The Story of Bulawayo’s Kings and Queens: A Heritage Walk
By lwazi.siband@gmail.com
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🕑 1 min read
Long before the arrival of European settlers, the land around present-day Bulawayo was the seat of the Ndebele Kingdom, established by King Mzilikazi in the 1840s after his migration from the Highveld. The name Bulawayo itself — meaning “place of slaughter” — is a reminder of the kingdom’s fierce struggles for survival and sovereignty.
A self-guided heritage walk through the city centre connects visitors to key historical sites: the site of Lobengula’s royal kraal on the outskirts of what is now Centenary Park, the Natural History Museum, and the Railway Museum — one of the finest in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Matabeleland region’s history is rich and complex, encompassing pre-colonial kingdoms, colonial resistance, and a proud post-independence identity that is increasingly being documented by local historians and oral tradition keepers.
Our history is not just in textbooks. It is in the stones, the praise songs, the names of every suburb and hill around this city.
Dr Ntombizodwa Dube, Matabeleland Heritage Trust
Heritage tourism is now one of Bulawayo’s fastest-growing sectors, with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority recently designating the city as a Cultural Heritage Tourism Hub.