A JOURNEY TO A HIDDEN MAJESTIC FALLS IN RURAL MATABELELAND: LUMENE FALLS

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]We are here. It's Mambo Winnie Shopping Center.

[00:00:06]And we are on a route and we are going somewhere. Somewhere very nice. You probably have seen uh the title of the video, but today we are going down to Maweni waterfalls. They're just like one I think about 40 km from here or 20 to 40 km from here down in Chivi District.

[00:00:28]So, we are going there down there. We have acquired and got the transport and we have hired someone who's going to take us. So, we hiked all the way from Bulawayo and now we are going to go down to the the waterfalls. You can actually eat this.

[00:00:44]Mhm.

[00:00:45]Yeah. So, I think It's shavi shavi.

[00:00:49]Indebe zegagogo. Indebe zegagogo. I- In- Indebe zegagogo.

[00:00:55]Indebe zegagogo.

[00:00:57]Mhm.

[00:00:59]Amazambane. Imbobo. Amaguava.

[00:01:03]Imbambaira.

[00:01:05]Mhm.

[00:01:06]Imnii.

[00:01:07]Mni. This is Inzimnii. Mni in Shona. It's a very good snack that you can take.

[00:01:16]Very very nice.

[00:01:19]So, sing to Lily Indebe zegagogo.

[00:01:23]Indebe zegagogo. Nanzi.

[00:01:25]Mhm. I wish I had time we would have gone and eat and cooked this, but these are nice. Thanks. Ngiyabonga malume.

[00:01:32]Yeah. Sure.

[00:01:33]>> Yeah.

[00:01:34]>> Mhm.

[00:01:35]Yeah. Ngiyabonga mama.

[00:01:37]>> All right.

[00:01:37]>> Mhm.

[00:01:39]Mushroom acquired. Wild mushroom acquired. Putting this and I'm giving it to my brother here so that he can go and cook.

[00:01:47]Kwakule Indebe zegagogo.

[00:01:50]Zegagogo.

[00:01:52]Lenji.

[00:01:53]Indebe zamalume.

[00:01:56]So, we are eating both malume and ugogo.

[00:01:58]>> [laughter] >> So, if you come to Maweni, look for this guy. His name is Maweni. Look for >> Sydney.

[00:02:09]>> uh Bra Sydney Ngala.

[00:02:10]>> Yeah.

[00:02:11]>> He's He's well-known. You just say, "I'm looking for this uh Sydney Ngala." He can take you there.

[00:02:17]And here is his Lamborghini.

[00:02:20]>> [laughter] >> Hope they come and speak to us.

[00:02:33]He is a community assistant that was So, this guy What was that I think You can tell this is self-sustaining.

[00:02:42]The water will get itself out here.

[00:02:45]They got it self-sustaining.

[00:02:47]The office is now This one is long full length.

[00:02:50]>> Yeah.

[00:02:50]>> Eh?

[00:02:51]>> Long boy.

[00:02:52]>> Long boy. This long boy river.

[00:02:57]Very nice. Appetizing. It's actually telling us what we've done.

[00:03:00]He's reminding us us of what we are going to see at the Hey. Hey.

[00:03:10]Or you say here my table in south is poor. There's nothing going there right down there. But look here. There is a whole water system that was put here. There is no sign for donors or whatever. Probably it was done by the community. But look here. There is two tanks, water solar system, and whatever. Nobody's coming to steal. Nobody Probably it's been here for years, but nobody's coming to steal.

[00:03:35]And there's four taps here.

[00:03:37]You can see.

[00:03:38]So, self-sustaining.

[00:03:41]I can actually get some water.

[00:03:46]Nobody is even coming to steal all this because they value their community.

[00:03:51]That's what is important. but you can see here the And the If you look down at the point down there, there is no They are no houses nearby. So, it's a community ball, and people value their community. That's why it's like this.

[00:04:36]>> [laughter] >> Ladies, pure pure organic honey.

[00:04:48]That's pure pure honey.

[00:04:50]Real organic right from honey comb.

[00:05:15]You can imagine like how many kilometers these kids would have traveled.

[00:05:21]Uh Yeah.

[00:05:37]Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola company.

[00:05:47]>> [laughter] >> All right.

[00:05:53]All right.

[00:05:56]All right. All right.

[00:06:03]>> [laughter] >> All right.

