Bulawayo

Introduction

Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 kilometres southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland. The capital of Matabeleland North is now Lupane, as Bulawayo is a stand-alone province.

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Events and Festivals

Bulawayo Music Festival

Presented by the Zimbabwe Academy of Music, the Bulawayo Music Festival is held every two years from May 23-27. Playing host to a wide range of genres including classical, pop, jazz, and gospel, the festival is one of best musical showcases in the country. There are a variety of concerts by both international and Zimbabwean acts, but also informative workshops for festival-goers to attend.

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Weather

Bulawayo is located at higher altitude. Here, summers are close to 30 degrees Celcius during the day, around 15 or 16 degrees at night. Winters (June - September) are above 20 degrees during the day, dropping to a rather chilly 7 degrees at night. Most rain falls between December and February, close to 200 mm a month in some places. June to September is almost completely dry.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg Max	27.7 °C	27.2 °C	27.1 °C	25.9 °C	24.1 °C	21.6 °C	21.5 °C	24.4 °C	27.9 °C	29.4 °C	28.7 °C	27.7 °C
Avg Min	16.5 °C	16.2 °C	15.3 °C	13 °C	9.9 °C	7.4 °C	7.2 °C	9.1 °C	12.4 °C	15 °C	16 °C	16.3 °C
Rainfall	117.8 mm	104.6 mm	51.4 mm	33.3 mm	7 mm	2.2 mm	1 mm	1.4 mm	7 mm	38.4 mm	91.1 mm	120.3 mm
Rain Days	10	8	5	3	1	1	0	0	1	4	8	10

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Getting There

By Train

Since 2006, there is a thrice a week train between Francistown in Botswana and Bulawayo. The train leaves Francistown on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays around 9am and arrives approximately 6 hours later in Bulawayo. In the other direction, the train leaves Bulawayo at 9.30am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, taking 5 and a half hours.

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