Overview
Sightseeing of renowned historical architecture, visiting local museums that document the past through artifacts, art, and literary remains, sampling authentic historical recipes in their place of origin.
A journey to Zimbabwe will take you through an attractive patchwork of landscapes, from high veld, balancing boulders and flaming msasa trees, to laid-back towns, lush mountains and lifeblood rivers. Here you can spot the Big Five (leopard, lion, rhino,elephant and buffalo) in its national parks. Discover World Heritage–listed archaeological sites and stand in awe of one of the natural wonders of the world. Zimbabwe has several national parks and natural attractions such as Hwange National Park, Mana Pools, Gonarezhou National Park, Victoria Falls, Lake Kariba, and the Great Zimbabwe National Monument. Learn more about sustainability, anti-poaching and protection on wildlife in Wildlife Orphanages such as Mwanga lodge and Antelope Park which protect endangered species.
Zimbabwe is rich in culture, acquire knowledge by picking up information about how the early Shona and Ndebele ancient kingdoms used to live, their day today activities and how current communities are now living after urbanization. Visit the most sacred places such as Matopo Njelele, Domboshava, Chinhoyi Caves and learn about the spiritual beliefs, mysteries and myths attached to their existence. Get to learn about Zimbabwe liberation struggle, heroes that lost lives during the struggle, visit the Heroes acre in Chinhoyi and Harare for insight about independence as well as how the history is preserved. Also familiarize with Zimbabwe Military Museum for more insight evolving around local military and its history.
Itinerary
Arrival
Transfer from Airport to a Lodge/Hotel
Dinner at the Lodge/hotel
Overnight stay
Breakfast at the lodge/Hotel
Full day City Tour. Site as detailed below
Balancing Rocks: Named after the Chiremba Hills, these granite boulders defy gravity, stacked in precarious arrangements. Carved by millennia of erosion, they symbolize Zimbabwe’s resilience and natural beauty. The Chiremba Balancing Rocks are not merely geological wonders; they hold profound cultural importance. Celebrated for strength, balance, and harmony, these rocks feature prominently in Zimbabwean folklore, entwined with tales of ancient spirits and mystical powers.
Visit Epworth: Epworth settlement lies 15km just outside Harare towards the east. The settlement was established in the late 1890s through the Methodist Church led by John White. The Church acquired three farms in the area namely Epworth, Glenwood and Adelaide. Throughout the colonial years the settlement grew as a Church Mission consisting of two main villages, that is, Chiremba (Muguta and Makomo) and Chizungu (Chinamano and Zinyengere). Epworth is endowed with natural wonders like the Balancing Rocks and the Domboramwari and Domboremaziso rock outcrops. The Quarry dam also known as the pool of death is also a major attraction. Also mingle with people within Epworth and learn more about the socio-cultural interaction in this modern era.
Domboramwari: This is a Geomythology place where it is believed God walked on a rock and left a foot impression. Thus, the rock was names “Domboramwari’’meaning Gods Rock. The rock Exhibits magnificent geomorphological features with cultural and historical sites associated with supernatural phenomena and myths
Epworth Market: Epworth Market is a vibrant and bustling market located in the center of Epworth. Here, visitors can find a variety of goods, from fresh produce to clothing and crafts, all at bargain prices. It is a great place to pick up souvenirs and gifts, as well as to experience the local culture.
Mbare: Mbare is one of Harare’s oldest townships (residential area/suburbs). This location has so much historical significance. Its one of the highest populated places in Zimbabwe, a lot of people go there for market business. A variety of traditional medicines, artifacts, vegetables, grains and other food stuffs are found at the same market.
Traditional Lunch:. This is one of the popular traditional food courts with quite a number of providers in the same location. Tour the area and meet local people as well as getting to know their day today lifestyle experiences.
Zimbabwe Museum of Human: Formerly known as the Queen Victoria Museum, is a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe. The museum contains the seven-hundred-year-old Lemba artifact Ngoma Lungundu, which some believe to be a replica of the Ark of the Covenant. It is the oldest wooden object ever found in sub-Saharan Africa. The “ngoma lungundu” belongs to the Lemba people – black Africans who claim Jewish ancestry. They say the vessel was built almost 700 years ago from the remains of the original Ark, which the Bible says was used to store Moses’ 10 Commandments. The ” Museum” in Harare houses a library, exhibition galleries, and a model Shona Village, in addition to holding ethnographic and archaeological collections. Wildlife exhibits are on show in public galleries.
