Intunjambili Wetlands Ecotourism Project
The wetland is located 40km South East of Bulawayo and the communities boarder with the Matobo National Park, a world Heritage site. Intunjambili wetland community consisting of 280 households. Visitors to Intunjambili can enjoy the scenic drive and views of the wetland from a huge rock outcrop overlooking the wetland. Several natural caves provide a unique picnic experience. Visitors can also fish on the dam and tour the villages and drive through the tranquil rural settings to the adjacent Matobo National Park.

Matshmbezi Valley Eco-Tourism Project
Based in Umzingwane, the centre offers genuine cultural and historical experience of the Ndebeles, ancient rock paintings, bird and wildlife viewing, camping sites and an opportunity to experience the life of local rural people.

Mwinji Eco-Tourism Project
Found in the heart of Binga, the center provides the greatest opportunity for those interested in wildlife and rare bird species viewing, leisure sport fishing, hot springs and the fantastic scenery beauty. The adjacent almighty Zambezi river also provides an opportunity for some boat cruises.

Craft Centers

Bulawayo Home Industries

Bulawayo Municipality in partnership with Makokoba township, 60 weavers and ten spinners to produce a wide range of utilitarian baskets and embroidered linens. Tourists visit this center to buy crafts from locals.

Muzilikazi Art and Craft Center

Started in 1958, produces, through the hands of 30 skilled potters, a wide range of ceramics for the tables, vases and ornamental pieces for domestic use and direct sale to tourists.

Found in the heart of Binga, the center provides the greatest opportunity for those interested in wildlife and rare bird species viewing, leisure sport fishing, hot springs and the fantastic scenery beauty. The adjacent almighty Zambezi river also provides an opportunity for some boat cruises.

Based in Umzingwane, the centre offers genuine cultural and historical experience of the Ndebeles, ancient rock paintings, bird and wildlife viewing, camping sites and an opportunity to experience the life of local rural people.

The wetland is located 40km South East of Bulawayo and the communities boarder with the Matobo National Park, a world Heritage site. Intunjambili wetland community consisting of 280 households. Visitors to Intunjambili can enjoy the scenic drive and views of the wetland from a huge rock outcrop overlooking the wetland. Several natural caves provide a unique picnic experience. Visitors can also fish on the dam and tour the villages and drive through the tranquil rural settings to the adjacent Matobo National Park.

Situated 12 km off the Vic Falls Bulawayo Road, about 2 km along the Gorges road, the place located just outside the Vic Falls National Park offers a typical live traditional village life.

Management of the facility: Mr Ndhlovu the coordinator and owner of the village works with his extended family are involved in the day to day operation of the business.

Accommodation – The village has huts than can accommodate 10 overnight visitors and shelters where a maximum of 20 people can be sheltered overnight.

Access – Easily accessed by road from Bulawayo Vic Falls road. The 12km off tarmac can be travelled using 2x2 vehicles. Tours in hired buses are regularly organized from Vic Falls by tour operators.

Amenities – Ablution blocks, clean water, curious available on site. Other services are readily available from Vic Falls

Attractions: the village structures, traditional cuisine, crafts, scenic views of the Vic Falls, Masuwe gorge
Activities – cultural dance, storytelling, herbal solutions, live and stage made traditional wedding parties. The village also allows local craft makers to sell their wares to tourists who visit the village.

Awareness – At the moment the village is working closely with Vic Falls based tour operators for sale, packaging and marketing of the product. Main Challenges: The facility lacks a proper framework for private – community partnership. Pricing of the product and packaging is an area that needs improvement. Future Prospects: As a social responsibility, the village has donated books for the schools around within the community, facilitated the maintenance of the roads and the famous KoMphisi soccer trophy. Above all the village is facilitating the water project for the community.

