Tsanga Trout

Have a vision and don’t lose sight of it!

We are making progress …. Watch this space 🏡👷‍♀️

Can you guess what we are building??

Yes!! Our cottage walls are going up… and this technique is called ‘Cordwood Construction’ it is eco friendly as we are only using invasive tree species and it is more insulating than brick! So on those cold winter Nyanga nights our cottage will stay warm!

Find our raw natural honey from the Tsanga Valley now back at African Apothecary Supreme Butchery and Chelsea Bee's - Pizza Grill & Bar

New wheels new opportunities!

Sorry we have been so quiet. We are making plans to really get Tsanga Trout up and running, investing in the area and making it a top place for you all to come and visit in the Troutbeck area! Please be patient with us, we promise it will be worth it! If you wish to come and visit us to explore the area you are more than welcome to, just inbox us and we will give you updated directions!

Here is one of the views you could enjoy at our place in the months to come just like Lindt is 🐶

Those of you who know the Eastern Highalnds well, know that the area is covered by invasive tree species. This Black Wattle being one of them. At our place in the Tsanga valley we are slowly removing these trees including Pine, to allow native flora to thrive such as submontane and montane grassland, dry Montane forests and Miombo woodland.

Black wattle was introduced іntо plantations outside Rhodes Nyanga National Park and it spread rapidly іntо several parts of the park as has Pine, which was planted between Rhodes and Mare Dams. By 1988 it was estimated that around 40% of the Park had been invaded by these alien species. The Park Authorities maintain а long term continuous eradication programme.

I know currently with climate change cutting trees down is not what we want to do, but removing alien species to allow room for native species to move in, or be planted by us, restores the balance in this ecosystem of what it is supposed to be.

We returned to Tsanga after being without transport for a couple of months, and we were pleasantly surprised to still see trout in the river by our house that we released over a year ago.

We have seen 4 individuals so far who have survived predation from kingfishers and otters, and haven’t been swept downstream by the flooding of the river.

Our labrador Lindt is also a big fan of watching them at dusk 😄

Winter has hit us here in the Tsanga valley ❄️. Ice and frost is covering the ground, our veggies and even the dog bowl, but that can only mean one thing... it is time to plant our Lapins Cherry Trees!!🍒

We have managed to plant 410 trees already, with 90 to go to reach our annual 500 target! We even think we are going to manage 524 trees this year!

To fruit every year, Lapins cherry trees need 700 chill hours... I don’t think we’ll have a problem there ❄️❄️