Facts at a Glance
Full country name: Republic of Zimbabwe
Area: 390,000
sq km
Population: 11.2 million
Capital city: Harare
(population 1.6 million)
People: Shona (76%), Ndebele (18%),
Batonka (2%), Shangaan (1%), Venda (1%), European,
Asian
Languages: Shona, Ndebele, English
Religion:
Christian, Mwari
Government: Parliamentary
democracy
President: Robert Gabriel Mugabe
Environment
Zimbabwe, a landlocked blob with a
western spike, is roughly the same size as the UK if you chucked an extra
Scotland in. It's in south-eastern Africa, bordered by Mozambique to the
east and north-east, Zambia to the north-west, Botswana to the south-west
and South Africa to the south. Four countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana
and Namibia - meet at a single point at the country's westernmost pointy
extreme.
The north-west consists mostly of plateaux, characterised by bushveld
dotted with small rocky outcrops and bald knob-like domes of slickrock,
making for an acne-writ-large landscape. The hot dry lowveld of southern
Zimbabwe is comprised mainly of level savanna, sloping almost
imperceptibly towards the Limpopo River on the border with South Africa.
The Eastern Highlands, straddling the Mozambique border, are Zimbabwe's
main mountainous region. The highest peak is Nyangani, which rises 2592m
(8500ft) near the northern end of the range.
The critters, crawlies and crops in Zimbabwe are mind-boggling.
Elephant, buffalo, lion, cheetah, hyena, jackal, monkey and antelope are
amongst the wildlife grazing, gobbling, louching and lounging around the
national parks. Species which are unique to Zimbabwe or found only in
limited ranges elsewhere, include the rare nyala, the king cheetah and the
samango monkey. Zimbabwe is also one of Africa's last rhinoceros ranges,
and both black and white rhino are present, albeit in small numbers.
Zimbabwe's cutest strapling is the sausage tree, which takes its name
from the immense sausage-shaped brown fruits which grow to a
barbecue-busting 1m (3ft) in length and 18cm (7in) in diameter. The fruit
is a favourite antelope nibbly, but is also dried and turned into a paste
by humans to use as an ointment. Sausage-tree cream is gaining
international recognition as a cure for basal-cell carcinoma, a form of
skin cancer associated with aging and prolonged exposure to the sun. Look
out for it in pharmacies if you're feeling a bit spotty.
Because Zimbabwe stretches over a high plateau averaging 900m (3000ft)
above sea level, it's not as hot as the latitude would suggest. Winter
(May to October) is similar to the Mediterranean summer with warm, sunny
days and cool, clear nights. It never snows, not even in the Eastern
Highlands, but overnight frosts and freezing temperatures are not uncommon
on the plateaux. The lowveld and the Zambezi Valley experience hotter and
more humid temperatures, but in winter there's still very little rainfall.
Most of Zimbabwe's rain falls in brief afternoon deluges and electrical
storms in the relatively humid summer months (November to April).
History
Southern Africa's human history extends
back through the millennia to the first rumblings of humanity on the
planet. The first upright-walking 'hominids' established themselves in the
savannas of southern and eastern Africa nearly 4 million years ago. These
human-like creatures slowly developed into persons-as-we-know-'em as more
sophisticated tools were produced and climatic conditions became more
favourable. By the middle Stone Age, which lasted until 20,000 years ago,
organised hunting and gathering societies had been established, and by
8000BC, late Stone Age people occupied rock shelters and caves all over
southern Africa. The first inhabitants of Zimbabwe were probably nomadic,
adaptable San groups, gradually absorbed by Khoi-Khoi grazier tribes, and
slowly transmuting into a culture known as Khoisan.
Bantu-speaking farmers, either Khoisan settlers or Iron Age migrants
from the north, were the first occupants of the Great Zimbabwe site in the
south of the country. Between 500 and 1000AD, the Gokomere (a Bantu group
into gold-mining and cattle ranching) enslaved and absorbed San groups in
the area. As early as the 11th century, some foundations and stonework
were in place at Great Zimbabwe and the settlement, generally regarded as
the nascent Shona society, became the trading capital of the wealthiest
and most powerful society in south-eastern Africa. The hilltop acropolis
at Great Zimbabwe came to serve not only as a fortress but as a shrine for
the worship of Mwari, the pre-eminent Shona deity. By the 15th century,
Great Zimbabwe's influence had begun to decline, due to a heady cocktail
of overpopulation, overgrazing, popular uprisings and political
fragmentation.