Situated in Lupane, 2km from the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, the Lupane Women’s Crafts Centre is a lucrative centre for basket making of all shapes and sizes. The centre has a membership 3 400 people from Lupane District. Of these 2400 are women and 1000 men. It is used for making crafts including baskets, floor cushions, trays, hats and stools which are made from the local resources such as ilala palm, sisal and wood. The bulk of products are mainly exported to America, Canada and Holland. The Lupane Women’s Crafts Centre has potential to be widely marketed to local and international tourists. Construction of the Centre was done with funds received from the Bernard Sunley Foundation, Sulzeberger Foundation, British Embassy, American Embassy, Canadian Fund Development Agency and the American Embassy small grants. Since 2004 Lupane has received institutional and program funding from Liechtenstein Development Services (LED) and occasional but valuable projects support from the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI). Management of the facility: It is a local organization which is run by the women with the assistance of a secretariat of 17 and 13 members of the Board of Trustees. The center is managed by a board drawn from members who are assisted by a technical team of employees (Manager, training coordinators, marketing officer and accountant) who manage the center on a day to day basis.

Accommodation – The centre has accommodation facilities which can carter for 25 people at any given time. Access: The center is easily accessible by road, along the Bulawayo Harare highway.

Amenities – N/A

Attractions – The main attraction is the unique basketry that the women produce. Weaving days are also a great attraction where one can see more than 300 women weaving – synonymous with bees in a bee hive. The accommodation and cafeteria also provide a convenient stop over for visitors travelling to and from Vic Falls or Binga. Activities – Tours around the craft center and surrounding villages where women come from
Women at Lupane Crafts center weaving crafts for export

Awareness – the center is highly marketed through the website, http://www.lupanewomenscenter.org Main Challenges: Limited visitor inflows Future Prospects: The plan is to put up lodges a training centre, conference facilities and a shop in the remaining extent of the land. The place is situated close to the Vic falls/Binga Bulawayo highway and has quite good potential for traveler’s enroute to Vic falls or Binga to provide visitor stop over facilities. In this venture the Centre is looking for funds to set up the structures the women are prepared to contribute the thatching grass and labour where possible.

 Binga Craft Centre is a community based organization, linked to more than 4000 Tonga Women craft producers living in the Binga district. The Binga Craft Centre was established in 1989 and has since transformed into a members' association comprising 33 affiliate clubs with a total of 4 000 women. All the women are basket weavers. The Craft Centre, located in the center of Binga town serves as an outlet

This facility is situated next to the Siamuloba on the Sebungwe River. This camp was also meant to provide accommodation for the fishermen and to serve as an additional accommodation facility to accommodate overflows and budget tourists from Siamuloba camp. There are four huts which have since dilapidated and were not able to be roofed due to lack of funds. Ablution facilities had also been built. The community cited costs involved as the main drawback to the resuscitation this facility.

Future Prospects: There is an arrangement that once the two camps are put up, the community manages the smaller camp (Kamata base) whilst a private expert partner manages the larger high end camp on behalf of the community.

Siamuloba center is a fishing camp established in 2005 and funded through the Campfire Development Fund (CDF). It is situated on the shores of the Sebungwe river.

Infrastructure: The original structures comprise two lodges under thatch, a gazebo/kitchen area and an ablution facility. A swimming pool overlooking the Sebungwe River has also been built. The buildings at this camp are dilapidated and need to be renovated. The site is connected to an electricity transmission line. The electricity transformer was stolen hence there is no electricity supply at the moment. Water reticulation system is not in place although the plans were to draw water from the Sebungwe river. Management of the Facility: The camp management is not in place, the Trust that was originally earmarked to oversee the management of the camp was never registered. The committee is no longer fully constituted and there is no responsible person to run the camp at the moment. The camp is manned by a caretaker-family who has limited information on the status and plans of the business.

Accommodation: The two lodges can accommodate a maximum of 8 people. There is adequate camping ground to accommodate more than 50 campers in small tents.

Amenities: No visitor amenities are in place. Access: The camp is about 26km of the Lupane Binga Road through Manjolo or Siachilaba business centers. The road is rough and one needs a rough terrain vehicle to get to the camp. It is regularly serviced by the RDC and hence the place is fairly easily accessible. The place can also be accessed by boat from Mulibizi Resort of Binga Town both within 15-20 minutes drive on a speed boat. Activities: The main activity on the camp is fishing, game viewing and boating on Sebungwe river or Lake Kariba.