Zimbabwe National Heros Acre: The National Heroes Acre, our revered shrine, is the pride of the people of Zimbabwe. It is a symbol of bravery and selflessness for those whose remains are laid to rest there. Towering and selflessness for those remains are laid to rest there. Towering majestically is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which symbolises the final resting place for tens and thousands of Zimbabweans who sacrificed their lives for the sake of our freedom and independence, but whose remains are scattered in valleys, disused mines, caves, unknown graves and mass graves spread across the nation and in neighboring states. Zimbabwe’s war of liberation was the epic of the revolutionary spirit that characterize modern Zimbabweans. We are fighters, hence our own liberators- in every sphere, political, economic and social.
Dinner and overnight stay at the lodge/hotel
Full day tour (Animals & Culture)
Breakfast at lodge/Hotel
Mwanga private game park: located in the heart of pristine Miombo woodland. Enjoy the wide variety of species of game including lion, zebra, buffalo, eland, giraffe, warthog, blesbok and wildebeest. The game park is ideal for photography and bird watching opportunities are outstanding.
Lunch: Generous buffet lunch
Rural Tour: We pass through Shamva rural areas, meeting the local people and familiarize yourselves with their day today lifestyle. Time permitting, we may attend he Chiefs Court
Dinner – overnight stay at the hotel
Day 4
Breakfast at the lodge/hotel
Domboshava Caves and Ngomakurira Mountain: experience a test of endurance but after conquering the climb, you will have an incredible view from the top of the hill. This mountain is one of the places where traditional ceremonies such as rainmaking and offerings are held by the Shona people. Ngomakurira has some caves, where you can view some rock paintings drawn by the early San people
Chinamhora:ppart of the Chinamhora batholith located about 30 km north of Harare. Exhibits magnificent geomorphological features with cultural and historical sites associated with supernatural phenomena and myths. Drainage channels on solid rock resemble patterns of normal drainage basins, although local people believe they are the result of lightning strikes (GEOMYTH). Varieties of lichen groups impart strong effects on appearances of the hills. The yellow and orange colouring of major lichen species can be seen from a distance as a reddish hue. The name Domboshava ‘red rock’ (Dombo = Rock; shava = red in Shona language) was derived from the red colouration caused by lichens.
Lunch
Rural tour: Around the Domboshava areas. There is a possibility to attend local chief courts, this will help to experience how traditional courts are handled by the Shona people.
Dinner and overstay at the lodge/hotel
Breakfast at the hotel
Check out and departure for Chinhoyi
Check in at a hotel
Lunch at the hotel
Chinhoyi Caves: The caves have a mysterious, eerie atmosphere, the water is so deep and still also known as the sleeping pool. Experience dark caves with unique rock structures. Learn about Chief Chinhoyi and the history attached to Chinhoyi Caves existence.
Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel
Breakfast
Full day tour Rural Tour
Visit Korere villages, participate and experience ancient Shona culture. Bringing the Kore Kore Culture to life Kore Kore Cultural Village is located in Chinhoyi caves a centre of the Kore Kore culture. A tour of this living village allows you to participate in the Kore Kore way of life. Activities during the tour are storytelling, traditional dances, nature walks, traditional food preparation, and cooking methods. By Visiting the village, you get to learn traditional secrets shared in Bikiro, Gota, Nhanga, Tsaka which are dwellings dedicated for different uses and are an indication of different life stages of maturity into adulthood.
Traditional lunch
Chinhoyi Seven Heros Monument: Visit Chinhoyi Seven hero’s monument, learn about the most dedicated heroes who perished during the Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) war. THE Battle of Chinhoyi (1966) is arguably one of the fierce battles that freedom fighters undertook to signal the beginning of the armed struggle to dislodge the white Rhodesian settler regime. The monument built to conserve the History and a symbol of sacrifice for made by young man who perished in Chinhoyi.
