Bulawayo is the second-largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare. Located in Matabeleland, colloquially the city is also known by various names, these being the 'City of Kings', 'Skies', 'Bluez', 'Bulliesberg' or 'KoNtuthu ziyathunqa' – a isiNdebele phrase for "a place that continually exudes smoke". This name arose from the city's historically large industrial base. The majority of the Bulawayo's population belongs to the Ndebele ethnic and language group.
For a long time in Zimbabwe's history Bulawayo was regarded as the industrial centre of Zimbabwe and the city served as the hub to the country's rail network with the National Railways of Zimbabwe headquartered there because of its strategic position near Botswana and South Africa. It is the nearest large city to Hwange National Park, Matobo National Park and Victoria Falls.
The trip that Max planned for us kept our relative travel inexperience in mind. It gave us sufficient variety in terms of locales and points of interest to make the trip navigable yet interesting and at the same time, comfortable and relatively stress-free. As a long experienced traveller himself, he chose our hotel locations well so as to have many points of interest in each of our destinations well accessible. We were able to see and experience many points of interest in each city we found ourselves in without having to depend on taxi or transit services. We walked a great deal as was our choice. Intercity travel had some challenges but this was entirely out of Max’s control. We were able to get to where we needed to be without significant disruption. Overall, Max’s experience as a seasoned traveller himself served us in good stead. We had a well thought out itinerary and had a wonderful experience.
