi River and Nyama Falls. The designation and acquisition of Nyazengu farm in 2000, previously an enclave within the park, completed the formal protection of Mount Nyangani and the headwaters of the Pungwe River, although Nyazengu had previously been operated as a private nature reserve.

The current name Nyanga reflects the correct vernacular pronunciation of the area.

The vegetation of Nyanga is part of the Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic, within the montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregion. The rainforest is found mainly on the eastern (leeward) slopes, as well as in the steeper valleys on west-facing slopes. It is dominated by Syzygium