Harare

The capital city of Zimbabwe, Harare, is a beautiful, light-filled, open city; high on the country's central plateaux.

It is a city of modern buildings, wide thoroughfares, numerous parks and gardens. A city whose streets are lined with flowering trees that turn streets and pavements into tunnels of colour in the season of the year: the purple of jacaranda, the mauve and white of bauhinia and the flaming red of flamboyant.

Harare has a wonderful and invigorating climate. At just over 1500m above sea level (+5000 feet), its altitude compensates for the effect of its tropical latitude and thus the seasons, so often absent in Africa, are once more clearly marked in the annual round.

As a former colony, much of Harare’s history was turbulent. For ninety years the city was known as Salisbury, Rhodesia. In 1980 Zimbabwe became Africa’s newest independent nation. The city is named after a former African ruler of the area called Harare, which means "one who does not sleep."

While Harare entertains visitors with an array of theaters, night spots and restaurants, it is best known for its numerous and extensive gardens. The world renowned Shona sculptures are a major attraction. The people of Harare love sports and the outdoors. The city offers soccer, the most popular sport, horse racing, tennis, rugby and water sports at Lake McIlwaine.

Winters (May to September) are like luscious Mediterranean summers with warm, sunny days and cool, clear nights. There is never any snow, not even in the eastern highlands, but overnight frosts and freezing temperatures are not uncommon anywhere on the plateau.

Most of Zimbabwe's rain falls in brief afternoon deluges during electrical storms in the summer months (October to April) and bring little relief from the humidity.