Route One — The Rhodes Route
Cape Town → Kimberley → Mafikeng → Beitbridge → Bulawayo → Matobo → Bulawayo → Harare. About 2,400 kilometres. Nine to ten days. The Cape-to-Cairo dream that never was.
This is the route that retraces Cecil Rhodes's own Cape-to-Cairo project, from his Cape Town residence at Groote Schuur to his grave in the Matobo Hills. It is a long drive — about 2,400 km across South Africa and Botswana, then north into Zimbabwe — and it should not be attempted without serious preparation. The South African leg is on excellent motorways. The Botswanan leg is good. The Beitbridge border crossing into Zimbabwe is often slow (sometimes very slow). The Zimbabwean main roads are paved but pot-holed.
Day 1 — Cape Town. Visit Rhodes's residence at Groote Schuur (now a museum), the Rhodes Memorial on the slopes of Devil's Peak, and the University of Cape Town (the buildings he funded with his estate).
Day 2 — Cape Town to Kimberley (1,000 km). A long motorway day on the N1. Kimberley by evening — the diamond town where Rhodes made his initial fortune. The Big Hole museum is excellent.
Day 3 — Kimberley to Mafikeng (550 km). Continue north on the N12. Mafikeng (the site of the famous 217-day Boer War siege) was the southern railway terminus from which the BSAC's Pioneer Column logistics were organised in 1890.
Day 4 — Mafikeng to Beitbridge (700 km, crossing into Zimbabwe). Long drive through eastern Botswana. Cross the Limpopo at Beitbridge — the same crossing the Pioneer Column made on 13 September 1890. Border formalities can take 3-6 hours; arrive early.
Day 5 — Beitbridge to Bulawayo (320 km). Northbound on the A6 highway. Arrive Bulawayo by evening.
Day 6 — Bulawayo. Full day in the city. National Museum of Natural History, the Bulawayo Railway Museum, the central business district. Stay overnight.
Day 7 — Matobo Hills. Day trip to Rhodes's grave at View of the World, the Nswatugi rock-art cave, and the visitor centre at Maleme Dam. Return to Bulawayo for the evening.
Day 8 — Bulawayo to Great Zimbabwe (350 km). Eastbound through the midlands. Great Zimbabwe by mid-afternoon for a full visit (allow 4 hours minimum). Stay at the Great Zimbabwe Hotel.
Day 9 — Great Zimbabwe to Harare (300 km). Northbound on the A4 through the midlands. Fly home from Harare.
Route Two — The Eastern Highlands Route
Harare → Marondera → Rusape → Nyanga → Mutare → Vumba → Chimanimani → Masvingo → Harare. About 1,300 kilometres. Seven days. The Mozambican frontier and the bush-war eastern sector.
This route loops east from Harare along the Mozambican border, climbing into the Eastern Highlands, and returns via the southern lowveld through Masvingo. It traverses what was, from 1972 to 1979, the principal operational area of the bush war — the country that ZANLA infiltrated from Mozambique and that the Rhodesian armed forces fought to hold. The infrastructure is generally good. The mountain stretches require a 4WD in the rains.
Day 1 — Harare to Marondera (75 km). The tobacco-belt town that was substantially the white settler heartland. Old colonial buildings in the centre.
Day 2 — Marondera to Nyanga (270 km). Climb into the Eastern Highlands. Visit Rhodes Inyanga National Park, with the Rhodes cottage museum, and the Pungwe Falls. Stay in the Nyanga area.
Day 3 — Nyanga to Mutare (90 km). South along the highlands escarpment. Mutare itself in the afternoon — the Cecil Kop Reserve, the colonial-era main street, the museum on the bush-war period.
Day 4 — Vumba Mountains. Day trip south of Mutare to the Vumba Botanical Gardens, the Bunga Forest, and the small Burmese-style monastery in the Bvumba.
Day 5 — Mutare to Chimanimani (180 km). Further south along the highlands. The Chimanimani National Park is mountainous and underpopulated; the small town of Chimanimani has a colonial-era hotel.
Day 6 — Chimanimani to Masvingo (430 km). Westbound across the lowveld. Long driving day; Masvingo by evening.
Day 7 — Masvingo to Harare (300 km) via Great Zimbabwe. A morning at Great Zimbabwe, then north on the A4 back to Harare. Fly home.