In the shadow of Chimanimani’s misty peaks, a story of fire, loss and resilience has given Zimbabwe’s tourism landscape one of its most distinctive new additions. The Treehouse Chimanimani, a modern forest lodge designed with bold African flair, has officially opened this September, less than three years after its first incarnation was reduced to ashes by a devastating valley fire.
The dream was born on a tablecloth, sketched after a night of whiskey among friends. By the end of 2022, that sketch had become reality. Cabins had been built, solar power installed, windows fitted. Then, without warning, a fire swept the valley. Within seven hours the lodge was gone, reduced to charred fragments of timber and dust. For most, such destruction would have marked the end. For founders Milly McPhie, Jos Janisch, Lucas Robinson and Eric Jakob, it was the beginning of something braver.
“We decided the fire would not write the last line of this story,” McPhie reflects. “The Treehouse you see today carries the spirit of resilience; it is a celebration of determination and creativity that could not be extinguished.”
