Manicaland: Museums, Mountains and Waterfalls

At the Mutare Museum, you’ll encounter four subject areas: archaeology, ethnography, transport and natural history. The museum is located in Mutare, a city in Manicaland. This makes it a cultural highlight to include in your travel plans; the Chimanimani Mountains offer a different perspective on activities and scenery. You can explore the region through a range of interests: What do the museum exhibits show, which activities are associated with the mountains, and which waterfalls add to the landscape?

At the Mutare Museum: Exhibitions and Transport

The permanent transport gallery at the Mutare Museum features vintage cars, model ships, agricultural tractors, petrol pumps and carts. The collection brings together a variety of transport-related objects, from vehicles to model ships and petrol pumps. This gives the subject of transport a tangible presence among the museum’s exhibitions.

Archaeology, ethnography and natural history extend beyond the focus on transport. Together, the four subject areas offer different perspectives on human cultures, the past, natural history and transport. If you’d like to combine cultural and natural history interests on your trip, you can consider the Mutare Museum as a separate highlight alongside the landscapes and activities of Chimanimani.

Chimanimani: Activities and Waterfalls

The Chimanimani Mountains are associated with hiking, climbing, birdwatching and overnight stays in caves. Activities range from exploring the mountains on foot to watching birds and spending the night in caves. The mountains therefore appeal to different travel interests than the museum in Mutare. You can weigh up these different highlights when planning, depending on whether you’d rather focus on culture or outdoor activities.

Waterfalls in the Chimanimani protected areas include Bridal Veil Falls in the Eland Sanctuary, Muhohwa Falls, Digby Falls and Ragon Falls. Bundi Falls plunges from the massif towards the Haroni River. Bundi Falls is notable not only for its name but also for its clear direction through the landscape; the other names add to the selection of waterfalls that shape the regional scenery.

More places in the wider destination of Zimbabwe

In the wider destination of Zimbabwe, Great Zimbabwe and Khami offer further historical perspectives. The ruins of Great Zimbabwe bear witness to the Shona civilisation that flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries. The soapstone Zimbabwe Birds found in the ruins bear witness to the site’s use as a place of worship from antiquity to the present day. Khami was the capital of the Torwa dynasty, which emerged between 1450 and 1650 following the collapse of the Kingdom of Great Zimbabwe. Khami has the longest decorated wall in the entire subregion.

Zimbabwe’s natural history also offers a range of insights. Wildlife in Chimanimani National Park is not diverse; species found there include eland, bushbuck and blue duiker. The Mana Pools, Sapi and Chewore World Heritage Site is bordered to the north by the Zambezi River and to the south by a steep escarpment rising more than 1,000 metres above the valley floor. Every year during the dry winter months, elephants, buffalo, zebras, waterbuck, other antelope, lions and hyenas migrate into the area. More than 450 resident and migratory bird species have been recorded there.

Discover more destinations: Mutare, North Matabeleland, Mashonaland West.

Return to the main travel overview: Zimbabwe.