Matobo National Park

• World's View (Malindidzimu)

  National Monument No. 4: a short walk from the car park up a bald dome ringed by boulders, where a brass plate reads Here lie the remains of Cecil John Rhodes. Jameson and Charles Coghlan, Southern Rhodesia's first prime minister, lie near him. The Shangani Memorial, 102 m south-east, was designed by Herbert Baker with bronze panels by John Tweed and unveiled on 5 July 1904; its inscription ends There was no survivor.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, World's View Matobo, Rhodes' grave and the Shangani Memorial
• Nswatugi Cave

  Two big shaded giraffe dominate the main frieze, with a line of six kudu below, elephant, a white rain bull and a camp of sleepers wrapped in karosses (skin cloaks). Its top ash layer held tools 6,500 to 10,000 years old, and the cave gave up what are probably the oldest human remains found in Zimbabwe. Walk the last stretch from the signpost; the track to the car park is in very poor condition.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Nswatugi Cave rock art paintings
• Inanke Cave

  About 7 km and three hours on foot from the Toghwana Dam wall, so few people get here. A painted band nine metres wide runs across the wall: giraffe, eland, kudu, zebra, fish, a file of tall stick men marching with weapons on their shoulders and a block of sixteen linked ovals read as a trance symbol. Peter Garlake rated its yellow and white giraffe the finest animal painting in the country. Take a ZimParks guide the first time.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Inanke Cave
• White Rhino Shelter

  A small overhang close to the road to World's View. Five wildebeest drawn in outline share the wall with eight hunters in full stride, and the fading rhino, with the long skull and low-carried head of a white rhino, is the painting that later helped bring the species back to the park.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, White Rhino Shelter, Matobo National Park
• Bambata Cave

  Probably the most excavated cave in Zimbabwe, first explored in 1917, and home of Bambata ware, thin-walled stamped pottery of the first millennium AD; sheep bones and teeth in the upper layers suggest its makers kept livestock. The paintings include elephant, rhino, giraffe and tsessebe. The old track from the Kezi road is overgrown and its gate locked, so you go in through the Whovi Wild Area game park and walk under 1 km up the dwalas (bare granite slopes).

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Bambata Cave rock art paintings
• Mzilikazi's grave, Entumbane

  National Monument No. 41, signposted off the Old Gwanda Road 21.8 km from where it leaves Matopos Road, then a farm track and a short walk down steps into a shallow valley. The cave tomb is behind conifers and a metal fence. Take your hat off: this is the grave of the Ndebele nation's founder, and the monuments authority says it belongs to the Khumalo family.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Mzilikazi's Grave
• Rhodes Indaba site

  The fenced spot where Rhodes first met the indunas on 21 August 1896, about 70 km south-east of Bulawayo by the A6 towards Gwanda and an untarred road across the Nsezi stream. It is a long way from the main park and needs a car with good ground clearance, so it suits people following the 1896 story.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, The Matabele uprising or First Umvukela Indaba Site

• When the national park was proclaimed in 1953, a survey reckoned the land could carry about 400 families and 4,000 cattle. It found 1,750 families and 13,800 head of stock living there. Over half the park was then handed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the 70 or so families left in the rest were moved out. source
• The white rhino in the park are there partly because of a painting. The outline rhino at the White Rhino Shelter weighed with the parks authorities when they decided to bring the species back, and the first four animals, a bull and three cows, arrived from Zululand in May 1962. The two calves born in 1968 were the first in the park conceived in Rhodesia. source
• The hills hold about 75 pairs of Verreaux's eagle (the black eagle), and several of the raptors here live mainly on dassies (rock hyrax). Fifty-nine birds of prey, owls included, have been recorded and 32 of them breed here. source
• One story of the name has Mzilikazi told the domes were called madombo and answering that he would call them matobo, an Ndebele play on bald heads. Another says the Lozwi named the hills. Matobo is the spelling that matches how people in the area say it; Matopos lives on in the park's 1926 name and in Matopos Road out of Bulawayo. source
• Rhodes's coffin spent its last night at his summer-house on the Matopos road, an open-sided thatched dining shelter he built in 1897 off Matopos Road, short of the national park. It has burnt down three times since 1902 and after the last fire, in the 1980s, nobody rebuilt it. Only the cement floor and a monument plaque are left, on land that is now an agricultural research station. source

Checked 19 October 2026.

