Inyanga

Inyanga is a highland country of steep hills and valleys, where stone terraces run across the slopes and enclosures crown the rocky heights. The landscape bears the marks of generations of farmers and builders. Stone-lined pits, paths, hilltop forts and traces of ironworking stand among the fields, forming a distinctive tradition of the eastern Zimbabwean highlands.

From the fourteenth century onwards, communities built and occupied stone-walled places on the high peaks and extended their work down the hillsides. Terraces and field systems spread across a remarkable area. Some enclosed pits may have sheltered livestock, though their uses have been debated. At Ziwa, the remains of houses, furnaces and fields show the scale of the work invested in this mountainous country.