By Tatiana Mhararira
Masvingo City Council is set to work on the revival of Shagashe game park for it to be a tourist attraction for the people in Masvingo and around.
This was revealed in the Finance and General Purposes Committee minutes dated January 21, 2025 where council considered to resuscitate the game park.
It was revealed that there was a company which had interests to collaborate with city council to resuscitate the game park.
“It was reported that Byron Fundira of Mhukahuru investments had expressed interest to collaborate with the City of Masvingo to revive Shagashe. A meeting was held with the investor on November, 2024 followed by a visit to the site,” read the minutes.
“It was reported that Mhukahuru Investments was running similar operations in South Africa and Darwendale where the investor was leasing a Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority on a 25 year lease. The Darwendale facility offers accommodation, conferencing, outdoor activities including game viewing,” read part of the minutes.
Shagashe game park is located 4km from the city centre along the Harare-Masvingo highway and consists of three subdivisions with a total area of 278 hectares. The park is bound west by Masvingo Harare road and East by Shakashe river.
The park used to be home to various game including antelope, giraffe, bucks, kudus, tsetsebe, impala, zebra and various bird species such as owls and kingfishers.
Works to revive the game park requires fencing around its entire perimeter, reconstruction of the viewing platforms, repairs to the reception, ablution facilities, drilling few boreholes and also connecting Municipal water to the premises from nearby off take points.
