X-Nico

19 unusual facts about Zimbabwe


Agnes Nyanhongo

A native of Nyanga, Nyanhongo is the daughter of first-generation sculptor Claud Nyanhongo and sister of Gedion Nyanhongo, and spent much time helping in her father's studio as a girl.

Aloe inyangensis

The plant is strictly confined to woodland and wet forest on mountain sides above 1500 m altitude from just north of Nyanga southwards to Mount Rupere and Mount Ruinji near Stapleford in northern Manicaland.

Amon Mwareka

Born in Nyanga, Mwareka was educated at a mission, and began modeling clay and carving wood as a hobby early in life.

Banknotes of Zimbabwe

The main illustration on the obverse of banknotes issued since 1980 is the Chiremba Balancing Rocks in Epworth, Harare.

Chirundu Bridge

The Chirundu Bridge now consists of two road bridges side by side across the Zambezi River between the small town of Chirundu, Zambia and the village of Chirundu, Zimbabwe.

Common flat lizard

In males from Trelawney, Zimbabwe, their backs are uniform red, also with whitish spots.

Eddie Masaya

Born in the Nyanga district, Masaya showed little interest in sculpture until, while at school, he found a copy of The African Times containing an article about Zimbabwean stone sculpture.

Forest cobra

The brown colour phase occurs in coastal and high altitude forest, woodland and thicket, and grassland areas (i.e. Nyanga, Zimbabwe).

Honde Valley

Approaching from Mutare, the turn-off is about 50 km along the road towards Nyanga.

Inkankezi River

Inkankezi River is a river in Insiza District, in Zimbabwe.

Michael Berridge

Born in Gatooma in Southern Rhodesia, Berridge gained a BSc in zoology and chemistry at the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Salisbury (1960), where his interest in insect physiology was stimulated by Eina Bursell.

Plumtree School

The school is on an expansive campus at the edge of Plumtree town.

Sam Mtukudzi

In the early hours of Monday, March 15, 2010, Sam and his sound engineer, Owen Chimhare, died in a car crash while traveling back to Norton near Harare.

Solomon Skuza

Solomon Skuza (born 1956), also known as Jah Solo was a Zimbabwean musician, one of the most popular to come out of Plumtree.

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Born in 1956 in Plumtree, Solomon Skuza rose to prominence as one of Zimbabwe's top musicians.

St Faith's School, Rusape

St Faith's School, Rusape is a mission school 17 km from Rusape, Manicaland, Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls Bridge

As the river is the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bridge links the two countries and has border posts on the approaches to both ends, at the towns of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia.

Vila Salazar

Sango, Zimbabwe (the former official name of the village is 'Vila Salazar')

Zimbabwe-Rhodesia

He formed a joint government with Ian Smith, the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia, who was a Minister without Portfolio.


102 Squadron SAAF

The squadron area of responsibility is from north of Polokwane (Pietersburg) to the Limpopo River and is used for reconnaissance flights along the South African and Zimbabwe and Botswana borders.

1910 British Lions tour to South Africa

As well as South Africa, the tour included a game in Bulawayo in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Allen Larue

One of his first games for the Seychelles came in the 2004 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Zimbabwe.

Aloe aculeata

Aloe aculeata (common names include ngopanie, sekope, red hot poker aloe) is an Aloe species that is native to the Limpopo valley and Mpumalanga in South Africa along with southern and central Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

April 2007 in Africa

In Zimbabwe investigating officer Wellington Ngena accuses the Government of South Africa's Scorpions intelligence department of training members of the Movement for Democratic Change in combat to overthrow the Government of Zimbabwe.

Ashish Nehra

Nehra started playing first-class cricket for his hometown, Delhi, in the 1997/1998 season and made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 1999 and his ODI debut against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2001.

