Overview
Referred to as the City of Kings, Bulawayo is a
multicultural hub in the southwest of Zimbabwe. The second-largest
city after Harare, it is regarded as a business and industrial
capital, partly due to its proximity to South Africa and
Botswana.
Once a thriving city, Bulawayo has experienced a
sharp decline in living standards and infrastructure over the past
decade. The city was once home to a number of large business
headquarters, including large manufacturing centres and
transportation company hubs. But many of these have since closed or
moved to Harare, leaving behind large-scale unemployment and poor
service delivery.
Nevertheless, Bulawayo remains the country's cultural
centre, with a large community of creatives and artists in the
city. Various theatre and dance productions, classical and
contemporary music events and open mic poetry evenings can be
enjoyed here.
The scattered parks, low colonial buildings, minimal
traffic, and wide tree-lined streets give Bulawayo a laidback
atmosphere. Close to the Kalahari Desert, Bulawayo is hot and dry
for most of the year, with enough rainfall in the summer to support
the natural vegetation of open woodland that surrounds the
city.
Bulawayo is the largest city near the tourist
hotspots of Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park and Matobo
National Park. The Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage for abandoned,
sick or wounded animals is a great educational outing for the kids,
as many exotic animals there are rescued pets and therefore
perfectly tame.
If you're stopping in, make sure to visit the city's
museums and parks. A good kid's attraction in Bulawayo is the
Bulawayo Railway Museum, one of only a few of its kind in the
world, which features some excellent colonial-era exhibitions.