The City That Never Sleeps

Writer: Stan Higgins Photography: Lesanne Photography

Zimbabwe’s bustling capital, Harare (Salisbury of old), is often described as the place that never sleeps—and for good reason. It’s a modern metropolis with a large and growing population, and despite an ongoing set of economic challenges, it offers residents and visitors a wealth of action, activity and excitement that makes it one of Southern Africa’s buzziest cities.

Before colonial settlement, people lived along the fringes of waterways around what is now the greater Harare area. But since that settlement of the late 19th century, growth has been focused around a highly active business district in the heart

THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS LOOKS OUT TO A NEW ERA OF GROWTH AND PROSPERITY

of the city, in turn surrounded by a mix of high-density and low-density suburbs, industrial areas, shopping centres, parks, golf courses and green areas. A drive from the southernmost suburbs to the northernmost fringes is a journey of 40 kilometres or more, and growth just never seems to stop.

Travel to Harare is in the main from business people hoping to do business in a Zimbabwe that is opening up after a two-decade period of recession. So in the hotels and lodges around the city one will find a range of business types, from Middle Eastern moguls to sales representatives from neighbouring South Africa, all eager to be part of the anticipated period of growth and expansion in what is generally called ‘the new dispensation’.

centres of the country and the countryside through to international visitors who stop over on their way to destinations like Victoria Falls, the Eastern Highlands, Lake Kariba and national parks such as Hwange and Gonarezhou. When they come to the capital they look for entertainment, shopping and sightseeing, and are often surprised by the large amount of each of these features available to them.

Around Harare are a number of attractions that are well worth a visit. A short drive to the west of the city is Lake Chivero, a major water supply facility on which, and around whose shores, are a game reserve, a bird garden and a number of water-based activities. To the south, and five minutes from the airport, is the private animal sanctuary Wild is Life; Mbizi Game Park is only 10 kilometres from the airport, and a fairly recent focus centre is the Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary, which looks after domestic and wild animals that have been abused or abandoned. A number of visitors enjoy the chance to see the countryside around the city by driving on a route that takes them north to historic Mazowe, home of some famed citrus estates, then through to mining centres like Bindura and Shamva, and then back to Harare via Ewanrigg, now a national park and once a small farm whose owner gave it to the nation and in doing so provided access to one of Southern Africa’s most famous collections of aloes, cycads and other unusual plants.

Within the city are equally interesting destinations: the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, with its collection of local and international works of art; the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences, where visitors can view a 700-year-old Lemba artefact called ngoma lungundu, which some believe to be a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and is the oldest wooden object found to date in sub-Saharan Africa; the National Botanic Gardens and Mukuvisi Woodland and Nature Reserve, a game and habitat preserve sited entirely within some southern residential suburbs.

Live theatre can be found at venues such as Reps, Theatre in the Park and the Old Mutual Theatre adjacent to the Alliance Française centre; music of all kinds thrives in a wide range of places, from open-air venues to restaurants and night clubs. Clubs, societies and associations provide a huge number of opportunities to enjoy art, culture, entertainment and other recreational pursuits.

The city is home to dozens of restaurants, many of them of the highest international standard of cuisine and service; a recent international journalist described Harare’s restaurant scene as ‘the brightest in subSaharan Africa outside Johannesburg and Cape Town’. Add to that a large selection of coffee shops, bistros and other outlets for socialising and networking, often with entertainment laid on. Tour operators offer visits across the city, taking in retail as well as interest spots. Fans of the vine can enjoy wine tastings and related activities, too.

While South Africa has taken big strides with what is called ‘township tourism’ in recent years, Harare has not quite got into this, but there are people now looking at how to get international visitors into the sprawling high-density areas around the city for a glimpse of life here. If this is successful, it will offer insights into modern life, as well as culture and history, and there will no doubt be culinary features to such developments. People who are keen to find out more about the history of nationalism in the country would find such tours fascinating, as the political growth of the post-Second-World-War period was entirely founded in the older suburbs such as Mbare and Highfield.

Sadly, the city centre is no longer the neat and bright place it used to be, but with new horizons opening up for Zimbabwe, talk has started on how to revive the inner city, emulating success stories from all over the

world, not the least in Johannesburg, where the central business district (CBD) is once again a welcoming and vibrant magnet for visitors. This is sure to be matched by inclusion of CBD tours by tour operators, which will be welcomed by all visitors. At present there are areas within the CBD that are pleasing to visitors, among them Africa Unity Square, a green and historic park in the city centre, overlooked by the five-star Meikles Hotel, which recently celebrated its first full century of operation.

Shoppers will find visits to suburban retail and entertainment complexes of particular interest. Chief among these is Sam Levy’s Village, once a sleepy suburban shopping centre with a few convenience stores, a restaurant and a fuel station, and now a huge complex covering many hectares and home to retail outlets of every kind, restaurants and cafés, cinemas and supermarkets, bank branches and motor showrooms.

At different times of the year, Harare offers various special events that are themselves massively popular visitor attractions. In early May, it’s time for the Harare International Festival of the Arts, which started in 1999 and is today a week-long feast of local and international artistic endeavour. In August, it’s time for the Harare Show, a mix of business showcase and entertainment outlet, and a chance for visitors to gain a meaningful glimpse into what makes Zimbabwe tick commercially.

Harare is also a busy sporting centre, chiefly focused on soccer, cricket, rugby and golf (with three championship-rated courses around the city), as well as equestrian and aquatic sports. At Donnybrook in the eastern suburbs there is a major motorsports complex, while the upmarket suburb of Borrowdale is the home of the Mashonaland Turf Club, where horse races are run regularly, among them Southern Africa’s oldest sponsored horse race, the Castle Tankard. Almost all other sports are catered for in one way or another, too.

The people of Harare are an interesting mix. Not only are there people from the majority Shona-speaking population groups, but also from the Ndebele-speaking group that is next largest, while indigenous people from Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi are to be found in abundance. Among the other population groups are white people from almost every country in Europe, south Asians whose ancestors came from what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and a more recent growth in Chinese speakers. The influence of this eclectic mix of people is to be found in entertainment, cultural activities and cuisine.

It’s hard not to get excited about the vibrant and attractive city that is Harare of the 21st century. Visitors know that when economic solutions are found to current problems, this city is destined to become a giant of African urban life and its popularity as a destination for business and leisure travellers will grow exponentially. Already it is showing signs of growth as a city for major regional and international conferences and special events.

'It’s a modern metropolis with a large and growing population'

As a city that never sleeps, it has much to offer. But with a huge range of accommodation types available to visitors, from simple overnight stays in Air BnB offerings through the luxury of five-star hotels, it’s also a place where a good night’s rest is most definitely to be had … sleep tight when next you come!