[00:06:24]So, my mom my mom is from the dueto term. So, whenever I see someone with the same totem, I always make sure that I do something So, I want let's get some calabash. I've never seen a calabash. So, so that will be my first time to see that will be my first time to see calabash. Huh?

[00:06:44]>> You are from where?

[00:06:45]>> I'm from from Ireland.

[00:06:47]>> From Ireland?

[00:06:47]>> Yeah.

[00:06:48]>> Okay.

[00:06:48]>> Yeah. So, this is a calabash, guys.

[00:06:53]You go.

[00:06:53]>> Yeah.

[00:06:54]>> Am I seeing an elephant?

[00:06:57]All right.

[00:06:59]All right. Let me get it to my malume.

[00:07:02]Probably you like it.

[00:07:04]Calabash. You shake it.

[00:07:06]Oh, you can't shake it. Oh, sorry.

[00:07:08]Sorry. I didn't know that you don't you don't have to shake it, malume.

[00:07:16]It's calabash.

[00:07:18]I've I've never seen it.

[00:07:43]>> Oh, okay.

[00:07:45]>> [laughter] >> Okay. All right.

[00:08:09]All right.

[00:08:40]But I can't I can't buy it. Look look look what you're drinking. Look what you're drinking.

[00:08:45]You do this you do 19 1659 South African classic red.

[00:09:01]>> [laughter] >> I brother.

[00:09:12]This one is export import. You have sugar and water.

[00:09:17]You see?

[00:09:20]No, bring you should you should share this one.

[00:09:30]I don't know it's a good chip.

[00:09:38]Okay. is also No, but he said he tries to over something.

[00:09:47]I was talking okay.

[00:09:51]Well Yeah.

[00:10:09]>> [laughter] >> I am bullying.

[00:10:22]You know I mean.

[00:10:23]Nice.

[00:10:24]Thank you very much.

[00:10:35]Yeah.

[00:10:42]Lumen for Yes, you want to my phone.

[00:10:45]Mhm.

[00:10:50]All right.

[00:10:55]>> [laughter] >> I feed you more shampoo. Exactly.

[00:11:04]>> [laughter] >> But you never been to there. Yeah. You never been to there.

[00:11:09]>> No, but my Yeah, he is working there.

[00:11:16]>> Oh, all right. But he looks like he is full of money because >> [laughter] >> Corona.

[00:11:27]>> [laughter] >> You know what you mean. And and the level we have my biscuits or your peps and to go to the falls. And uh There's something that I realized when I was walking on the road from Mambo and but I realized something that I had to ask the guy the guy that we were working with. He is you see this thing here.

[00:11:48]This blue thing here.

[00:11:50]So I was asking about it what it actually is but if you look at it, so you see the famous pipe that was laid that's being laid by the government to draw water from Chibes Chibes dam over there.

[00:12:04]The The markers to show that the pipe is going through this through the is is underneath the the ground from here. It's is this one. So the pipe is going is coming down right down right from Chibes and it's going through the water is going to to blow out. It's been on the pipeline for a long time and people have been talking talking about that but we hope that the government will finish and then um People in blow out will have enough water as it will be coming from Chibes Chibes dam. But you can see the other one is just up there.

[00:12:38]I don't Anything with spices is not for me. It looks It looks very spicy.

[00:12:50]Goba is a good experience. The guy that I'm doing with is a very good experience. I don't mind having having mudhumbu every day.

[00:12:58]There we go guys. This is where these are shops. So apparently all these shops are owned by one person and they flatter they've gone to the diaspora.

[00:13:06]He's a rich person. Twice name is Webster Dube. He owns all these shops over there from here up to the end and his brother is over there.

[00:13:17]We managed to buy him some There we you Folks here they are very very laughing.

[00:13:28]Just ate there one calabash, you're good to go.

[00:13:32]>> [snorts] >> Before we go, this is our ride, guys.

[00:13:45]Yeah.

[00:13:47]We found it in a place called Mambo Winnie.

[00:13:49]But this is the ride.

[00:13:51]Yeah.

[00:13:52]And our guy Mr. Sydney is taking us there. So, let's go. You see, actually, ironically, it's written in Lumene Falls now. So, probably it was prophesying to us. But uh that's just what I wanted to show you before we go to the falls. Let's go.

[00:14:11]We have even fresh guavas.

[00:14:14]Nice and organic.

[00:14:20]Here we Here before we go to the falls.