• likelyWhite rhinoThe fenced Whovi game park in the west, a patrolled rhino zone with its own entry fee. Rhino here are tracked on foot with a guide or scout, and Expert Africa's travellers almost all find them. All yearsource
• likelyVerreaux's (black) eagleOver the granite hills. ZimParks says the park has the highest concentration of black eagles, and of their breeding pairs, in the world. All yearsource
• likelyRock hyrax (dassie)On the granite kopjes. They are the reason the leopards are here: ZimParks puts them at half of a Matobo leopard's diet. All yearsource
• likelyGiraffe, zebra, wildebeest and impalaWhovi game park, which was stocked with animals moved from the border areas of Hwange National Park. All yearsource
• possibleSable antelopeAcross the park. Expert Africa says they are often seen, though only about one in five of its travellers reports one. All yearsource
• possibleKudu and elandAcross the park. Expert Africa counts 12 antelope species recorded so far. All yearsource
• possibleHippoDams in the game park. ZimParks lists them, and one overlanding couple found a few at Mpophoma Dam on a hot midday stop when little else was out. All yearsource
• rareBlack rhinoTracked on foot. One Bulawayo operator runs black rhino tracking separately from its white rhino walks, for four people at most and only booked ahead. All yearsource
• rareLeopardAcross the hills, which hold the densest leopard population in the world. The density is famous, the sightings are not: Expert Africa's travellers report none at all. Baboons screaming in the night are often a leopard on the hunt. Late afternoon and early evening if you get luckysource

Likelihood is for a normal visit of two or three days, from the sources linked. Nothing is guaranteed in the wild.

• Toghwana Dam to Inanke Cave14 KM · ABOUT 3 HOURS ON THE PATH, A FULL DAY IN ALL · HARD

  Seven kilometres each way from the Toghwana dam wall, along high granite ridges and between giant whalebacks, to the cave high on the steep slopes of Inanke Mountain. It is one of the very best rock art sites in Zimbabwe.

  Permit: Park entry. A ZimParks guide is advised on a first visit

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Inanke Cave
• Bambata Cave walk4 KM · NOT PUBLISHED · MODERATE

  The path winds through woodland and then climbs a long granite ridge to the cave, a prehistoric site with views over the Whovi game park. Big Cave Camp calls it a 4 km walk.

  Permit: Park entry

  Big Cave Camp, Famous rock art galleries
• Maleme Rest Camp to Pomongwe Cave2.5 KM · NOT PUBLISHED · EASY

  The cave is about 2.5 km from Maleme Rest Camp off the Maleme Dam road, with a small site museum on the excavations and a picnic spot in the shady valley below. You can carry on up Pomongwe Hill for the view.

  Permit: Park entry. A guide is usually on site at the cave

  Bulawayo Publicity, Pomongwe Cave
• World's View (Malindidzimu)0.3 KM · A SHORT CLIMB FROM THE CAR PARK · EASY

  About 13 km south of the entrance gate. A 300 m walk up the bare granite dome from the car park to the graves of Rhodes, Jameson and Coghlan and a view all the way round the hills.

  Permit: World's View ticket from the desk below the hill, which also covers the other cave painting sites

  Wikivoyage, Matobo National Park

Malaria

NaTHNaC rates Bulawayo, the nearest city, as very low risk, where it advises avoiding bites rather than tablets. It puts the high risk zone below 1,200 m from November to June, and the Zambezi valley at risk all year. If Matobo is part of a longer trip that goes down into the Zambezi valley or other low country, plan your tablets for those legs. source

Rhino and slippery granite

ZimParks names two hazards here: rhino cows with calves, and slippery rocks. On a rhino walk do exactly what the scout says, stay together and keep quiet, and wear shoes with grip on the granite. source

Swimming in the dams

Bilharzia is present in Zimbabwe's fresh water and NaTHNaC tells travellers not to wade, swim or bathe in it. That rules out a dip in Maleme or Toghwana dam however hot the afternoon. Boil, filter or buy your drinking water. source

Roads

The tar runs from Bulawayo to Maleme Dam and the rest camp, then gravel roads take over, and ZimParks says some areas need a high clearance 4x4. The UK FCDO advises against driving outside main towns at night because of deep potholes, stray livestock and poorly lit roads, so time the drive back to Bulawayo for daylight and stop at police roadblocks. source

• Book rhino tracking before you arrive. Black rhino walks with one Bulawayo operator take four people at most. Go first thing, when it is cool and the rhinos are moving: one overlanding couple reached the game park at noon and found little but a few hippos in the shade. one source
• Carry US dollars in cash. The gate card machine often rejects foreign cards, and a ranger told one couple cash is the only sure way to pay. one source
• The campsites have no plug points, so charge everything before you come, bring your own lights and plan to cook on coals. one source
• Maleme Dam gets busy at weekends. Come midweek if you want the rest camp and the nearby caves quiet. one source

Checked 19 October 2026. Conditions change, so confirm with the park or venue before you go.