Zimbabwe Scenery
The Shona dynasties fractured into autonomous states, many of which
later formed the Rozwi state, which encompassed over half of present-day
Zimbabwe well into the 19th century. In 1834, Ndebele raiders invaded from
the south, assassinated the Rozwi leader and established a Ndebele state
with the capital at Bulawayo. Meanwhile, European gold seekers and ivory
hunters from the Cape were moving into Shona and Ndebele territory. The
best known of these was Cecil John Rhodes who envisioned a corridor of
British-style 'civilisation' stretching all the way from the Cape to
Cairo. Sanctioned by Queen Victoria, white settlers swarmed in, led by the
heavy-handed Rhodes. By 1895, the new country was being referred to as
Rhodesia and a white legislature was set up. By 1911 there were some
24,000 settlers.
Amazingly, the Ndebele and Shona natives weren't overly delighted about
the colonists coming in and telling them what was what, even though the
Brits were ever so reasonable about everything and had jolly nice safari
suits. Jihad-like revolts, raids and razzing in the last years of the 19th
century became known as Chimurenga, the War for Liberation, but the fight
stalled in 1897 when the crusade leaders were captured and hanged.
Conflicts between black and white came into sharp focus during the 1920s
and 30s through referenda and legislation which excluded black Africans
from ownership of the best farmland and from skilled trades and
professions. The effect was to force Africans to work on white farms and
in mines and factories. Poor wages and conditions led to rebellion and
African political parties emerged.
Ian Smith became Rhodesian president in 1964 and began pressing for
independence. When he realised that Britain's conditions for cutting the
tether wouldn't be accepted by Rhodesia's whites, he made a Unilateral
Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was declared illegal by
Britain, and the UN imposed sanctions (mostly ignored) in 1968. The
African parties opted for increasingly fierce guerilla warfare (known as
the Second Chimurenga) and whites began to abandon their homes and farms.
Smith tried ceasefires, amnesties, secret talks and sneaky assassinations,
all of which failed to curb the fighting. Finally, he was forced to call a
general non-racial election and hand over leadership to Abel Muzorewa, an
African National Congress member.
Internationally, Muzorewa was taken about as seriously as the Spice
Girls, and when Margaret Thatcher became British PM in 1979, she applied
steely fix-it attention to the situation. A constitution was painfully
thrashed out between Smith, Muzorewa, and other high-ranking nationalists
such as Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe. In the carefully monitored
election of March 1980, Mugabe prevailed by a wide margin and Zimbabwe
joined the ranks of Africa's independent nations.
Mugabe, a committed Marxist, has hung on to power ever since. He's
survived resurgent rivalry and guerilla activity through a canny
combination of dirty government, gerrymander and intimidation. It seems
unlikely that Mugabe will ever get his one-party state - especially after
the collapse of the USSR, the landslide defeat of Kaunda (a very mixed-up
Marxist) in neighbouring Zambia and the increasingly strident demands by
the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and aid donors for the
introduction of greater democratic measures in return for loan or aid.
Zimbabwe's citizens have become increasingly impatient with Mugabe as
his large-scale mismanagement has filtered down as hip-pocket pinch. In
Harare in early 1998 the dissatisfaction spilt over into open hostility,
riots and looting. On a positive note, the country is recovering from the
catastrophic drought of the early 1990s: the 1995-96 season brought the
best rainfall in decades and things began looking cheerier for both
farmers and wildlife.
Economic
Profile
GDP: US$18 billion
GDP per head:
US$1,600
Inflation: 25%
Major industries: Mining,
agriculture, clothing, tourism
Major trading partners: South
Africa, UK, Argentina, US, Japan
Culture
Artists are highly esteemed in Zimbabwean
society and a greater percentage of artists make a viable living from
their trade than in most other countries. In fact, Zimbabweans seem to
take a measure of artistic talent for granted. Traditional arts, most of
which are still practised, include pottery, basketry, textiles, jewellery
and carving. Perhaps most notable for their quality and beauty are the
symmetrically patterned woven baskets and stools carved from a single
piece of wood. Shona sculpture, a melding of African folklore with
European artistic training, has been evolving over the past few decades.
One recurring theme is the metamorphosis of man into beast, the prescribed
punishment for violations such as making a meal of one's totem animal.
