Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe

The Natural History Museum in Bulawayo holds the national natural history collections and is among the larger such museums on the continent, with mounted mammals, a very substantial bird and insect collection, geology and mining galleries, and an archaeological section covering the country's stone building tradition. Its mounted elephant is one of the largest specimens on display anywhere. The building sits in Centenary Park near the city centre. The museum was founded in 1901 and moved into its present circular building in the 1960s, which was designed so that the galleries run continuously around a central core.

Background

The collection began as the Rhodesia Museum, which came into being on 1 January 1902. In 1960 Bulawayo City Council made land in Centenary Park available, and the present building, designed by the architect James Whalley, opened to the public on 20 March 1964. The name Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe dates from 1981. It is the only natural history museum among the country's five national museums, with nine public galleries, a lecture hall for 120 people and eight research departments. The stores hold over 15 000 rock, gem and crystal samples, over 2500 fossil specimens that include dinosaurs, over 5 million insects and over 20,000 spiders. Its mounted elephant ranks as the second largest anywhere.

Source: Wikipedia, "Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe"

What to look for

• The mounted mammals - one of the larger collections of its kind in Africa.
• The mounted elephant - among the largest such specimens on display anywhere.
• The geology and mining galleries - the country's mineral wealth and its extraction.
• The archaeology section - the stone building tradition and earlier periods.

When to go

Year round; it is indoors. It closes on some public holidays. Mornings are quietest.

Practical notes

Displays are dated and many have not been renewed in decades. Funding has been intermittent and some galleries are closed. Lighting and labelling are poor in places.

Nearby

Bulawayo centre is nearby, and Chipangali is southeast.

Key facts