Things to do in Bulawayo

Nature · About 35 km south

A UNESCO World Heritage landscape of balancing granite whalebacks, San rock paintings, black eagles and one of Africa's densest rhino populations.

Local tip: Go with a guide who will walk you to the paintings rather than driving you to the viewpoint. Do the rhino tracking on foot if you can — it is the single best day out available from any Zimbabwean city.

Landmark · About 22 km west

The dry-stone terraced capital of the Torwa state, successor to Great Zimbabwe, and the country's second UNESCO World Heritage site.

Local tip: Almost empty on a weekday. Go in the late afternoon when the light rakes across the decorated stonework, and take a hat — there is no shade on the terraces.

Culture · Centenary Park

One of the largest museum collections in southern Africa, with a mounted elephant that has been the city's landmark exhibit for generations.

Local tip: Give it two hours rather than the half you were planning. The geology and mammal halls are genuinely first-rate and it is a fraction of the price of anything comparable in the region.

Culture · Beside the main station

Steam locomotives, a Rhodesia Railways directors' saloon and rolling stock going quietly rusty in a yard next to the working line.

Local tip: Nobody goes, which is why it is worth it. Ask the caretaker to open the carriages — the stories about the Bulawayo–Victoria Falls run are the real exhibit.

Nature · Hillside

Two small colonial-era dams and their surrounding bush, run as a conservancy inside the suburbs — walking trails, birds and a tea garden.

Local tip: The nearest thing Bulawayo has to a public park with life in it. Go early on a Saturday; it is where the city walks its dogs and where you will meet people.

Landmark · City centre

Bulawayo's streets were laid out wide enough for a wagon and a full span of oxen to turn around, and the grid has never been narrowed.

Local tip: Walk Fife Street and Main Street on a Sunday morning when they are empty and the scale makes sense. The art deco and colonial-era facades along them are the best-preserved streetscape in Zimbabwe.