Well-known for its Rhodesian culture and original people, Zimbabwe is a much-desired place, where the adventurers and travellers want to visit.
Famous for its site-seeing, hunting, camping, rafting, animal rides and bungie jumping, the land of Lions, Zimbabwe is also popular for its UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Zimbabwe’s five UNESCO World Heritage Sites are the reason of attracting a good number of tourists to the nation and contributing to the tourism industry.
Great Zimbabwe Monument
The Great Zimbabwe Monument built near Masvingo is an ancient city that has struck the imagination of African and European travellers, since the Middle Ages for its unique artistic architectural achievements.
The monument has narration of its persistent legends which attribute to it a Biblical origin and the Queen of Sheba. The site is divided into three main areas: the Hill Complex, the Great Enclosure and the Valley Ruins.
First two are characterised by mortarless stone construction, but they also include ruined daga structures which are made of earthen and mud-brick, that once may have rivalled the stone buildings in grandeur.
Khami Ruins
Found near Bulawayo, the stone ruins are a unique and exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared now.
The architecture and archaeological artefacts of the site provide the important scientific and historical evidence which are critical for understanding the full chronological development of the Zimbabwe tradition from the Stone Age to the Iron Age era.
Khami Ruins is a Zimbabwe national monument which is built of terraced stone, and was capital of the Butua State of the Kingdom of Torwa dynasty.
Indeed, Khami is a ruined city located 22 kms west of Bulawayo, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
Matobo Hills
Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated near Bulawayo, is a hill of granite and have one of the highest concentrations of rock art in southern Africa. The rich evidence from archaeology and from the rock paintings provide a very full picture of the lives of foraging in the Stone Age and the way agricultural societies came to replace them.
Signifying the Rhodesian culture, Matobo Hills have a certain spirit about them from the scenery and wildlife to the cultural and historical aspects. The said legend is that Mzilikazi was buried in a secret cave in the eastern side of the hills.
It is one of the early pioneers of Cecil Rhodes who was buried on a hill at a place called, ‘The View of the World’. Stories of settlement and battles against imperialism surround the place.
Mana Pools, Sapi & Chewore Safari Areas
The annual congregation of animals along the broad Zambezi River is found near northern Zimbabwe. It constitutes the Africa’s outstanding wildlife spectacles.
Mana Pools National Park is known for the wildlife visibility besides the river and in the flood plains. Here one can found large population of elephants, hippos and Nile crocodiles that gather at sunrise in the Long Pool.
The surprising part is that in the south of the park, Lions wait for prey around the waterhole at Chitake Spring.
Victoria Falls: The Mosi-oa-Tunya
The most famous of all UNESCO World Heritage Site of Zimbabwe is ‘Victoria Falls’. It is the greatest curtain sheet of falling water in the world and is significant worldwide for its exceptional geological and geomorphological features.
Victoria Falls presents a spectacular sight of awe-inspiring beauty and grandeur on the Zambezi River, that naturally forms a border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The waterfall is described by the Kololo tribe, who live sin the area as ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya,’ which means the Smoke that Thunders, creating an immense spray and incredible noise caused by the rushing water.