Things to Do in Bulawayo

Matobo National Park day trip

The granite kopjes south of the city look like something a giant child stacked and walked away from, balancing rocks the size of houses against the sky. Tracking walks turn up black and white rhinos here, plus the densest concentration of leopards in Africa (though you almost certainly won't see one), and Cecil Rhodes' grave atop World's View, where the wind does most of the talking. The San rock art at Nswatugi and Bambata caves is old. Properly old. Somewhere between two and ten thousand years, depending on which panel you're standing in front of.

Khami Ruins exploration

Khami sits about 22 kilometres west of the city and tends to get skipped in favour of Great Zimbabwe. That's a shame. You'll likely have the place almost to yourself. The dry-stone walling here is finer than at the more famous site, with decorative chevron and chequerboard patterns running along the terraces of what was once the capital of the Torwa state from the 15th century onwards. Visit late afternoon. The light at the Hill Complex is something else.

National Railway Museum afternoon

This is the kind of place where you arrive expecting fifteen minutes and leave two hours later. The collection of steam locomotives, including the Jack Tar and the old Cecil John Rhodes private coach, sits in semi-restored splendour on a stretch of original track near Raylton. Plan extra time. Volunteers (mostly former railwaymen with strong opinions about the relative merits of Garratt versus Pacific configurations) will happily walk you through the workshops where some of the engines are still being slowly brought back to life.

Hillside Dams nature reserve

A pair of small dams sit on the south-eastern edge of the city, ringed by mahogany and msasa trees. Locals walk dogs here. Birders come for the tinkerbirds and orange-breasted bush-shrikes. It's an unexpectedly quiet pocket given how close to the suburbs it sits, and the paths around the upper dam are easy enough for a morning's wander without any real planning. Watch the walls. A small monitor lizard might be sunning itself.

Bulawayo Railway and city centre walking circuit

Start at the Centenary Park gates and walk south past the Natural History Museum (worth ducking into for the stuffed elephant alone, which is the largest mounted specimen anywhere in the world), then loop through the colonial-era grid past Nesbitt Castle and back down Main Street. The sandstone facades, faded shop signs, and the occasional working art-deco cinema give the centre a sepia quality that photographs almost too easily. Bring a camera. You'll hear isiNdebele, Shona, and English mixing freely at every corner.

Suburbs (Hillside, Burnside, Kumalo): leafy, residential, where most of the upmarket guesthouses sit

Northend: mid-range guesthouses with garden settings, an easy drive from the centre

City centre: a handful of older hotels like the Bulawayo Club for the colonial atmosphere

Khumalo - quiet, residential, popular with longer-stay business travellers

Famona - close to the showgrounds, good for events visitors

Matsheumhlope: small boutique lodges with garden pools, a few minutes from Hillside Dams