Zimbabwe Attractions

Harare

Harare is the capital and heart of Zimbabwe, and has just enough attractions and restaurants to keep most weary and jaded travellers satisfied for several days. It's a bizarre mix of visual information - in any one day you can feel as though you've stepped back into the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s or '90s.

Most travellers will spend their time in the fairly orderly streets of 'town' with its high-rise buildings ranging from cool to quirky. The relatively small city centre is busy, a mix of office workers and shoppers from all walks of life. Shopping in and around Robert Mugabe St is more hectic, with Indian fabric shops, cheap shoe and clothes shops from other Eastern markets and outlets for car spares.

Contrast this with the quiet, green suburban streets (known as 'low density' areas) which heave with oversized gardens (complete with tennis courts and pools) spilling out over high, house-concealing walls onto handsome grass-and-tree-lined roads, which themselves are busy with uniformed maids, gentlemen on bicycles and snappily dressed school kids.

The transit routes out of town are dotted with designated pick-up spots and hoards of hopefuls waiting patiently for rides to their rural areas - either for good or just for the weekend. Waiting with a bed or an entire lounge suite does not seem to make a lot of difference to one's prospects.

But cut to the places where visitors rarely go, the 'high-density areas', or townships, and you'll find a timeless and vibrant African feel where people promenade, sit and chat, or upturn boxes to create a fresh produce stall - even with as little as two tomatoes.

Matobo National Park

You need not be a woman who runs with the wolves to sense that the Matobo Hills are one of the world's power places. Dotted around the park are a wealth of ancient San paintings and old grain bins, where warriors once stored their provisions.

Some hidden niches still shelter clay ovens that were used as iron smelters to make spears used against the colonial hordes. Some peaks, such as Shumba, Shaba and Shumba Sham, are considered sacred and locals believe that even to point at them will bring misfortune.