Zimbabwe · Southern Africa
Matobo and the Eastern Highlands.
Matobo is granite, rock art and rhino tracking on foot; the Eastern Highlands are green mountains that look nothing like the rest of the country.
Photo Joshua van der Schyff / Unsplash
Matobo Hills is a World Heritage Site for its rock art and its landscape of balancing granite kopjes, and it is one of the better places in Africa to track white rhino on foot.
The Eastern Highlands along the Mozambican border are walking, riding and fishing country — cool, forested and almost entirely absent from standard itineraries.
How do you get to Matobo?
Through Bulawayo, whose airport has flights from Johannesburg and Harare. Matobo National Park is about 35 kilometres south of the city. Bulawayo is also reached by road from Victoria Falls and Hwange.
What is the rock art in the Matobo Hills?
Thousands of paintings left by San hunter-gatherers in the caves and shelters between the granite hills, showing people, animals and scenes of hunting. Nswatugi Cave and the White Rhino Shelter are among the best-known sites. The rock art and the living religious traditions of the hills are why Matobo was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
Can you track rhino on foot in Matobo?
Yes. Both black and white rhino live in the park's intensive protection zone, and guided walks track them on foot. It is one of the few places in southern Africa where that is routinely possible.
What is World's View in Matobo?
A granite dome, Malindidzimu, with a view across the hills, where Cecil Rhodes is buried. It is one of the park's most visited points.
What is there to see in Matobo and the Eastern Highlands?
What does Matobo and the Eastern Highlands pair well with?
- HwangeHwange is Zimbabwe's largest park and holds one of the biggest elephant populations in Africa.
- Victoria FallsThe Zimbabwean side holds most of the panoramic frontage, and the town is the region's adventure capital.
- Mana PoolsMana Pools is a World Heritage Site on the Zambezi and one of the few African parks where you may walk unguided — though almost nobody should.
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