Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 58
to the heights of Tur, while the river turns sharply into the eastern plain descending from
Ngoshe Sama in the west, separating the Dghweɗe massif from the already mentioned Gvoko
massif. The international boundary follows the Kirawa river up to its source on the Gvoko
massif, which then connects with the heights of Tur, leaving parts of Gvoko in its east to
Cameroon.
Visit to Dghweɗe and Gvoko
From Barawa we climb up to Ghwa’a, which is the northeastern part of Dghweɗe. Apart from
on the southwestern side the climb is fairly gentle and not so sharp. We see the terrace fields
and we follow different mountain paths, sometimes steep through boulders and sometimes flat
along the rim of a valley, until after two and a half hours and at about 1000m, we reach the
ward of Dzga. From 1996 onwards I had a research station here, consisting of a couple of huts
between large boulders under a mahogany tree (Plate 1a). My neighbours were Dghweɗe,
who already knew me from my first visit. From Dzga one can walk north around the rim of
another high valley to get to Chikiɗe, but we spend the night in Dzga and early next morning
we climb further up to about 1200m to visit the market place of Ghwa'a, situated on a flat
place called Klala.
Plate 10a: View across the western slopes
Plate 10b: Terrace platform in Ghwa'a
On our way we see the settlements, with the houses and terraces all nicely set in stone. We
feel removed from the busy plain, the cars and the noise, but also from facilities such as
shops. To the northwest, even higher up, we see Durghwe (Plate 10b). We have tea at Klala
market and discuss where we should go next. From Klala, one can either go down to Guduf,
or across to Korana Basa, the latter being the administrative name for what I refer to as the
southern part of Dghweɗe. We go to the eastern corner of Klala, only a few hundred metres
away, to check the way to Guduf. From there one can descend into a lower valley, stretching
down towards the Guduf saddle. However we decide to go to Korana Basa, so head south
from Klala across a ridge connecting Ghwa’a and Korana Basa (Plate 10d). To our right we
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