Zimbabwe Travel Destinations and Vacations
Beautiful wilderness areas like Mana Pools and Hwange National Park make Zimbabwe a must on a Southern Africa itinerary.
Need Advice?Top Travel Destinations in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is home to the iconic Victoria Falls and a wealth of exceptional wilderness areas for safari vacations.
Marvel at the thundering cataracts of Victoria Falls and savor sunsets over the Zambezi River.
Zimbabwe’s premier Zambezi Valley park — famed for walking, canoeing, and close wildlife encounters.
Zimbabwe’s largest park, renowned for elephants, predators, and classic dry-season viewing.
Zimbabwe Vacation Options & Travel Tips
Trips range from awe-inspiring Victoria Falls visits to deep-wild safaris in Hwange, Mana Pools, and beyond.
Tours, Safaris & Honeymoons
Browse our thoughtfully crafted safari tours.
Tailor-Made Vacation Packages
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Travel Tips & Advice
Important information about visiting Southern Africa.
Other Recommended Travel Destinations in Zimbabwe
Beyond Victoria Falls and Mana Pools, Zimbabwe offers national parks and historic sites rich in wildlife, scenery, and heritage.
Great Zimbabwe
An ancient city near Masvingo that served as the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe in the late Iron Age. Covering roughly 722 hectares (1,780 acres), it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest stone complex south of the Sahara.
Nyanga National Park
In the Eastern Highlands, Nyanga offers rolling green hills, streams, waterfalls, and cool mountain air. Altitude ranges from ~1,800 m to just under 2,600 m with antelope like sable and eland present.
Matobo National Park
Known for spectacular granite kopjes and rock art, and for protected rhino populations in intensive protection zones. The park includes the burial site of Cecil John Rhodes.
Gonarezhou National Park
Set in the southeastern Lowveld, “place of many elephants.” Part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park with Kruger (South Africa) and Limpopo (Mozambique), forming one of Africa’s largest conservation areas.
Lake Kariba
One of the world’s largest artificial lakes, straddling the Zimbabwe–Zambia border. Famous for tiger fishing and relaxed house-boat holidays amid striking scenery.
Eastern Highlands
A cool, sparsely populated, biodiversity-rich mountain chain along the Mozambique border, with grassy hills, cloud forest pockets, and high rainfall.
Victoria Falls & Zambezi National Park
Protecting the area around the mighty Falls and a stretch of the Zambezi River upstream, with game drives and river activities close to town.
Chimanimani National Park
Rugged mountains and forested valleys on the Mozambique border. Facilities are limited — best for seasoned hikers seeking solitude.
Zimbabwe Travel Facts
General travel information about Zimbabwe, its people, and its wild places.
Zimbabwe is easily reached from South Africa with frequent flights to Harare, Bulawayo, and Victoria Falls. From these hubs, safari areas are accessed overland or by light aircraft charter.
Ancient Ruins of Great Zimbabwe
The medieval stone city of Great Zimbabwe is as mysterious as it is beautiful. Its dry-stone walls and towers rise from the savanna, a monument to pre-colonial Bantu civilization in Southern Africa.
Known to Portuguese and Arab traders and linked to old trade routes that reached the Middle East, India, and China, it is culturally related to other Shona states. Nearby Mapungubwe (in South Africa) and Great Zimbabwe reflect related but distinct cultures in the region’s early state formation.
Foods to try in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean cuisine offers hearty staples and regional specialties.
Sadza
‘Sadza’ (Shona) is a thick ground-maize porridge. Eaten with the right hand, it’s rolled and dipped into relishes — stews, leafy greens, or sour milk.
Tigerfish
The Zambezi is renowned for powerful tigerfish. Locally, fish is often cut into small pieces and fried as a snack or served as part of a shared meal.
Nyama
‘Nyama’ (meat) commonly refers to a simple beef stew served with sadza — cubes of beef with onions, tomatoes, garlic, and vegetables.
