Lodge of the Ancient City

Property designed by Alan Elliot. 

44 rooms, 14 lodges with twin double beds and 4 family rooms sleeping 4.

All lodges have the following amenities:

• shower, bath, toilet, hand basin,  electrical socket – square amp, 220V

Norma Jeane’s

8 hotel rooms and 4 fully equipped self-catering ( self contained ) family lodges. Both hotel rooms and self-catering ( self contained ) chalets are en-suite, and all have private balconies with views across Lake Mutirikwi.

Dining and lounge facilities

Great Zimbabwe Hotel

38 spacious rooms. There are a range of single and double rooms with either twin beds or a double bed.

The standard rooms and single rooms overlook a lush garden courtyard with bright country flower beds, shrubs and creepers. 

The deluxe suite, family suite and standard suites are located in separate nearby satellite buildings giving them an added sense of privacy. 

Lodges:

Accommodation facilities are located about 1 km from the Tourist Office. There are a wide variety of self-catering lodges with between one to three bedrooms –  Waterbuck (3), Elephant (2), Hippo (2), Rhino (2), Sable (1), Impala (1), Kudu (1), Buffalo (1), Cheetah (1), Duiker (1)

Picnic Sites

The picnic sites have ablution and fireplaces. The sites are mainly for day use.

The Popoteke picnic site  is located approximately 10 km from the Kyle entrance gate and situated in the northern portion of the Park. The Popoteke gorge site adjoins a special conservation area; an estuarine refuge rich in  spawning fish.

The woodland type is predominantly Miombo with Brachystegia spiciformis and julbernada globiflora as constituent species. The gorge offers a spectacular view.

Mutirikwi picnic site is located 6 km from the Tourist Office.

Camp Sites:

Kyle Dam:

Built on the Mutirikwe River the dam was constructed between 1958 – 1960 with the resulting lake area covering approximately 90 sq km².

The double curvature concrete arch dam wall is 309 metres in length and 63 metres high. The total capacity of the lake is 1,378 million cubic metres, it has a catchment area of 3900 km squared and a surface area of 9105 hectares.

The purpose of building Kyle dam was for it to act as an irrigation reservoir to provide water to the farming estates in the south east Lowveld.

Lake Mutirikwe, also known as Lake Kyle (formerly Kyle Dam), lies south east of Masvingo and was formed by the construction of Kyle Dam between 1958 & 1960. Much of the land used for the lake was previously farmland owned by the legendary pioneer of the Lowveld Tom Murray MacDougall, a man of great vision who was instrumental in the building of the dam. The farm and the dam were named after the Kyle District in Scotland from where Murray MacDougall originated.

Much of the lake is very well situated within magnificent natural granite formations which proved to be ideal not only as a reservoir to provide irrigation to the sugar cane plantations of the Lowveld but also as an amazing recreational facility catering for fishermen, campers, picnickers and sailors.  

The Kyle Dam wall is a double curvature concrete arch 309 metres in length and 63 metres high. The Mutiriwki Lake covers an area of approximately 90 sq km² (when full) with a total capacity of 1,378 million cubic metres, a catchment area of 3900 km sq and a surface area of 9105 hectares.

The purpose of building Kyle dam was for it to act as an irrigation reservoir to provide water to the farming estates in the south east Lowveld. Water levels within the dam have fluctuated considerably over the years due to a series of droughts and demands for irrigation water. It has reached as low as 11% of capacity.

Rivers which feed Lake Mutirikiwi include the Mbebvi River, Matare River, Popoteke River, Umpopinyani River, Makurumidzi River and Shagashe River.

Airport: 

Masvingo airport is situated 2.5 Nautical miles east of the City of Masvingo and provides air access to Masvingo town and local tourist attractions.

Construction of the Airport started in 1952. It has an elevation of 3596 feet and the runway is 1726 metres long and 18 meters wide. The runway can handle light and medium sized aircraft.

Road Distances:

Tour operators will organise transport between destinations. Specific transfers can also be arranged

• Masvingo – Beitbridge 283 kms (177 miles)
• Masvingo – Birchenough Bridge 173 kms (108 miles)
• Masvingo – Bulawayo 286 kms (179 miles)
• Masvingo – Chiredzi 203 kms (127 miles)
• Masvingo – Gweru 182 kms (114 miles)
• Masvingo – Harare 293 kms (183 miles)
• Masvingo – Hwange 616 kms (385 miles)
• Masvingo – Kariba 658 kms (411 miles)
• Masvingo – Matopas 331 kms (207 miles)
• Masvingo – Mutare 307 kms (192 miles)
• Masvingo – Nyanga  422 kms (264 miles)
• Masvingo – Victoria Falls 725 kms (453 miles

The Mutirikwi recreational park (formerly known as Kyle National Park) is located on the boundary of the lake. It is home to more than 25 species of wild mammals.

