Tourism in Zimbabwe
Encyclopedia
Land reform in Zimbabwe
Land reform in Zimbabwe officially began in 1979 with the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement, an effort to more equitably distribute land between the historically disenfranchised blacks and the minority-whites who ruled Zimbabwe from 1890 to 1979...
in 2000, tourism in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
has steadily declined. After rising during the 1990s, with 1.4 million tourists in 1999, industry figures described a 75% fall in visitors to Zimbabwe in by December 2000, with less than 20% of hotel rooms occupied. This has had a huge impact on the Zimbabwean economy, where thousands of jobs were lost due to companies closing down or simply being unable to pay staff wages.
Several airlines have also pulled out of Zimbabwe. Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
and Austrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines is the flag carrier airline of Austria, headquartered in Office Park 2 on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Wien-Umgebung and a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Together with regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways and charter arm Lauda Air, it operates...
were among the first to pull out and most recently British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
suspended all direct flights to Harare. The country's flagship airline Air Zimbabwe
Air Zimbabwe
Air Zimbabwe is the national airline of Zimbabwe, headquartered in Harare. From its hub at Harare International Airport, the carrier operates a network within southern Africa that also includes Asia and London-Gatwick. The company is a member of the International Air Transport Association, and of...
still flies to the United Kingdom but has to make several stops en route for refuelling.
However, Zimbabwe boasts several tourist attractions. are located in the north west of Zimbabwe. Before the economic changes, much of the tourism for these locations came to the Zimbabwean side but now Zambia benefits from the tourism. The Victoria Falls National Park
Victoria Falls National Park
Open to visitors throughout the year, the Victoria Falls National Park in north-western Zimbabwe protects the south and east bank of the Zambezi River in the area of the world-famous Victoria Falls...
is also a tourist attraction in this area and is one of the eight main National Parks in Zimbabwe , largest of which is Hwange National Park
Hwange National Park
Hwange National Park is the largest game reserve in Zimbabwe. The park lies in the west, on the main road between Bulawayo and the widely noted Victoria Falls.It was founded around 1928 by a 22-year-old game ranger, Ted Davidson...
.
The Eastern Highlands
Eastern Highlands
The Eastern or 'East African Highlands is a mountain range in the east of Zimbabwe and one of 4 distinct physiographic divisions on the African continent.-Location and description:...
are a series of mountainous areas near the border with Mozambique. The highest peak in Zimbabwe, Mount Nyangani
Mount Nyangani
Mount Nyangani is the highest mountain in Zimbabwe at 2,592 m . The mountain is located within Nyanga National Park in Nyanga District, is about south east of Harare. The summit lies atop a small outcrop of rock around 40m above the surrounding area...
at 2593 metres is located here as well as the Bvumba Mountains
Bvumba Mountains
The Bvumba Mountains or Vumba Mountains lie on the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, approximately 25 km south east of Mutare. The Bvumba rise to Castle Beacon at 1911 metres, and are, together with the Chimanimani and Nyanga part of the Eastern Highlands in Zimbabwe bordering Mozambique...
and the Nyanga National Park
Nyanga National Park
Nyanga National Park lies in the north of Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands. One of the first national parks to be declared in the country, it contains the highest land in Zimbabwe, with green hills and perennial rivers. Most of its terrain consists of rolling downland, sometimes lightly wooded, lying...
. World's View
World's View, Nyanga
World's View is a spectacular vista viewed from the northern part of the Eastern Highlands mountain range, just North of Nyanga, in eastern Zimbabwe. The view point is popular with tourists. The view encompasses the plains and hills that rolls away from the range to the far west...
is in these mountains and it is from here that places as far away as 60–70 km are visible and, on clear days, the town of Rusape
Rusape
Rusape is a town in the province of Manicaland, Zimbabwe with a population of around 20,000 , situated on the Harare-Mutare main road, approximately 170 km south east of Harare and 93 km north west of Mutare. Rusape is a large, sprawling town that has not quite reached city status...
can be seen.
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which existed from 1100 to 1450 C.E. during the country’s Late Iron Age. The monument, which first began to be constructed in the 11th century and which continued to be built until the 14th century, spanned an...
ruins in Masvingo
Masvingo
Masvingo is a town in south-eastern Zimbabwe and the capital of Masvingo Province. The town is close to Great Zimbabwe, the national monument from which the country takes its name.- History :...
which survive from the Monomotapa Empire. Other ruins include Khami Ruins, Zimbabwe
Khami
Khami is a ruined city located in what is now Zimbabwe. It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Butua of the Torwa dynasty. It is located 22 kilometers west of the modern city of Bulawayo, capital of the province of Matabeleland North. Its ruins are now a national monument in Zimbabwe. Khami is...
, Dhlo-Dhlo and Naletale
Naletale
Naletale are ruins are located about 25 kilometres east of Shangani in Matabeleland north, Zimbabwe and just north of the Dhlo Dhlo ruins....
however none of these ruins have received as much publicity as those Great Zimbabwe.
The Matobo Hills
Matobo National Park
The Matobo National Park forms the core of the Matobo or Matopos Hills, an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 kilometres south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe...
are an area of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 kilometres south of Bulawayo
Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated population in 2010 of 2,000,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland...
, southern Zimbabwe. The Hills were formed over 2000 million years ago with granite being forced to the surface, this has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Mzilikazi
Mzilikazi
Mzilikazi , also sometimes called Mosilikatze, was a Southern African king who founded the Matabele kingdom , Matabeleland, in what became Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe. He was born the son of Matshobana near Mkuze, Zululand and died at Ingama, Matabeleland...
, founder of the Ndebele
Ndebele people (Zimbabwe)
The Ndebele are a branch of the Zulus who split from King Shaka in the early 1820s under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former general in Shaka's army....
nation, gave the area its name, meaning 'Bald Heads'. They have become famous and a tourist attraction because Cecil John Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes
Cecil John Rhodes PC, DCL was an English-born South African businessman, mining magnate, and politician. He was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which today markets 40% of the world's rough diamonds and at one time marketed 90%...
famous for his vision that led to foundation of Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, and other early white pioneers like Leander Starr Jameson
Leander Starr Jameson
Sir Leander Starr Jameson, 1st Baronet, KCMG, CB, , also known as "Doctor Jim", "The Doctor" or "Lanner", was a British colonial statesman who was best known for his involvement in the Jameson Raid....
, Major Allan Wilson
Allan Wilson (army officer)
Allan Wilson , was born in Scotland. He is best known for his leadership of the Shangani Patrol which resulted in his death and made him a national hero in Rhodesia....
, and most of the members of the Shangani Patrol
Shangani Patrol
The Shangani Patrol was a group of white Rhodesian pioneer police officers killed in battle on the Shangani River in Matabeleland in 1893. The incident achieved a lasting, prominent place in Rhodesian colonial history.-Setting and Battle:...
are buried in these hills at another site named World's View.