Cities in Zimbabwe

Covering cities in Zimbabwe namely Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare, Kwekwe and smaller towns

Key cities in Zimbabwe altogether are five in number. Harare is the capital of Zimbabwe and is located in Mashonaland region. Harare stands alone as one of the ten provinces in Zimbabwe. The City itself is best explained as New York City in New York State.Harare is fully covered here under capital of Zimbabwe. It is efficiently linked to other cities by a relatively good standard of road networks. It takes about 6 hours to drive from Bulawayo the furthest city from the capital.

Bulawayo

Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe and the capital of the Matebeland region. It has an estimated over 1 million people and lays some good 580km from the capital. It is the the nearest city to the borders with South Africa with Botswana being the closest. Bulawayo is served by daily flights from Johannesburg South Africa - South Africa Airways- and from Harare by the local airline Air Zimbabwe. It takes about 55 minutes by air from Harare to Bulawayo and daily morning and evening flights are available. However, Air Zimbabwe delays may occur.Air Zimbabwe also flies from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls. Charter flights can be arranged from Charles Prince Airport in Harare.

In the last two years some private players have set-up some luxury coaches which ply the Bulawayo-Harare route on a daily basis. It is also possible to travel to South Africa and Botswana from Bulawayo by bus. Bookings are made from Bulawayo. The rail network once used to be functional but has since almost collapsed and when functioning is plagued by heavy delays sometimes running into 24 hours.

Bulawayo is a hub city in Zimbabwe serving tourists visiting the Victoria Falls and Zimbabwean safaris and game parks in the southern part of the country. The hospitality of the Zimbabwe people is equally present in Bulawayo.

Like the capital Harare, Bulawayo has also badly dilapidated infrastructure as a result of the terrible 10 years of steady economic and political decline in Zimbabwe. It is run by the opposition political party MDC which is a splinter group from the Morgan Tsvangirai led MDC with head offices in Harare.

Still on politics, Bulawayo is also home base for the recently re-launched ZAPU party which announced its dis-unity from ZANU PF led by Robert Gabriel Mugabe who is also the President of Zimbabwe Perception wise most Zimbabweans and outsiders have long viewed ZAPU as a tribal party catering for the Ndebele people in Matebeland which Bulawayo is found. The party is however making frantic efforts to change that perception and present itself as a national party for all Zimbabweans.

In terms of public transportation within the city, most visitors prefer private and professional taxi cabs than non-time bound abusive daily public transport called combiz.

Bulawayo has some hotel accommodation of relatively good standards. The key city hotels include Holiday Inn.


Gweru

Located in the Midlands province, Gweru is amongst the important cities in Zimbabwe. It is the capital of the Midlands region which lays at the heart of Zimbabwe. Gweru does not have much to offer in terms of tourism or places of heritage. It is a popular stopover point for travelers between Harare and Bulawayo. It offers no first class hotels but will certainly accommodate the back-packer.

Kwekwe

Kwekwe comes before Gweru when traveling from Harare to Bulawayo. It is a relatively small city with a population of about 500 000 people. It mostly developed as a result of gold mining and later established itself as the center of iron production with the near-by Ziscosteel Zimbabwe's largest steel producer, perhaps the biggest in Southern Africa. Few travelers make Kwekwe their destination but rather pass through on the way to Harare or Bulawayo.

Mutare

Mutare is commonly known as a border town between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It takes less than 10 minutes of driving to cross into Mozambique from Mutare in Zimbabwe. It is also a key tourism hub for visitors coming to the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The city is itself surrounded by mountains and popular tourist attractions in Manicaland include Nyanga which is a town in itself.

Other smaller towns in Zimbabwe include Kariba, Masvingo, Chinhoyi, Kadoma, Marondera, Bindura, Victoria falls, Chiredzi and Rusape. These small towns have set goals to apply for city status and over time many of them get closer to the goal.

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