The historical Bulawayo City Hall (clock tower) where its governing council meets in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Now the home of the current President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, it was also once the home of the British colonist Cecil Rhodes who with the British South Africa Company soldiers during the First Matabele War captured Bulawayo in 1893. (Oct. 29, 2024)
Media Category: Africa 2024 - Zimbabwe
The city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where we stopped for lunch and a brief walk around. That’s the Bulawayo National Art Gallery with the arches. (Oct. 29, 2024)
Views of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. This was also where we stopped for lunch and a quick walk around on a very hot day. (Oct. 29, 2024)
The city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where we stopped for lunch and a walk around. (Oct. 29, 2024)
The city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where we stopped for lunch and a walk around. (Oct. 29, 2024)
The city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where we stopped for lunch and a walk around. (Oct. 29, 2024)
The city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where we stopped for a quick lunch and a walk around on a very hot day. This is the Prince’s Park Mansion from 1931. (Oct. 29, 2024)
The uniformed girls done with school for the day in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. (Oct. 29, 2024)
The uniformed girls done with school for the day in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. (Oct. 29, 2024)
Arriving a little after 4:00 in the afternoon to the entrance gate of Burke’s Paradise in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, our campsite for two nights. Nothing about this place had anything vaguely to do with paradise except for the descent WiFi, which I paid $3 USD to use for the two days. (Oct. 29, 2024)
My tent at Burke’s Paradise in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This campsite was basically somebody backyard with a filthy pool and hard dirt ground. (Oct. 29, 2024)
The two doors to the left are the two showers and the one door to the right, which you cannot see, is the toilet at our Burke’s Paradise campsite in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. There was also another toilet and shower available close by. But this was by far the most depressing place we’ve stayed on this trip. (Oct. 29, 2024)
Burke’s Paradise in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, was basically somebody backyard with a filthy pool and dirt ground. (Oct. 29, 2024)
There was no other place at our Burke’s Paradise campsite in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to hang out but this kitchen, dining room, gathering area with outlets so we could charge our electronics and use the rather descent WiFi that we all paid $3 USD to use for our two days here. (Oct. 29, 2024)
Not sure how all of us fit into the tight 4×4 jeep to spend the day at the Matobo National Park in Zimbabwe, but we did. From rear left: Julia, Jill. Joyce, Samantha, Chrissy, Wadey, Kate, Chris, Simona, me, Courtney and Daniela. (Oct. 30, 2024)
The entrance to the Matobo National Park just outside of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. (Oct. 30, 2024)
Dumi, our Matobo National Park guide, educating us on the rhinos in the park. Although the rhinos are named Black and White, it’s not because of their coloring because both are grey, it’s because of the shape of their heads and their difference in temperament.
Black rhinos feed on leaves so their head is short. They are also very aggressive and will kill other animals and people. White rhinos are grazers feeding on grass and they are docile. They have a wide mouth along with a bigger head and body. Their horn, which they are poached or killed for, are bigger than the black rhinos. Unfortunately once a poacher shoots the rhino, they immediately cut off the horn whether the animal is dead or alive. Rhino horns are unfoundedly being used as an aphrodisiac and for medicinal purposes.
Starting in the late 1990s and early 2000s in order to protect the rhinos from poachers, conservationists began cutting down their horns. It is not permanent and they grow back.
So far, cutting down the horns and providing a protective zone with 24-7 surveillance. (Oct. 30, 2024)
The beautiful nature made rock sculptures of the Matobo Hills inside the Matobo National Park just outside of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. The Matobo Hills, a range of balancing rock formations, were created by the erosion of the granite plateau. (Oct. 30, 2024)