The Matobo Journal
What we know about this place, written down.
Before you come
Planning a trip.
When to go
Best time to visit the Matobo Hills
Month by month: the weather, the rhino tracking, and why the green season is not the write-off people assume.
Getting here
Getting to the lodge
Flights into Bulawayo, the drive out of town, and what the last twenty minutes on dirt are actually like.
Packing
What to pack for a Zimbabwe safari
A working list from people who watch guests unpack. Start with the shoes and the layers.
Planning
Planning a Matobo safari
How long to stay, what to book ahead, and the order that makes a short trip feel unhurried.
Itinerary
A three-day Matobo itinerary
Rhino on foot, rock art and World's View, laid out over three days with the timings that work.
Day trips
A day trip from Bulawayo
What you can honestly see in a day from town, and what is worth staying the night for.
Where to stay
Where to stay in Matobo National Park
The options inside and outside the park boundary, and what the difference means in practice.
Out in the park
In the hills.
Rhino
Rhino tracking on foot
How the walks work, who leads them, what the fees pay for, and how close you actually get.
Rock art
San rock art in the Matobo
More than three thousand painted sites among the kopjes, and how to read what you are looking at.
World's View
Rhodes' Grave and World's View
The walk up, the argument the place still causes, and why it is worth the climb regardless.
Wildlife
The wildlife of Matobo National Park
Rhino and leopard on the ground, black eagles overhead, and the dassies that keep them there.
Walking
Walking the kopjes
Granite underfoot for half a day, with a guide who knows which way the rock goes.
Community
A visit to a Ndebele village
How the visits are arranged, and the families the lodge has worked with for years.
The place
The Matobo Hills
Two and a half billion years of granite, forty thousand years of people, and a UNESCO listing that came late.
The wider trip
Zimbabwe, and getting here.
Choosing
Matobo, Hwange or Mana Pools
Three very different parks. An honest comparison from someone with a stake in one of them.
Choosing
Safari lodges in Zimbabwe
What separates the good ones, written by an operator willing to name the trade-offs.
From the UK
A Zimbabwe safari from the UK
Routes, costs and timing for travellers coming out of London and the regional airports.
From the USA
A Zimbabwe safari from the USA
The realistic routings, what the flights cost, and how many days it takes to make the trip worth it.
Honeymoons
A honeymoon in the Matobo Hills
High, quiet and a long way from anyone else. What we do for couples, without the rose petals.
Kit
Merino wool for safari travel
Why one fabric solves most of the packing problem, and how much of it you actually need.
Something the guides do not answer?
Write to the lodge with your dates and who is travelling. The reply comes from here, not from a booking engine in another country.