Bulawayo

Bulawayo was laid out in the 1890s on streets wide enough, the story goes, to turn a full span of oxen, and that width still gives the centre an unusual openness. It kept more of its early twentieth-century building than Harare: verandaed shopfronts, the railway station and the Bulawayo Club among them. The city was the seat of the Ndebele state before that, and it remains the country's second city and its railway centre.

What you actually see

• The wide streets - the centre laid out on an unusual scale in the 1890s.
• The colonial-era buildings - verandaed shopfronts and public buildings in the centre.
• The Railway Museum - locomotives and carriages from the Rhodesian railways.
• The Natural History Museum - the country's main natural history collection.

When to go

April to October is the dry season and most comfortable. October before the rains is very hot. Museums close on some days.

Honest expectations

The economy has been difficult for a long time and parts of the centre are run down. Water supply in the city has been intermittent for years. Facilities vary a great deal.

Nearby

Matobo Hills are south, and Khami Ruins are west.