Matopos

Matopos is not really a village. It is the other name for Matobo, and on the ground it means the farms, lodges and campsites scattered along the Kezi road where it skirts Matobo National Park. It is the private alternative to the ZimParks rest camp at Maleme. The draw is the same granite country as the park, with lodges built right into the boulders and guides who take you rhino tracking.

Getting there

From Bulawayo, Robert Mugabe Way turns into Matopos Road and heads south. At roughly 30 km you reach the turn-off for the park’s main gate, 2 km to the left. For the lodges keep straight on along the Kezi road: Big Cave is signed at the 46 km mark and sits about 2 km up a gravel track, where you leave the car and get a 4x4 lift up the rock. The airport is about 65 km away. No bus or combi runs out here, so you drive, take a taxi or book the lodge transfer ahead.

When to go

ZimParks calls September to March the hot months and April to August the cooler ones, and the nights get properly cold on the granite then, so pack something warm. Expert Africa rates August and September as Zimbabwe’s best months and marks December to March down, the heart of the rains that usually start around mid-November.

What to do

Rhino tracking is why most people come. Big Cave tracks on foot with its own guides and Amalinda offers tracking too. The fenced Whovi Wilderness Area in the west of the park holds a very high density of black and white rhino. It is an intensive protection zone and charges its own entry. Rock art is the other half of the trip. Big Cave runs a morning walk to an easy-to-reach panel of Khoisan paintings, and Amalinda runs rock art outings of its own.

World’s View is 13 km in from the main gate if you want Rhodes’s grave. Off the Matopos Road, on the Westacre estate (now an agricultural research station), the cement base of Rhodes’s 1897 summer house is where his coffin rested the night before the burial on 10 April 1902. It is unsigned, reached through the REPS School entrance, and only for the keen. Matopos Research Station started a big cattle trial in 1938, working with local breeds such as the Tuli, Mashona and Nkone.

Big Cave also takes guests to a Ndebele village and to Whitewater’s Secondary School, and can arrange mountain biking.

Good to know

The Khumalo and Matobo communal lands take up ground south and east of the park, so this is lived-in country, not a fenced wilderness. Wear earthy colours on walks, give rhino with calves a wide berth and watch your feet on slippery rock. ZimParks says to bring enough food for your whole stay, and sites are far apart, so stock up in Bulawayo. For malaria and other health questions, see the travel essentials guide.

Last updated 19 October 2026. Sources: Big Cave Camp, How to get there (Robert Mugabe Street becomes Kezi Road out of Bulawayo, park turn-off at about 30 km, carry on along the Matobo Road to the 46 km mark, about 2 km of gravel to the car park, 4x4 transfer up, airport about 65 km, transfers arranged in advance), Big Cave Camp (granite whaleback bordering the park, rhino tracking on foot with its guides, morning walk to Khoisan rock paintings, Ndebele village and Whitewater's Secondary School visits, mountain biking), Amalinda Collection, Amalinda Lodge (built among granite boulders in Matopos, rhino tracking and rock art), Expert Africa, Matobo Hills National Park (Amalinda and Big Cave just outside the park, rhino reliably tracked on foot, Whovi Wilderness Area fenced in the west with its own entrance fee, a very high density of black and white rhino, an intensive protection zone, August and September best for Zimbabwe, December to March poor, rains roughly mid-November to March), ZimParks, Matobo National Park (Robert Mugabe Way becomes Matopos Road, about 30 km south to the boundary, Maleme Dam and Rest Camp, September to March hot, April to August cooler and cold at night, earthy colours, keep clear of rhino with calves, slippery rocks, bring enough food), Wikipedia, Matobo National Park (Matobo or Matopos Hills, Maleme Rest Camp as park headquarters, Khumalo and Matobo Communal Lands on land south and east of the park, Big Cave Camp and Camp Amalinda among the private camps, World's View as Rhodes's burial place), Wikivoyage, Matobo National Park (30 km down Matopos Road then 2 km left to the gate, no regular bus or combi, sites far apart, World's View 13 km from the gate), Zimbabwe Field Guide, Rhodes Summer-house (built 1897 on Westacre, now an agricultural research station, coffin rested there before the burial on 10 April 1902, cement foundation about 10 m by 7 m, not signposted, reached through the REPS School entrance on the Matopos Road), ILRI, Comparison of indigenous and foreign cattle for beef production at Matopos Research Station (trial begun 1938, Mashona, Tuli and Nkone as indigenous breeds).