[00:14:27]Let me see if I can get any, but no.

[00:14:30]There isn't any.

[00:14:32]It's called Nungu in Shona. I don't know what they call it in the valley.

[00:14:35]But this is some wild fruit that nature can provide.

[00:14:42]That is is bitter. But this is not This unripe.

[00:14:46]I'm just tasting it for content.

[00:14:52]Crap.

[00:14:53]So bitter.

[00:14:55]It changes the whole taste of your mouth. Marvel, yeah, while you're going to the waterfalls, you see a nice beautiful view.

[00:15:03]And that's right packed here.

[00:15:05]I don't know how it got here, but look how beautiful it is. The vintage, baba.

[00:15:11]Feel like I'm praying, but anyway, I just want to show you how beautiful this view is.

[00:15:17]Beautiful.

[00:15:18]Oh, this is some nice and drinkable water. That's why I had to drink it. It's coming down from the mountains up there and it's flowing down here. So, it's the freshest water that you can get. No Aquaclear can top this. No Gazem can top this because this is beautiful water.

[00:15:40]>> Oh, you can even name some.

[00:15:46]>> Hot cha!

[00:15:48]I'm getting tired, but this is the place.

[00:15:53]Look how beautiful this is.

[00:16:06]We are crossing rivers, hiking mountains, walking the paths just for you guys to show you the content. Let's go.

[00:16:20]Situation.

[00:16:22]Here's the situation.

[00:16:31]So, you remember the bus that we saw earlier? So, the kids are here having a blast in the river. They're swimming in the natural pools and uh enjoying all the way.

[00:16:44]I wish I was still a kid.

[00:16:46]Because guys, look at this.

[00:16:51]Look at this. Come to Lumene. You will You will have a blast like this.

[00:16:55]>> [laughter] >> That's so nice.

[00:16:58]Some are playing soccer. Some are just sitting on the water. And she's just one of those. I hope nobody's going to splash me with any water because uh bro, bro, bro, what's happening?

[00:17:13]What's happening?

[00:17:16]What is this one is splashing water on me.

[00:17:19]I I I I I DON'T DO DON'T do that. Don't do that. Don't do that.

[00:17:26]OH, [screaming] THAT'S SO BAD. SORRY. SORRY.

[00:17:32]NO, DON'T DO THAT.

[00:17:36]DON'T DO THAT.

[00:17:39]YES.

[00:17:44]IT TELLS YOU WISH YOU WERE A KID.

[00:17:48]I wish I was still a kid.

[00:17:51]And this one is tired.

[00:17:53]This one is actually sunbathing on the sand.

[00:17:59]It's all joy.

[00:18:04]It's all joy. Even the teacher is actually enjoying himself as well.

[00:18:09]Nice.

[00:18:11]Right.

[00:18:12]All the way to from Bulawayo to Lumene.

[00:18:14]If a kid is coming and enjoy, you should as well.

[00:18:31]You get through the mud and the puddles before you get to where you are going.

[00:18:36]But, this is it.

[00:18:40]Ah.

[00:18:41]Thank God we removed the shoes.

[00:18:43]How were we going to win through this mud?

[00:18:46]Yeah, as you can see. Like on on the feet here.

[00:18:54]This water looks so warm.

[00:18:56]Oh, it's cold. Oh, It's very cold.

[00:19:01]Looks like it's spring water coming from down to the down from the the mountains up there. But, it's so fresh and nice. If I get a chance, I'll drink it.

[00:19:14]People in the How do you feel like you come and throw your bottle of under stride over here in a clean place like this? How do you feel? How do you sleep at night? Just leave the place as you found it because it's beautiful as it's supposed to be.

[00:19:29]Come on, man. That's so bad.

[00:19:32]In short of what we are going to experience right now, let me show you the where the Lumene Falls begins.

[00:19:41]This is it, guys.

[00:19:43]And >> [music] >> the sound can tell that there's actually something that happened. Look here.

[00:19:54]Nice waterfalls.

[00:19:57]As you can see the water has been has been flooding the whole river. You can see it reaching all that side and it was reaching all the way here. But, this is the small waterfalls before we get to the bigger one. But, I'm liking the fact that they managed to put a bridge here that you can cross. It means they care for the for the tourism. That's in Chegutu.

[00:20:24]That's in Chegutu. That's sent in the valley.

[00:20:27]We are in the river bank of Lumene and heading to the falls as you can see.