Chimodho
Also called ‘mupotohayi,’ this cornmeal bread is best enjoyed warm with butter, jam, or marmalade.
Popular Activities
Birding
The best period for birdwatching is roughly October–March. It can be very hot in the Zambezi Valley then, but keen birders are rewarded. Over 650 species are recorded nationally (none strictly endemic). The African pitta is a sought-after summer migrant. Top areas include Victoria Falls & Zambezi NP, Mana Pools, Hwange, and the cooler Eastern Highlands.
Canoeing
Canoeing safaris focus on the Zambezi below Victoria Falls — especially between Mana Pools National Park (Zimbabwe) and Lower Zambezi National Park (Zambia). Options range from day trips to multi-day guided adventures with superb wildlife viewing from the water.
Mobile Safaris
Mobile camping safaris operate in parks like Hwange and Mana Pools. Trips range from participatory camping to more luxurious fully serviced setups — all delivering immersive, uncrowded wilderness experiences.
Victoria Falls Activities
The Victoria Falls area offers relaxed pursuits like sunset cruises and cultural tours, plus adrenaline options such as white-water rafting and bungee jumping (water-level dependent).
Fishing Trips
Tiger fishing on the Zambezi and Lake Kariba is a major draw. Other species include tilapia varieties and river fish like chessa and nkupe. In the Eastern Highlands, trout streams and dams offer scenic angling.
House-Boating
Lake Kariba has a wide range of houseboats (from small groups to 30-berth vessels) out of Binga and Kariba town. Expect serene cruising, wildlife along the shorelines, prolific hippos and crocs, fishing, and dazzling sunsets.
The People of Zimbabwe
Shona
Zimbabwe’s indigenous peoples are largely of Bantu origin. The Shona make up roughly 70–80% of the population and include six major groupings: Zezuru (around Harare), Manyika and Ndau (east), Korekore (north/northeast), Karanga (Midlands), and the Rozvi. Many Shona live across Mashonaland and the country’s central and eastern regions.
Ndebele
The Ndebele (with historical links to South Africa’s Zulu) are concentrated in Matabeleland, centered on Bulawayo, and comprise roughly 15–20% of the population.
Other Groups
Smaller groups include the Tonga communities along Lake Kariba and the Zambezi, the Venda near Beitbridge, and the Shangaan in the southeast around Gonarezhou — with cultural ties into Mozambique and South Africa.
Sites of Interest
Great Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s most significant archaeological site lies ~25 km southeast of Masvingo and spans ~722 hectares. The dry-stone architecture — including the Great Enclosure and Hill Complex — reflects a sophisticated state that flourished for centuries. The soapstone birds found here are a national symbol.
Matobo Hills
Less than an hour south of Bulawayo, a dramatic landscape of balancing granite kopjes and sweeping whaleback domes holds thousands of rock-art sites and a record of human occupation spanning tens of millennia.
Geography of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Plateau
The central highveld averages ~1,500 m in elevation. The Great Dyke — a mineral-rich linear ridge — runs northeast to southwest, hosting important deposits including PGMs and gold.
Lowveld
The plateau steps down through middle-veld to lowveld areas around 150 m above sea level in the far south (Beitbridge/Gonarezhou) and along the Zambezi Valley in the north and northeast.
Zambezi Escarpment
In the north and northwest, the plateau drops sharply to the Zambezi Valley, forming the escarpment. To the south, the land slopes more gradually toward the Limpopo.
Eastern Highlands
A ~250 km north–south mountain chain along the Mozambique border, peaking at 2,592 m on Mount Nyangani. The range creates a cooler, wetter microclimate with montane forests and grasslands.
Zambezi River
Victoria Falls sits at Zimbabwe’s northwest tip. Downstream, the Zambezi is dammed at Kariba to form ~200 km-long Lake Kariba — among the world’s largest man-made lakes. Numerous smaller rivers rise in the highveld to feed the country’s basins.
