Hwange
Hwange is a town in Zimbabwe.
The town is located in Matebeland North Province along the main Bulawayo/Victoria Falls road and railway line a 109km from Victoria Falls.
Background:
The town houses the offices of Hwange Town Council, as well as the headquarters of Hwange District Administration.
Hwange and the surrounding countryside is a centre for the coal industry in Zimbabwe. Hwange Colliery is the largest in the country, with proven reserves that are estimated to last over 1,000years at current production levels.
The Wankie Coal Field, one of the largest in the world, was discovered here in 1895 by the American Scout Frederick Russell Burnham. Today the coal for the whole country is transported by the mining railway to Thomson Junction, where it is handed over to the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) for onward transmission. In 2010, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique signed an agreement to develop a railway for the export of coal to Technobanine Point near Maputo.
Hwange is also a tourism centre due to the presence of the nearby Hwange National Park, the largest National Park in Zimbabwe. The national park is home to a vast number of elephant, giraffe, lion and other wildlife.
Royal Bank Zimbabwe, a commercial bank, maintains a branch in the town. Zimbabwe’s biggest power plant, Hwange Thermal Power Station, was built here in the 1980s.
