Land of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is situated in the Southern part of the continent of Africa between latitude 15 30 and 22 30 South of the Equator and between longitude 25 and 33 10 East of the Greenwich Meridian.
The Republic of Zimbabwe, covers an area of approximately 390,757 square kilometers (150,872 square miles). The country is bordered by Mozambique to the East, South Africa to the South, Botswana to the South-East and Zambia to the North and North-West. Zimbabwe is completely landlocked.
Zimbabwe lies astride the high plateaux between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It consists of four relief regions. The “high-veld” extends across the country from South-West to North-East from Plumtree through Gweru and Marondera to Nyanga. It is most extensive in the North-East. This plateau is 650 kilometers long, 80 kilometers wide and lies mostly at an altitude between 1200 and 1500 meters above sea level. On each side of this central spine sloping down northward of the Zambezi River and southward to the Limpopo River, lies a wider plateau, the “middle-veld” with an altitude between 600 and 1200 meters. Beyond this, mostly in the South, where the Save, Lundi and Nuanetsi rivers drain, lies the “low-veld”. The low-veld consists of the Zambezi Valley and the Limpopo and Save basins and the altitude is below 600 meters.
These three areas have undulating plateaux with surfaces broken locally by rock formations, some quite large. for example the Great Dyke, a remarkable feature of over 480 kilometers long and approximately 10 kilometers wide. The fourth physical region known as the “Eastern Highlands”, is distinctive because of its mountainous character. This area is extremely mountainous with many peaks exceeding 1800 meters and Inyangani reaching heights of 2594 meters.
