Traditional leaders in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands are now taking the lead role in the search for Zimbabwe authorities searching for a tourist who has been missing n Mount Nyangani in Nyanga since Jan. 4.

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Caroline Washaya-Moyo told reporters that the search for Zayd Dada, 31, had been suspended to allow traditional leaders to conduct rituals to appease the spirits in the mountain, which is perceived to be sacred.

"The family agreed with traditional leaders to proceed culturally," Washaya-Moyo was quoted Wednesday.

Family spokesperson Shehnilla Mohamed said they had been advised to halt the search and allow the traditional leaders to do it their way.

Spirit mediums who were consulted soon after the disappearance said Dada was still alive, but with 18 days having passed since the disappearance, time is no longer on his side as hunger and elements of the weather may diminish his chances of survival.

Dada, who is of Indian origin, was hiking with friends and family when his colleagues decided to rest and he said he would continue on his own.

He never came back. Nyangani is Zimbabwe's highest mountain, standing at 2,592 meters, and induces awe among locals who believe that resident spirits can make people who provoke their wrath disappear in its cliffs and galleys.

At least five people have disappeared in the mountain since 1980 -- never to be found -- among them two daughters of prominent academic and one time Finance Minister in the Zimbabwe government Tichaendepi Masaya and a German tourist.

Despite its mystery, thousands of people from home and abroad still flock to the mountain throughout the year to hike, although some just look at it from a distance not hazarding to tread into the unknown.

The military, local government officials, police, professional mountain climbers and locals have been helping Zada's relatives in the search.

But the involvement of spirit mediums and traditional leaders in the search invokes a sense of awe as people realize that they are dealing with a situation falls within the spiritual realm. Endi

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