Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare has a rich history. The legendary Bob Marley performed there in 1980 following the country’s independence.
I have compiled a list of what to do when visiting Harare.
I went to this show.
Dancehall Whether you are into dancehall or not, you just have to give it a shot. Zim dancehall is very popular. Luckily for me, there was a festival when I was in Zimbabwe. I appreciate and listen to all kinds of music so I didn’t need any convincing to go. The show was packed. There were over 20 artists performing and the crowd went crazy for each and every act.
Harare Gardens.
Gardens You have to visit the Harare Gardens. They’re in the city center. It’s a beautiful and tranquil place that’s great for picnics or some me time. Unsurprisingly, they are not in the best condition as it’s quite evident that they have seen better days. Despite this, the garden is still worth a visit.
Art From the park, you can pass by the National Gallery. There’s a lot of beautiful art. At the time, they had a beautiful wildlife exhibition. As an foreigner you pay more, but the guard assumed I was a local and I didn’t correct her. So I paid less!
Market The Mbira Market is a must see. It’s a huge market and you are guaranteed to find whatever you want there. It’s a very busy market so you must be alert. That’s the warning I received from locals but nothing happened to me. Being at the market was quite an experience. It just went on and on!
Church visit There are numerous churches in Harare. I remember in DK, there was one street where I lost count of the number of churches. I guess when the situation is dire people require hope and churches serve that purpose while others see an opportunity to make money. Anyway, one Sunday I decided to go to church. Since I’m more comfortable in traditional churches, I chose the Methodist Church. I found amanxila engoma just like Amawisile from back home. They had several homemade music instruments which produced a vibrant sound. I really enjoyed the music. I didn’t understand the language, but the beauty of music is that it transcends language.
A delicious meal.
Food The only thing I didn’t explore in Harare were the restaurants. I got discouraged after struggling to find places that had vegetarian dishes on their menu. I found a small rooftop restaurant downtown. They agreed to serve me sadza with spinach as that was the only vegetable they had.
I later found another little restaurant in DZ. Their food was very delicious and they had a variety of vegetables to choose from!
For many years, I longed to visit Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare. I had read about it from NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and also heard many stories from those, who had fled Africa’s former food busket, due to the economic crisis in that country.
I was fascinated by their history and the current situation. My country, South Africa, has many challenges. As a result, there are those who believe that the country is “becoming like Zimbabwe”. So I wanted to see what may be our future.
Few months back, as I was wrapping up solo travel adventure, it made sense to check out Zimbabwe before going home.
I arrived in Harare on a cold Monday evening in May. I spent a night in a cozy guesthouse with hot water and WiFi! I was so happy to have a hot shower because where I was coming from in Malawi, hot showers were rare. I didn’t mind in other parts of the country as they were warm, but Blantyre was cold. I stayed at a guest house, where you had to ask staff to boil water and bring it to you in a container. I never did ask because I felt like I was inconveniencing them so I braved cold showers instead. So Harare scored a huge point!
I started thinking that things were not so bad. The guesthouse was in a typical suburb which could have been anywhere in the world. I thought maybe people were exaggerating when talking about hardships in Zim.
After a restful sleep on a good bed with white linen (as a backpacker, I had not enjoyed finer things for some time) I woke up refreshed, but ready to find a budget friendly accommodation.
They charged $21 a night excluding breakfast! Lucky for me, I didn’t pay for the night thanks to two kind fellow travelers. I won’t get into the details of how that came about.
The guesthouse was deep in the suburb so finding public transport was a challenge. They had offered to call a cab, but I refused because budget. I wanted a minibus taxi or to hitchhike. I had become good at it. I checked out with my heavy backpack. Throughout my travels, I couldn’t walk straight with it and my shoulders ached after taking it off. The sight of a stooping solo traveller solicited sympathy from motorists, hence I always scored lifts.
Where was I? Oh, my first morning in Harare. I walked for about 20 minutes with no taxi in sight and cars were ignoring my hitchhiking attempts. As I was to give up, a new Isuzu double cab bakkie stopped. It was driven by a guy wearing a black suit. I told him I was going to town. He ordered me to jump in. He told me he had stopped because of the heavy bag on my back:)
After exchanging few pleasantries he wanted to know my story. He was in disbelief after hearing that I had quit a permanent job to travel. He stopped short of calling me mad!
He wanted to know where I would be staying. I told him I wanted to go to the backpackers. He asked about the price. I told him it was $8 a day and I would be staying for a week as I was on my last pennies. He suggested ditching the hostel for the location which would be much cheaper and that way I could stay for longer in Harare.
The problem was that I had not done my homework in terms of townships so I didn’t know where to go. He offered to help. He dropped me off at the park behind parliament and gave me his second phone as I didn’t have a local Sim card. He’d call me on the phone after his shift so we could go and find a place for me. I couldn’t believe he trusted me with his phone. I was so touched by his kindness. Yes, kindness from strangers was a constant feature throughout my travels, but it never failed to amaze me.
It was midmorning. At the park, I took out my kanga and set up a picnic under a tree. I had snacks and water. I wrote on my journal before listening to music while taking in my surroundings. There were young lovers, old people and groups of students all over the park. Others were going about their business.
Picnic for one.
Harare seemed very normal to me. I didn’t see the hardships that we always hear of from Zimbos. I was ready to walk the streets, but I dreaded carrying my luggage. Other than it being heavy, it also made one standout, which wasn’t nice especially for a solo woman. So I had to chill.
The phone that I was borrowed by a stranger.
Few hours later, I was itching to explore so I carried my luggage and walked around. Harare seemed like any other city. Nothing screamed failed state.
Around 5pm my new friend called. We met up at the park. He told me his nephew had found two possible rentals for me. We drove to check them out. We arrived in Dzivaresekwa (DZ) around 6pm. The first room was already taken. We went to another house. I was told I would be introduced as the niece so the price would not go up like it normally did for travellers. My new friend aka uncle did all the talking. The landlord was an unemployed mother of four. She charged $60 for a room per month, but agreed to make it $30 since I only wanted it for two weeks.
I didn’t have enough cash on me so we left to find an ATM. At least that’s what I thought, but when we got into the car, my “uncle” explained the challenge of money shortages. Sometimes ATMs didn’t have dollars so they all used the black market.
It was like a veil had been lifted. I was starting to see Zimbabwe for what it was and not the image I had after people watching in the CBD.
He told me even though he worked for government, they were paid in “plastic money” which they had to convert into government bonds. But most places only dealt in US dollars. There was also the issue of certain food shortages. He painted such a bleak picture of the country which had me shook!
Prices outside a supermarket in Harare.
I needed to pay rent so he took me to a local market. One guy told me for R8000 I could get $30. I was gobsmacked! I told my “uncle” to take me back to the landlord and I would negotiate with her to let me move in and only pay her the next day after I had gone to the bank.
On the drive back to DZ I started doubting if I’d last a week in Harare. It seemed everything was a hustle and I wasn’t sure if I was up to it. Life in Zimbabwe was just way too expensive.
The Zimbabwean government bonds.
Luckily, the lady agreed and I moved in. The next day I woke up early and I remember looking at the road which was riddled with potholes and derelict buildings stood as testament that the city had seen better days.
My rose tinted glasses were off. I saw the country clearly for what it was and I was discouraged. Poor people were really poor and rich people were rich. There were expensive cars on the roads and there were cars which looked liked they could fall apart any minute. Zimbabwe was a lot to take in.
Frugal Travela 