Zimbabwe – Wangechi Gitahi Travels

Africa

Zimbabwe 101

By Wangechi Gitahi

Zimbabwe is officially referred to as the Republic of Zimbabwe and its capital city is Harere It is a landlocked country and is bordered by Mozambique to the East and Southeast, South Africa to the South, Zambia to the Northwest and Botswana to the West and Southwest. It has a population of about 16million people It has 16 official languages with the most commonly used being English, Ndebele and Shona It shares the famous Victoria Falls locally known as “Mosi-oa-Tunya” and means, “Smoke that thunder” with Zambia. Its main income earners are farming, mining and manufacturing. It gained its independence from Great Britain in 1980. It has one of the highest literacy levels in Africa. The main religion is Christianity and it is open to other religions. A Kenyan does not need a visa to visit Zimbabwe. Ensure you have all your documentation in order. For my exploits of Zimbabwe,…

Africa

Fascinating Bulawayo

By Wangechi Gitahi

This is the second largest city in Zimbabwe and is located in the South West. As we arrived, we didn’t have an itinerary thus were both intrigued and excited about what we would find. Our arrival into Bulawayo was great as the train station is neat and clean and devoid of the “madness” in most train stations. It is a great town where we met some amazing people, enjoyed beautiful scenery and I seemed to lose my mind in various instances. Highlights of Bulawayo: 1) Matopos National Park Matopos National Park is indeed an interesting place especially due to the Matobo Hills Rock formation. On every turn, boulders upon boulders of rocks can be seen and they are quite a sight. At times, they seemed as if they had been neatly arranged atop each other instead of having occurred naturally. One can easily see the effects of erosion on the…

Africa

Historical Great Zimbabwe

By Wangechi Gitahi

We heard about the town of Maswingo which is credited with being home to the “Great Zimbabwe ” ruins. Great Zimbabwe is famous as it is not only the previous capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, but, it is also classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its construction in the 11th century. It is believed that it was built by the Shona community and may have been the location of the royal palace for the royal monarchs. I highly highly recommend a visit as it is not only quite an adventure through their history, but is quite educational and beautiful. The main layout within reveals several small “cities” or villages that were fortified with stone walls. In some areas, these rocks seemed to be like a fort, an outer high wall protecting an inner city or homestead and stood at over five meters high. Within the forts…

Africa

Enchanting Victoria Falls

By Wangechi Gitahi

As we crossed over into Zimbabwe from Zambia, I was not too sure what to expect as most of what I had heard was negative. However, I chose to sidestep the stereotype and the negative narrative and decided to “explore” and define my own narrative. One of my main driving forces was that I wanted to see the majestic Victoria Falls locally known as “Mosi-oa-Tunya” that means the “The Smoke that Thunders” from the Zimbabwe side. While viewing them from the Zambia side, all the “smoke”, seemed to be in Zimbabwe and thus I opted to venture into Victoria Falls town that is home to the falls and is the border town. Sure enough, in December 2016, Victoria Falls was showing off more on the Zimbabwe side than the Zambia side and I am happy I opted to venture there. Zimbabwe thereafter chose to unravel more of its beauty to me…