[00:20:34]South Matabeleland South is one of the They say it's especially densely populated province in Zimbabwe. It's got least densely least populated provinces in Zimbabwe.

[00:20:45]The province itself, the provincial capital is Gwanda, the second biggest town is Beitbridge. It's one of the provinces that has got two borders. It It It's got two borders. Plumtree border post. That's the main border post to get into Botswana and then there's Beitbridge border border post. There are some other border posts as well. And um And one other thing that I I like about Matabeleland South is that it's got uh it's one of the province with many language that are spoken there because it borders about two countries. So, there's Tswana spoken, there's Ndebele, there's Shona, there's uh the Tonga, there's also Venda and uh uh Sotho that's spoken in in lower southern Matabeleland South region.

[00:21:35]So, in terms of um in terms of tourism, it's one of the tourist destination One of the tourist destination, of course, [music] is Matopos. Matopo, which is a the the burial place of Cecil John Rhodes, the one who conquered Zimbabwe. And um there's also some animal sanctuaries around the areas. So, it's actually a beautiful place.

[00:21:59]We are almost there.

[00:22:01]We are making progress. You can hear the sound here.

[00:22:08]>> [music] >> This one is getting tired already.

[00:22:15]What's happening, bro?

[00:22:17]You getting tired?

[00:22:19]How is it How is it up there?

[00:22:20]>> Good.

[00:22:21]>> Good? Are you sure?

[00:22:26]Hi guys. What's up? How are you?

[00:22:29]You good You don't even greet me anymore. Are you tired?

[00:22:32]Hey?

[00:22:33]>> No.

[00:22:33]>> Ah, this one looks tired. This one is gone.

[00:22:36]Hey, you you gone. Gone.

[00:22:38]>> gone. I'm not tired.

[00:22:40]>> What's your name?

[00:22:43]Ah Ah Ostrich.

[00:22:45]Ostrich.

[00:22:47]Like the bird.

[00:22:49]>> [laughter] >> Oh my god.

[00:22:57]>> Jump, how are you?

[00:22:58]You good? How is it up there?

[00:23:00]Is it nice?

[00:23:01]Is it nice?

[00:23:02]>> Yes.

[00:23:03]>> You think I'm going to enjoy?

[00:23:07]Queens, how are you?

[00:23:09]You good?

[00:23:10]And smile for the camera.

[00:23:16]Queens, how are you?

[00:23:17]>> How are you?

[00:23:18]>> You good? How is it up there?

[00:23:21]Is it nice?

[00:23:22]You You guys look tired.

[00:23:24]This one is finished.

[00:23:26]>> [laughter] >> This one is gone gone gone. Are you tired, bro?

[00:23:37]>> [clears throat] >> Ooh.

[00:23:46]What's up, man? What's up, King?

[00:23:47]>> I'm good.

[00:23:47]>> Hi.

[00:23:48]>> [clears throat] >> Hi, ma'am. How are you?

[00:23:51]Right.

[00:23:52]All the traveling.

[00:23:54]All the hiking. All the effort. Just lead up to this.

[00:23:59]Look how beautiful this is.

[00:24:03]Look how beautiful this is.

[00:24:06]Ah.

[00:24:08]So, we're going up there and just to show you how beautiful this place is.

[00:24:13]But, this is it, like this is it, guys.

[00:24:15]Look at it.

[00:24:17]>> [music] >> Ah, let me change my shoes.

[00:24:28]This is Lumena Falls, guys.

[00:24:33]I'm tired, but the effort is worth it.

[00:24:38]As you can see from here, you see here, this is how Lumena Falls looks like.

[00:24:49]All the way from down there, this is how it looks.

[00:24:55]We walked.

[00:24:57]We traversed all the way from Wow.

[00:25:15]This is it.

[00:25:16]This is it, guys.

[00:25:18]This is it.

[00:25:20]We traveled all the way from Harare and we get here to this majestic here in Livingstone.

[00:25:35]And look at it.

[00:25:41]Woo!

[00:25:57]Oh.

[00:26:00]This is nice.

[00:26:02]>> [music] >> I don't know what's happening here.

[00:26:04]People are putting lemons and all, but this is how it looks.

[00:26:12]>> [music] >> I don't know if anybody can hear my echoes.

[00:26:18]No echoes.