Dinner and overnight stay at the hotel
Breakfast at the hotel
Check out and road transfer to Gweru
Lunch will be served along the way with several stops at interesting locations
Check in at a Lodge
Gweru city tour
Mkoba the old Suburbs: Get a chance to visit Mkoba, the very first suburb built in the Midlands. Meet the local people. Learn about their lifestyle and community values.
Kudzanai bus terminus: Kudzanai is a long-distance bus terminus which was constructed to reduce intercity traffic. The station also comprises stalls where vendors sell vegetables, fruits, grains and local traditional food and medicines. This experience will teach guests more about local trade and currency.
Zimbabwe Military Museum: The Zimbabwe Military Museum in Gweru serves as the country’s National Army and Aviation Museum. Various displays portray the history of the Army, Air Force and Police. In addition to the aircrafts, visitors can view aero engines, uniforms and equipment associated with Zimbabwe’s military history in the Museum’s seven galleries including the foyer, the military history gallery, armored vehicle hanger, police gallery, Guinea Fowl School Memorial hut and the artillery hanger.
Gweru Boggie Tower: Gweru Boggie clock tower was erected in 1937 by Jeannie, the widow of Major William James Boggie in memory of her late husband. The Major, who was once the MP for the Midlands area in the Rhodesian parliament, is best remembered for having put forward the original Bill for the establishment of Hwange Game Reserve. The tower is believed to be a place where some business people in Gweru perform rituals, often around midnight. It is said they pour oil or sprinkle different types of other liquids around the tower.
Dinner and overnight stay at the lodge
Breakfast at the lodge
Check out and road transfer to Bulawayo (The City of Kings)
Arrival and check in at a Lodge
Half day Bulawayo City Tour
Bulawayo Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe: The Natural Museum of Zimbabwe located in the Centenary Park in Bulawayo, was built in 1962, and in 1982 all the natural science collections were moved here. It was then renamed the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s largest and best museum makes for an essential visit. Set over three floors, it offers a great overview of the country’s natural, anthropological and geological history. Its highlight is its taxidermy display, which includes a monster elephant, shot 160km south from here. There’s also an impressive collection of gemstones, showcasing the country’s astounding wealth of natural resources. The Museum is a center is a collection of live snakes, including black mambas and cobras.
Bulawayo Arts gallery: Set in a beautiful 100-year-old, colonial, double-terrace Edwardian building, the National Art Gallery shows temporary and permanent exhibitions of contemporary Zimbabwean sculpture and paintings. The Gallery is tasked with the creative and intellectual discipline to select, to nurture and commend outstanding works of visual art, to select and display pivotal works, to generate and improve upon existing talent, to train and develop artistic skills, to educate, to empower, to mediate, and mostly to celebrate.
Mzilikazi High Density Suburb: Named after King Mzilikazi. It the oldest suburb in Bulawayo, interact with the local community. Visit the local famous mart and smaple the traditional Ndebele medicines. The market is also rich in small grains traced from way back ancient settlement and edible insects such as catapillars/Amacimbi/Macimbi. Learn about Ndebele culture, how some of their artifacts and clothing are still made from animal skin.
Dinner and overnight stay
Breakfast
Full day tour at Matopo: Experience Matobo National Park breathtaking landscape of bald granite outcrops and gravity-defying balancing rocks. Matopos holds a deep-rooted cultural and historical significance that has shaped its identity as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its sacred entrenchment for the surrounding communities makes this destination truly unique. A scenic highlight is the World’s View, commanding granite whaleback topped by Cecil John Rhodes’ tomb. Often referred to as Matopos, The park hosts an abundance of prehistoric rock art at Nswatugi Cave and Bambata Cave, and it’s the best place in Zimbabwe to track rhinos. Its dramatic natural rock formations of the Matobo Hills for over many millennia. This interaction has produced one of the most outstanding rock art collections in southern Africa; it has also fostered strong religious beliefs, which still play a major role in contemporary local society; and it demonstrates an almost uninterrupted association between man and his environment over the past 100,000 years.
