Mvuma

Mvuma, still Umvuma on older maps, is a small Midlands town at the point where the road from Gweru joins the Harare to Masvingo highway. Most people see it only through a windscreen. What they notice is the chimney, a brick stack from 1913 on a kopje at the southern edge of town, about 40 m tall and left behind by the old Falcon mine smelter. It earns a short stop on the long drive south.

Getting there

Mvuma is 192 km south of Harare on the A4, with Masvingo roughly 100 km further on, which makes it a natural break for anyone heading to Great Zimbabwe. From Bulawayo, go through Gweru and take the A17, 83 km across to Mvuma.

Stop at every police roadblock and toll gate and ask for a receipt if you pay a fine. The UK Foreign Office advises against driving outside towns after dark, and I would not argue. Our self-drive guide covers the paperwork.

When to go

The chimney is free to see and open all year. Heavy rain between November and April can make some roads impassable, which matters if you leave the tar. Mvuma sits at 1,406 m, just above the 1,200 m line below which NaTHNaC rates malaria risk as high from November to June. Heading on to lower ground, see a travel clinic about malaria first.

What to do

The chimney is the reason to turn off. Falcon was then the country’s biggest gold, copper and silver mine, and its smelter took ore from as far as the Otavi-Tsumeb mine in Namibia before going quiet around 1925. Peter Jackson likened it to a classical column, and fair enough. Lightning has wrecked the top third, helped by a 6 to 7 m length of lightning conductor that went missing late in the Second World War, reportedly taken by Italian prisoners or internees. A 1999 engineers’ report called the stack fragile and unstable, so look from a distance, not from right underneath. Pilots training at Thornhill have long used it as a landmark.

Those Italians were real. Umvuma held No. 4 Internment Camp, and 16 Italians who died here are remembered in the Italian chapel at Masvingo.

On the west side of the A4, just north of the Chicken Slice, the Mvuma Art and Craft Centre sells stone sculpture to passing drivers.

Good to know

The Athens mine (the old Falcon) closed around 1996 after a shaft collapse, and land reform in 2000 hit the farms, so the town shrank. Cyanide dumps from the gold workings still ring it. Mvuma was given town status in 2021, and a steel works owned by China’s Tsingshan group at Manhize nearby was under construction in 2024. Fuel can run short in Zimbabwe and foreign cards are not always accepted, so fill up whenever you can and carry cash in small notes.

Last updated 19 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, Mvuma (formerly Umvuma, 1,406 m, 192 km from Harare, about 100 km from Masvingo, 83 km from Gweru, Falcon claims 1900, chimney 1913 and 40.28 m, Athens mine under Lonrho closed about 1996, land reform 2000, cyanide dumps, district hospital, Chirumhanzu council offices, highway trade from 2010, banks and lodges complex 2013, Mvuma Art and Craft Centre on the west side of the A4), Zimbabwe Field Guide, Mvuma Chimney (junction of the A4 and A17, kopje ringed by mine dumps, free and open all year, built by Falcon Mine 1913, 40.2 m, square base, cast iron ring, Peter Jackson's 1:7 proportions and Tuscan column remark, flue to the smelter on the north, Otavi-Tsumeb ore, idle since about 1925, top third damaged by lightning, conductor taken by Italians late in the war, Thornhill pilots, 6 to 7 m conductor section, 1999 engineers' report on a fragile and unstable stack), The Herald, Mvuma chimney, tribute or obituary (Godfrey Mahachi of National Museums and Monuments, 14 June 2012, kopje on the southern edge of town, about 100 km from Masvingo, Falcon the largest gold, copper and silver mine, smelter out of use from about 1925, lightning damage, Shona name mupon'oro weMvuma, Air Force navigation landmark, Thornhill Air Base in Gweru), The Herald, Mvuma granted town status (12 September 2021, fourth town in the Midlands, Chirumanzu Rural District Council, iron ore project at Manhize near Mvuma), Mining Index, steel plant at Mvuma (28 May 2024, Dinson Iron and Steel Company, a Tsingshan subsidiary, construction under way and production expected soon), Zimbabwe Field Guide, Italian Chapel of St Francis of Assisi (No. 4 Internment Camp at Umvuma, 16 Italians who died at Umvuma commemorated in the chapel, camp closed after Italy's 1943 surrender), Wikipedia, A4 road (Beitbridge to Harare through Masvingo, Mvuma and Chivhu, road to Gweru branches west at Mvuma), NaTHNaC TravelHealthPro (UK), Zimbabwe (malaria high risk below 1,200 m November to June, low risk July to October), UK FCDO travel advice, Zimbabwe safety and security (avoid driving outside towns at night, stop at roadblocks and toll gates, receipt for fines, heavy rain November to April, fuel shortages, cards not always accepted, carry cash in small notes).