The word "Zimbabwe" (plural madzimbabwe ) is the derived from the Shona words dzimba dza mabwe which means 'houses of stone'. The name is taken from Great Zimbabwe, an Iron Age site which lies 27km south-east of Masvingo town. The country is a former British colony until it became an independent state in 1980. It has a developed infrastructure, communications system, social services and industrial/commercial hubs.
Zimbabwe with a population of 14 million is located in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia on the North,h, Botswana on the West, South Africa on the South and Mozambique on the East.
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Climate
Zimbabwe is a high plateau country, risings to mountains on the eastern border, sloping down on the other borders. It is a major tourism destination, boasting of the world famous and one of four world Heritage Sites, the Victoria Falls. In addition, tourism in Zimbabwe offers the tourist other attractions such as national parks, the Eastern Highlands, Lake Kariba and a number of historical sites. |
Culture
As cultural melting pot is Zimbabwe embracing people from a diversity of cultural and religious backgrounds. Apart from the official languages being Ndebele, Shona and English, Zimbabwe officially has other language groups representing the cultures of the Tonga, Kalanga, Shangaan, Venda, Sotho, Sena, Nyanja/Chewa. There are also minority languages spoken in Zimbabwe which include, Greek, Portuguese, Italian,Asian languages and Afrikaans.
Thanks to its altitude, Zimbabwe enjoys temperatures appropriate to more temperate latitudes. There is adequate and reasonably reliable rainfall over much of the country, enough wind to be pleasant and abundant sunshine with a hot dry season from mid-August to October. Despite having a five-month rainy season, Zimbabwe is vulnerable to drought spells. |
