No town in Zimbabwe can match Mutare for visual attractiveness and the enchantment of its setting. Located in a natural amphitheatre of the Sakubva river-valley, it is girded on all sides by the splendour of forested hills, and for much of the year its streets and suburbs are ablaze with the glory of jacaranda and flame trees and multicoloured bougainvillea. Mutare serves both as the exit point for travellers to the northern Mozambican port of Beira, across the low-land plain to the east, and as the gateway to Zimbabwe's eastern highlands - Nyanga to the north , the Bvumba and Chimanimani mountains to the south.

Travellers approaching Mutare from the east cut through Christmas Pass, from which there are fine views of the little city. An even more breathtaking panorama unfolds as you make your way up the gravel road leading to the 1520m (4987 ft) crest of Mutare Heights.

Until fairly recently, Christmas Pass was graced by a monument to Kingsley Fairbridge, a South African-born Rhodes scholar and poet who launched, at the turn-of-the-century, a scheme to settle disadvantaged British children in various parts of the Empire (including Zimbabwe, which was then known as Rhodesia). The monument, unveiled by Queen Elizabeth (to-day the Queen Mother) in 1953, was removed after independence in 1980 and now resides in Mutare's Utopia Museum, located in the house where Fairbridge was born, and whose various exhibits depict the lifestyles of the region's early white settlers.

Among the area's prime attractions is La Rochelle, an elegant private residence 13 km (8 miles) from town, bequeathed to the nation by wealthy philanthropists Sir Stephen and Lady Courtauld. La Rochelle's 14 ha (35 acre) tiered gardens are graced by an exquisite show of orchids, rare trees and ornamental shrubs.

To the south are the Bvumba mountains, a mist-wreathed and beautifully forested range traversed by a road that starts at Mutare's industrial sites and ends among the coffee plantations beyond the handsome, pink-turreted Leopard Rock Hotel, which is framed and shaded by ancient gnarled trees. The entrance foyer of black marble and white Grecian columns has a two-storey high glass panel offering a splendid view of a botanical wonderland, and the hotel's rooms are Camelot-sumptuous.

The Bvumba region offers some splendid scenic drives. Recommended destinations include the fertile Burma valley and the Bvumba Botanical Gardens.

The latter encompasses 30 ha (74 acres) English country garden of azaleas, fuchsias, hydrangeas and annuals in superbly landscaped grounds embellished with pathways, pools, streams and wooden bridges. The Bunga Botanical reserve, close by, is notable for its indigenous rainforest.

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