Most of the work is superb and a few Zimbabwean sculptors are recognised
among the world's best.
Zimbabwean's mesmerising music has always been an important part of its
cultural life. African legends are punctuated by musical choruses in which
the audience participates, and social events (such as weddings, funerals,
harvest and births) are each accompanied by unique songs. Traditional
musical instruments include the marimba, a richly-toned wooden
xylophone and the mbira, a cute plinky-plonky device more commonly
known as a thumb piano. The oddest percussion instrument used in Zimbabwe
are the mujejeje ('stone bells'). Many stones in granite outcrops
around the country have exfoliated in such a way that when struck, they
resound with a lovely bell-like tone (Zimbabwe's first rock music? - ow).
Harare is one of Africa's great musical centres, attracting South African
exiles and indigenous musicians performing variations on Chimurenga
music, inspired by the wars of independence.
Drumming
up a storm (24K)
Between 40% and 50% of Zimbabweans belong to Christian churches, but
their belief system is characterised more by a hybrid of Christian and
traditional beliefs than by dogmatic Christianity. The Mwari cult, a
monotheistic animist belief system which entails ancestor worship, and
spiritual proxy and intercession, is the dominant non-Christian religion.
Mwari, the unknowable supreme being, speaks to his human subjects through
The Voice of Mwari, a cave-dwelling oracle who is most often female. The
oracle serves as an intercessionary between the spirits, the god and the
people, especially in cases of natural disaster or outside aggression. It
was the oracle, in fact, who received the go-ahead to begin the First
Chimurenga (rebellion) in 1896.
English is the official language of Zimbabwe, but it is a first
language for only about 2% of the population. The rest of the people are
native speakers of Bantu languages, the two most prominent of which are
Shona, spoken by 76% of the population, and Sindebele, spoken by 18%.
Although most urban Zimbabweans have at least a little knowledge of
English, once you're out in the sticks, a few words of Shona or Sindebele
will go a long way. Annoying co-travellers can be swiftly despatched by
dedicated practising of the Sindebele 'clicks', made by drawing the tongue
away from the front teeth, slapping it on the roof of the mouth, or
drawing it quickly sideways from the right upper gum.
Zimbabwean cuisine is mostly the legacy of bland British fare combined
with normally stodgy African dishes. The dietary staple is sadza -
the white maize meal porridge upon which most local meals are built. The
second component is nyama - meat, usually beef or chicken, but also
crocodile, kudu and impala. Fruit and vegetables are limited, but don't
miss gem squash, a delicious type of marrow.
The alcoholic tipple of the masses is chibuku, 'the beer of good
cheer'. Served up in buckets which are passed between partakers, it has
the appearance of hot cocoa, the consistency of thin gruel and a
deceptively mellow build up to the knockout punch. It's not at all tasty.
Chibuku is drunk mainly in high-density township beer halls - a distinctly
male social scene. Coffee addicts who want to kick the habit should think
about a holiday in Zimbabwe. Although coffee is grown in the Eastern
Highlands, it's mostly for export and there's not a Gaggia in sight. Most
of what passes for coffee is an abomination known as Daybreak, a revolting
blend of 10% instant coffee and 90% chicory.
Events
The most pleasant cultural events will be
those you run across incidentally: a rural fair, a primary school theatre
production, a traditional wedding or a town anniversary. You'll almost
certainly be welcomed to share in local festivities.
There are also several fixed events. On 18 April, Independence
Day festivities are celebrated around the country, and in late May,
Africa Day commemorates past independence struggles. On 11 and 12
August, the Zimbabwean military forces are feted and heroes of the
independence movement are honoured. There's also the enormous Zimbabwe
Agricultural Society Show, held at the Harare showgrounds around the
end of August, and the Houses of Stone Music Festival, a
celebration of traditional Zimbabwean music that takes place in Harare on
a different date each year.
Facts for
the Traveller
Visas: Most visitors are not required to obtain a visa for stays
of up to 90 days.
Health
risks: Bilharzia, cholera, malaria, rabies, yellow
fever.
Time: GMT/UTC plus two hours
Electricity:
220V
Weights & measures: Metric (see conversion
table)
Tourism: About 500,000 visitors per year
Money & Costs
Map of Zimbabwe (15K)
Zimbabwe Scenic Tour
When to Go
Attractions
Activities
Getting There & Away
Getting Around
Recommended Reading
Lonely Planet Guides
Travellers' Reports
On-line Info