Bulawayo

Wide tree-lined avenues, parks and charming colonial architecture make Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, an attractive one. It has a lovely historic feel to it, and it's worth spending a night or two, especially given it's a gateway to Matobo National Park, and an ideal staging point for Hwange National Park and Vic Falls.

The city dates back to pre-colonial days, when it was founded in the 1840s by the Ndebele king, Lobengula Khumalo. Nearly half a century later it was invaded by the British South Africa Company during the Matabele War, and colonised by Cecil Rhodes in 1894. The grand colonial architecture that stands today soon followed, and Bulawayo's claim to fame is that it had electric lighting (switched on in 1897) before London did! The population today remains majority Ndebele.