Zimbabwe Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

You don’t need to login to read the below reviews. But do sign up or login to share your solo travel experiences, country safety rating and comments.

Zimbabwe Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Zimbabwe and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Republic of Zimbabwe.

Etymology: The country takes its name from the Kingdom of Zimbabwe (13th-15th century) and its capital of Great Zimbabwe, the largest stone structure in pre-colonial southern Africa.

Capital: Harare.

Independence / foundation: In the 1880s, colonists arrived with the British South Africa Company (BSAC) and obtained a written concession for mining rights from Ndebele King Lobengula. BSAC holdings south of the Zambezi River were annexed by the UK in 1923 and became the British colony of Southern Rhodesia.

In 1965, the government under white Prime Minister Ian Smith unilaterally declared its independence from the UK. London did not recognize Rhodesia’s independence and demanded more voting rights for the black majority in the country. International diplomacy and a liberation struggle by black Zimbabweans finally led to biracial elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980.

Population: 15 million.

Currency: Zimbabwean Dollar (ZWD)
1 USD = 361.90 ZWD
1 EUR = 350 ZWD

Time zone: UTC+2

Languages spoken: Shona (official; most widely spoken), Ndebele (official, second most widely spoken), English (official; traditionally used for official business), 13 minority languages (official; includes Chewa, Chibarwe, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Shangani, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, and Xhosa).

Religions: Protestant 75% (includes Apostolic 37%, Pentecostal 39%, other 15%), Roman Catholic 7%, other Christian 5%, traditional 1%, Muslim <1%, other <1%, none 10%.

Climate: Tropical climate moderated by altitude. The rainy season is from November to March.

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $36.03 billion.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $3,300.

Main airports: Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, Victoria Falls International Airport, Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport.

World heritage sites in Zimbabwe

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 5.

Top world heritage sites:

- Great Zimbabwe National Monument.
- Matobo Hills.
- Mana Pools National Park.
- Khami Ruins National Monument.
- Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls.

Interesting facts about Zimbabwe

- Evidence suggests that Stone Age people inhabited Zimbabwe up to 500,000 years ago.

- In the 2000s Zimbabwe experienced hyperinflation. Its currency suffered from year-on-year inflation that exceeded 1,000%.

- Zimbabwe is one of the few nations on the planet where both white and black rhinos can be observed.

- The mbira is a traditional Zimbabwean small hand-held musical instrument, often referred to as a ‘thumb piano’.

Further reading: N/A.

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Zimbabwe Travel tips

More about Zimbabwe on Solo Female Travelers

Coming soon.

Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].

About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

• The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
• The age of the traveler.
• Whether they are a visitor or local.
• The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.

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Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️