Masvingo

The province of Masvingo lies in southeastern Zimbabwe and is bordered by Matabeleland South to the southwest, Manicaland to the northeast, Midlands to the northwest, and Mozambique to the southeast. Originally named Victoria, as a tribute to Queen Victoria, it was founded by the British South Africa Company (BSAC) as one of Southern Rhodesia’s five primary provinces.

Shortly after Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1982, the province was renamed Masvingo. The province comprises seven districts namely Zaka, Chivi, Bikita, Gutu, Chiredzi, Mwenezi and Masvingo. The Masvingo district houses the province’s capital city Masvingo (formerly Fort Victoria), Zimbabwe’s oldest town and locale of the Great Zimbabwe University.

The province’s economy is supported largely by agriculture and tourism, important contributors to its GDP. The region is home to a large population of Karanga (descendants of the Shona people) as well as smaller clusters of Ndebele and Shangani. Shona is the primary language.

Other significant towns in the province include Triangle, the hub of one of Zimbabwe’s largest sugarcane schemes and Chiredzi, a major shopping and services stop for travellers heading to the Gonarezhou National Park.

The Runde, Save, Mweneze and Limpopo Rivers are the main river systems running through the province, connecting with, or flowing directly into the Indian Ocean. The landscape presents a combination of small featureless koppies, combined with hardy Mopane vegetation. Due to Masvingo’s position in the country’s lowveld, it is subject to sparse, erratic rainfall, with the southern region being susceptible to drought. As a result, large parts of the province are ill-suited to agriculture.

Masvingo Province flaunts many of Zimbabwe’s tourism highlights. These include the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, from which the country derives its name, the far-reaching Save Valley Conservancy, one of the largest private game reserves in Africa, the Gonarezhou National Park, the second largest park in Zimbabwe, and Lake Mutirikwi Recreational Park, which hosts the third largest man-made body of water in the country.

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