Avondale, Harare

The first official marriage ceremony in Zimbabwe took place on Avondale farm in 1894 when the Count de la Panouse was married to Fanny Pearson (Countess Billie) by Lt Col. Marshall Hole, the Chief Magistrate of Salisbury.

Beta Cephei

The star is nevertheless visible to most observers throughout the world reaching as far south as cities like Harare in Zimbabwe, Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia or other settlements north ± 19° South latitude.

Brachystegia glaucescens

The name is for instance found in a paper concerning the degradation of woodlands by elephant predation and fire in the northern part of the Gonarezhou National Park in SE Zimbabwe.

Calum Price

Along with the likes of Keegan Meth and Kyle Jarvis, he is regarded as a great future pace prospect for Zimbabwe.

Christoffel Nortje

Professor Nortje has spoken extensively in Maxillofacial Radiology scientific meetings in Hungary, Italy, USA, Brazil, Abu Dhabi, Lebanon, Bangkok, Thailand, China, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Dan Gertler

Billy Rautenbach, another Zimbabwe businessman, had formerly owned Boss Mining.

Danny Stannard

Danny Stannard, an Irishman who had spent most of his life in southern Africa, succeeded Ken Flower as head of the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organization under Robert Mugabe and later became manager of the Zimbabwe cricket team and head of security for the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.

Dynamos F.C.

Originally founded in 1963 after a merger between two lesser teams in Mbare, Harare Township, Rhodesia, the side quickly became one of the strongest in the Rhodesian league, and by the recognition of the country's independence as Zimbabwe in 1980 had become the country's most successful team, having won six national titles.

Eastgate Centre, Harare

The Eastgate Centre is a shopping centre and office block in central Harare, Zimbabwe whose architect is Mick Pearce.

Elias Fund

In 1994, Elias Sithole, a gardener in Zimbabwe, met American songwriter Chad Urmston.

Enough Is Enough

Zvakwana (Shona for "Enough is Enough"), an underground movement in Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe

Tudor Parfitt described Gayre's work as intended to "show that black people had never been capable of building in stone or of governing themselves", although he adds: "The fact that Gayre... got most of his facts wrong, does not in itself vitiate the claims of the Lemba to have been involved in the Great Zimbabwe civilisation."

Guto Harri

After leaving the BBC at the end of 2007, he was approached to work for Conservative Party leader David Cameron, but joined London public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard as a Senior Policy Advisor, spending four weeks as an adviser to Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Harare International Festival of the Arts

Organising and facilitating a festival the size of HIFA in the difficult sociopolitical and economic conditions that characterise Zimbabwe today is no easy task.

Hwata dynasty

Hwata Shayachimwe established his capital at Barapata Hill on the modern Mufakose suburb in Salisbury now called Harare, capital city of Zimbabwe.

ICC 6 Nations Challenge

The 2000 tournament was played in Harare, Zimbabwe, the hosts being represented by Zimbabwe A. They were joined by Kenya, and four European teams; Denmark, Ireland, The Netherlands and Scotland.

Indian cricket team in Zimbabwe in 2001

This would be Zimbabwe's only Test victory over a side other than Bangladesh until they beat Pakistan in the second Test in 2013.

Inyathi High School

Inyathi High School (formerly, Inyathi Secondary School and prior to that Inyathi Mission) is a boarding co-educational secondary school in Inyathi, Zimbabwe.

Jairos Jiri Association

A philanthropic organisation set up in 1950 in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) to support and train disadvantaged people.

Jameson High School

Jameson High School was named after Sir Leander Starr Jameson, a doctor and an administrator of the former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Kubi Indi

In 1989 she produced I Am the Future, a film about a young woman (played by Stella Chiweshe) who travels to the big city to escape Zimbabwe's independence war in the rural areas.

Lemba people

#The old Lemba language was a dialect of Karanga – which is spoken today in the Masvingo area of Zimbabwe; (thus, the Lemba female ancestry was probably derived from the MaKaranga).