[00:26:21]>> [music] [music] [music] >> I can spend all day here. I don't even care. You don't have to call me. You don't have to remind me where I am. I can spend the whole day here because this is beautiful. Look at it.

[00:26:54]Look at it.

[00:26:55]Look, brah.

[00:26:57]Look.

[00:26:59]All the way up there.

[00:27:02]This is Lumene.

[00:27:06]I can imagine when it's in full capacity, when it's raining, when the river is full, it will be so much abundance of joy and water.

[00:27:19]>> [music] >> It's happening here.

[00:27:25]These people will come in and do their rituals.

[00:27:28]They burn candles. They leave candles. I see. I also saw some rice just putting there and people are doing their own rituals. But we believe in the God, God of the living.

[00:27:41]But this is the place.

[00:27:56]We made it, brah.

[00:27:57]>> Yeah, we made it.

[00:28:00]>> We made it.

[00:28:05]We made it.

[00:28:08]So, from Bulawayo, we took a a cab down to Maweni.

[00:28:16]Then we drove all the way from Maweni down to Lumene, where we hiked for about 7 km until we reached to these falls here. As you can see how beautiful they are, how nice they are, and it's a marvel to look at.

[00:28:33]It's a marvel to look at. Look at it.

[00:28:37]Geez.

[00:28:39]Uh So, I'll get you guys out of here then.

[00:28:42]So, guys, there are There are people here who are doing rituals and as you can see this one is throwing rice on the water and there's other people here doing whatever things that they are doing but we are not scared of that because we serve a living God and this is the This is the place. I don't know what they are doing but we just mind your own business because we are here just to see those falls but I can mind because there were kids here but they saw all these things but anyway this is what uh we are seeing here is the waterfalls.

[00:29:19]Yeah.

[00:29:21]Smelling alcohol every everywhere.

[00:29:43]So keep your mind about but I didn't really bother my life so I just leave it.

[00:29:59]Hey.

[00:30:00]Hey.

[00:30:02]Hey.

[00:30:05]OH.

[00:30:08]OH.

[00:30:12]LIKE LIKE SEEING SEEING A gorilla person It's really my life.

[00:30:20]I didn't like it.

[00:30:22]I didn't like it.

[00:30:24]We made it.

[00:30:26]We made it.

[00:30:28]We made it.

[00:30:30]Thanks bro. I think you're a boy.

[00:30:32]I won.

[00:30:36]Ah yeah.

[00:30:42]I've been to beautiful places. I've seen nice places, but this one is one of the most beautiful place that I have ever seen. And uh You got to love this place, man. Look at it.

[00:30:53]Look at it. Down from there, you can see the water is coming from up there and then it goes down there. It's beautiful.

[00:31:01]It's beautiful.

[00:31:02]Very beautiful.

[00:31:04]Whatever is happening, I don't care.

[00:31:06]Whatever they are doing, I don't care, but I'm just enjoying the nature.

[00:31:21]So, guys, this is it and uh We have come, we have conquered, we have seen Lumen Falls. And there is no better place that we can end this video other than here. And I'm glad we really had fun and we managed to see the place, how beautiful it is. And it is very encouraging that we can talk to the people responsible for tourism and they can make it a marvelous place. I'm glad that they have they've managed to put a road that connects to the place to the waterfalls. I'm glad that there are people who are who are collecting funds and the funds that are being put back into the into the community and developing the area. So, this is actually a marvelous place. It can be uh uh develop it can actually manage to compete with places like uh water the Victoria Falls because this is just 100 km from um from Bulawayo. So, it's a beautiful place that you can be you can be at. So, this is Lumen Falls, guys. And uh one last time, you can see how beautiful it is, how marvelous, how good God's creation is. You can see from here, you can see all those rocks down there cascading down to the river. You can see the mountains, you can see everything that you are seeing here. It's a beautiful place. It's a beautiful and a marvelous place. Come to Lumene, come and see this place. You'll enjoy and marvel at God's creation.

[00:32:53]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Oh, guys, all this was made possible by this legend here. If you get to my buying shops, look for Sydney. [music] Sydney, what's your number?

[00:33:21]>> 077 11 92996 >> 077 >> 11 >> 11 >> 92 >> 92 >> 996 >> 996 >> Yeah.

[00:33:35]>> Look for this legend, he will take you, he's a very good guide, he will take you from there and drive you all the way to the falls. You will just give him a tip because he's a good guy. He made it possible.

[00:33:46]>> Number one.