Bulawayo

The city is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland. The capital of Matabeleland North is now Lupane, as Bulawayo is a stand-alone province.

Colloquially Bulawayo is also known by various names, these being the ‘City of Kings‘, ‘Skies‘, ‘Bluez‘, ‘Bulliesberg‘ or ‘KoNtuthu ziyathunqa‘ – a isiNdebele phrase for “a place that continually exudes smoke”. This name arose from the city’s historically large industrial base. The majority of the Bulawayo’s population belongs to the Ndebele ethnic and language group.

 As of the 2012 national census, the town has a population of 653,337.

For a long time in Zimbabwe’s history Bulawayo was regarded as the country’s industrial centre and the city served as the hub to the country’s rail network with the National Railways of Zimbabwe headquartered there because of its strategic position near Botswana and South Africa. It is the nearest large city to Hwange National Park, Matobo National Park and Victoria Falls.