Manchester Road Race

Philemon Hanneck, born in Harare, Zimbabwe, but now a United States citizen, is a 2-time winner and course record holder at the Manchester Road Race.

Marang Centre for Mathematics and Science Education

In addition to South African undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate future science and mathematics teachers, would-be teachers and teacher educators come from Southern African Development Community (SADC) member nations such as Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi', Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and other African countries.

Matabeleland North Province

The region of Matabeleland, of which Matabeleland North is a part of, is characterized by generally inhospitable land when compared to other parts of Zimbabwe.

Mike Shuster

Prior to working for NPR, he was a United Nations correspondent for Pacifica News Service where he covered the election of Robert Mugabe in 1980 in Zimbabwe.

Mount Pleasant, Harare

Mount Pleasant is the name of a residential suburb in the northern part of Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mugabe's Zimbabwe

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Barry Bearak of the New York Times said that ‘the film seems a primer to the situation, something of value especially to those not yet familiar with Zimbabwe and its recent

Nathalie Pownall

The same year Tutuma was commissioned to perform Zimbabwe's first production of Closer (play) by British Playwright Patrick Marber play at HIFA - Harare International Festival of the Arts.

P. magnus

Paragomphus magnus, a dragonfly species found in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe

Peter Greer

He also served as a technical adviser for Self-Help Development Foundation (CARE Zimbabwe) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

President of Rhodesia

Following the Lancaster House Agreement, Britain resumed control of the rebel colony, and appointed Lord Soames as Governor until the country became independent as Zimbabwe on 18 April 1980.

Regis Chakabva

Following the readmission of Zimbabwe to Test cricket in 2011, he made his Test debut against New Zealand at Bulawayo in November that year, keeping wicket and scoring 37 and 5 batting at number seven.

Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton

The oldest son of John Lyon-Dalberg-Acton and Daphne Strutt, daughter of Robert Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh, he was educated at St George's College, Harare in Zimbabwe and at Trinity College, Oxford, from which he emerged with a Bachelor of Arts in 1963 (later, he would receive a Master of Arts from the same institution).

Solar Cookers International

Since 1995, SCI has managed or co-managed solar cooking projects in the Nyakach district, Kenya; in the Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya; in the Aisha refugee camp, Ethiopia; in various communities, Zimbabwe; and in Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya.

South African Class 34-200

The Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway (BBR), commissioned on 1 September 1999, operates the Beit Bridge to Bulawayo line in Zimbabwe.

Taita Falcon

Threats to the species come from the use of organochlorine pesticide sprays in northern Zimbabwe which may have reduced numbers there, and pesticide-spraying (e.g. through operations to control Red-billed Quelea and locusts) may pose a threat in other regions.

Typhlops fornasinii

Fornasini's blind snake has been found in southern Mozambique, South Africa (Zululand), and southeastern Zimbabwe.

Vinay Kumar

In May 2010, after India's elimination from the ICC World Twenty20, Vinay Kumar made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in Harare, taking 2/51 off eight overs in a six-wicket defeat.

Vungwi Primary School

It is along the road between Cha Cha Cha Township or, Donga Town Ship and Tongogara High School in Shurugwi Rural Areas under the chieftainship of Chief Nhema.The school was known for its academic excellency during the late 80s and early 90s when it was used to attain a pass rate of 100% on the national grade 7 examinations set by the Ministry of Education, Zimbabwe.

Yvonne Vera

In 1995, Vera returned to Zimbabwe and in 1997 became director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, a gallery that showcases local talent ranging from that of professional artists to school children.

Zimbabwe Grounds

It is surrounded by Old Highfield section on the greater part and share borders with Takashinga cricket ground (home ground of Andy Flower and Tatenda Taibu), Zimbabwe Hall, Highfield Library, a Nursery School, Anglican Church and Chipembere Primary School annexe.

ZW

.zw, the country code top level domain (ccTLD) for Zimbabwe