The Matobo Hills have one of the highest concentrations of rock art in Southern Africa dating back at least 13,000 years. The paintings illustrate evolving artistic styles and also socio-religious beliefs. The whole bears testimony to a rich cultural tradition. The rich evidence from archaeology and from the rock paintings at Matobo provides evidence that the Matobo Hills have been occupied over a period of at least 500,000 years. Furthermore, this evidence provides a very full picture of the lives of foraging societies in the Stone Age and the way agricultural societies eventually came to displace them in the Iron Age. The Matobo rocks are seen as the seat of God and of ancestral spirits. Sacred shrines within the hills are places where contact can be made with the spiritual world. The living traditions associated with the shrines represent one of the most powerful intangible traditions in southern Africa.
Njelele Shrine Matopos: The Njelele Shrine in Matopos is one of the top Rainmaking shrines in Zimbabwe located outside the southwestern fringes of Matobo National Park (now inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO. A place which is deemed sacred by adherents to the African Traditional Religion, Njelele has been used for many years. Many spirit mediums convene here to communicate with ancestral spirits and conduct rain-making ceremonies to ‘ask for the rains’. It is also called Mabweadziva or Matonjeni. It is located in the southernmost parts of the Matobo National Park. The Ndebele, who settled near the Matobo hills in the early 19th century, also adopted the Mwari cult, giving it a new name, Mlimo.
Lunch in Matopo.
dinner and overnight at the lodge
Breakfast at the lodge
Road transfer to Great Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe Ruins)
Lunch served in Zvishavane
Several stops along the way interacting with different local communities
Arrival and check in at the Lodge
Dinner and overnight stay at the lodge
Breakfast at the lodge
Great Zimbabwe full day tour: UNESCO has called it the greatest stone monument in Africa south of the Sahara and is the second largest after Egypt Pyramids. Discover its intriguing ancient history and its famous architecture. The first people to live at Great Zimbabwe were Bantu-speaking and the ancestors of the Shona people. They arrived around 400 AD and only started to build the city seen today during the 1100s.But, like Mapungubwe and Thulamela, Great Zimbabwe had a ruling class. They seemed to have controlled their wealth through the management of cattle, which was the staple food.Great Zimbabwe was part of a large and wealthy global trading network. Archaeologists have found pottery from China and Persia, as well as Arab coins in the ruins there. The walls were built without mortar, relying on carefully shaped rocks to hold the wall’s shape on their own. Inside the enclosure is a second set of walls, following the same curve as the outside walls, which end in a stone tower 10 meters (33 feet) high.
Lunch at Great Zimbabwe restaurant
transfer back to the lodge
Dinner and overnight stay at the lodge
Breakfast at the lodge
Mutirikwi Full day tour
Lake Mutirikwi boat cruise: Enjoy boat cruises on the lake. It’s a great way to explore the area and spot wildlife. You’ll find wildlife like white rhinoceros, buffaloes, eland, zebra, wildebeest, and more. The views are spectacular, especially from the areas overlooking the lake. Take the opportunity to use your binoculars to spot the beautiful gardens that create a birdwatcher’s paradise.
Lunch served
Karanga Culture Village;Bringing the Karanga Culture to Life. Chesvingo Karanga Village located in Masvingo is the center for the preservation of Karanga Culture by the Karanga a clan of Shona people. They are well known for subsistence agricultural field activities such as weeding, herding livestock in which cattle are the most priced possession. Visit the Chesvingo Karanga Village to learn more about the tangible and intangible heritage base for the Zimbabwean culture, the traditional music, dances, games, and diverse traditional food such as sadza prepared from rapoko and sorghum. They are also ancient granaries, caves, and rock paintings that depict the past with lessons to the new generation
Dinner and overnight stay at the lodge
Breakfast
Road transfer back to Harare
Lunch along the way. Several stops at sites of interest
Overnight stay at the lodge/Hotel
Check out and transfer to the airport
Package Information
Inclusions
- All meals as per itinerary (fully inclusive)
- All activities
- All entry fees
- All transfers
- 01 X tour leader Complimentary
- Minimum 10 guests
Excluded
- Expenses of a personal nature
- Flights are quoted separately