Animals: Some commonly cited animals include; buffalo, common duiker, eland, impala, kudu, reedbuck, warthog, waterbuck, white rhinoceros, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, squirrel, black-backed jackal, leopard, honey badger, rockdassie, hippopotamus, ostrich, crocodile and porcupine. Some of the rarer species include; antbear, bushbuck, bush pig, klipspringer, sable and steenbuck.

Birds: There are various commonly sighted Herons, Egrets and Storks with Ducks and other waterbirds which will be readily seen. In and around the park and local area a wide variety of other birds can be sighted such as the African Cuckoo Hawk, Brown-backed and Green-backed Honeybirds, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, African Golden Oriole, Rufous-bellied Tit, Miombo Rock-thrush, Boulder Chat, Red-faced Crombec, Green-capped Eremomela, Stierling’s Wren-warbler, Southern Hyliota, Collared Flycatcher, Grey Tit-flycatcher, Wood Pipit, Miombo Blue-eared Starling and Miombo Double-collared Sunbird amongst others.It is worth checking the unusual forest birds that occur at Great Zimbabwe with African Emerald Cuckoo, Narina Trogon, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Scaly-throated Honeyguide, Grey Cuckooshrike, Red-capped Robin-chat, African Dusky Flycatcher, Cape Batis and Swee Waxbill

Fish: The lake has approx 21 species of fish which includes: Banded bream, Greenhead bream, Sabi/ red breasted bream,  Mozambique bream,  Black bream,  Largemouth bass,  Nembwe, Limpopo sardine, Three spot minnow, Spotted minnow, Hamilton barb, Straight fin barb, Beira barb, Southern kneria, Spotted catlet, Mottled eel, Eastern bottlenose, Smallmouth yellow fish, Red spotted mudsucker, Red-eye mudsucker, Catfish or barbell.

• Fishing is the major recreational activity undertaken at Lake Muturikwi. Visitors bring their own fishing gear and boats.
• Game viewing – visitors use their own vehicles for transport.
• Guided walks
• Guided horse rides
• Arboretum walk – unguided walk from Tourist Office to the camp sites
• Scenic view – Uchicho; view of the lake and mountains
• Boat club

Note: Due to the variety of terrain, walking in the park and surrounds is very popular. For visitors unfamiliar to the area a guide is recommended.

The vegetation varies from small patches of evergreen riverine species, through thicket woodland, open woodland, grassland and rocky hills to a barren zone along the lake shore which is subject to periodic inundation and which supports only a sparse cover of annual herbs and grasses.

The vegetation changes from predominance of miombo woodland with brachstegia spiciformis and jubernada globiflora to thickets dominated by peltophorum africanum, terminalia sericea, comberetum and acacia karoo.

Local Attractions:

• Great Zimbabwe Ancient City – Located some 30 kilometers from the town of Masvingo, the stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe are today one of the continent’s most impressive monuments. Shona people first settled in the region more than 1,000 years ago and for centuries flourished in the region’s lush green savannah plains. Central to their prosperity was the ancient town of Great Zimbabwe, the capital of a booming trading empire which  flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries

• Italian Chapel of St Francis of Assisi
   – The Chapel is located 5 kms east of Masvingo along the Masvingo-Mutare highway. It was built by Second World War Italian internees, not Prisoners of War as they were civilians, detained mostly in the African colonies and kept at the No.5 Internment camp at Masvingo (formerly Fort Victoria). The Internees built the Chapel during the years 1942 to 1946. Two wings of the Chapel were added after the war and in here the remains of seventy one Italians who died during their incarceration in this country are interred. Today the Roman Catholic Church uses the building for church services. A visit is a very humbling experience with the main visitor attractions being the magnificent paintings, murals and ceiling. Those in the Apse are the works of an Italian civil engineer interned here 1942 – 1946; those in the Aisle were carried out in 1956 -1957 by the Italian Embassy. The Chapel was consecrated by Bishop Francis Mazzieri on 27^th January 1957.
• Kyle Dam and Recreational Park
• Settlers Cemetery 

Average Daily Maximum Temperatures:

• January          29°C
• February        28°C
• March             27°C
• April                26°C
• May                 24°C
• June                22°C
• July                 22°C
• August            24°C
• September     28°C
• October          29°C
• November      29°C
• December      28°C

          Annual            26°C