Attractions: The river, lake, fishing and game are the main attractions. Tonga culture could also be incorporated into the set of attractions. Awareness and

Marketing: There are no efforts to market this facility. Challenges: The CDF funding period ended before the full development plans could be implemented. The RDC had pledged to continue with the project but not much development has taken place ever since CDF. The infrastructure is dilapidated and there have been incidences of theft and vandalism although now there is a full time care taker family. Patronage is low at the moment.

Future Prospects: The facility is strategically located and has a potential to be resuscitated into one of the best community tourism camps on Lake Kariba. The communities are still very keen on the project and the RDC believes the site has potential to bring in revenue to the community. There are opportunities for multipurpose use camp – fishing, cultural village, researchers’ camp etc.

This is a multicultural village centre established in 2004 with funding from Kellogg Foundation. The center is located close to 60km on the West of Plumtree town in Masendu area in Bulilima District.

Management of the Facility: The facility operates under a registered Trust called Masendu Valley Trust. The Trust is made up of six Kalanga villages which include Chiborama, Thandawani, Mambo, Masendu Central, Makundi and Ziluma Villages. Each village is equally represented in the enterprise. Each village participates in the management committee and is represented at the centre by a hut that depicts their village and way of life. The committee relies on a facilitator/coordinator who lives in the area and commits part of his time to the village. Otherwise the facilitator is fully employed by a NGO as a development facilitator in charge of other programmes. Infrastructure: The facility comprises of six roundavels, a central reception area with offices, storeroom and meeting room and a large Gazebo with a capacity of 150 people. The gazebo stage is where most functions for the villages are held and this also acts as a tourist relaxing area.

Accommodation – all the six roundavels are designed to provide overnight facility. Each room has a capacity of four single beds. Maximum capacity of the center is 24. The centre is also supported by a network of village hotels/votels in the area. Villagers built special huts in their homesteads to accommodate tourists who are willing to spend their stay within the village homesteads. The votels are pegged at us$30 per night which accrues to the owner of the facility.

Amenities: The facility is electrified and is equipped with a generator which serves as back up. Water is supplied by a borehole. Clinic and grocery shops are in close vicinity. The centre is also equipped with its own PA system and computers. The computers were brought through a project by the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) and National University of Science and Technology (NUST). The gazebo provides a refreshing meeting and functions space for both visitors and locals.

Access: The facility is easily accessible by road from Plumtree. The 60 km drive required a rough terrain vehicle. The access road is regularly serviced and it provides visitors with a nice scenic experience as it passed through different types of attractive village set ups. Public transportation to the facility is not reliable and one has to make special arrangements to get visitors to the site.

Activities: The main activity of the area is cultural activities. Villages exhibit their way of life, crafts and traditional wares and dances. Every year, the Masendu community organizes a cultural event. To sustain their cultural and traditional practices, the community has dedicated every Wednesday of each week to teaching the young people about their culture. This has potential to enhance the cultural product. The village hosts also offer a variety of tourist activities largely built around the day to day way of living. Attractions: The main attraction to the area is the Kalanga culture that is exhibited through the make and crafts of the 6 roundavels on the facility and the village life style that can be experienced during stay in votels. The Musendu Cultural Festival is held yearly at Masendu Cultural Village in September. Its major aim is to manifest and boast the Kalanga Culture although it accommodates other sub-cultures in the province and beyond.

Awareness and Marketing: The centre is being marketed through the Kellogg Foundation, Bulilima-Mangwe website, and the cultural village monthly newsletter. The cultural festival is also featured on the National Arts Council Website this gives a platform for publicizing the other year round visitor activity. Not much information is available on Masendu Village and the Votels. Besides the newsletter, there are no brochures that package the facility. Challenges: In terms of running the business, the centre is facing the challenge of lack of pricing knowledge especially on the meetings venue and services provided hence they are in need of capacity building in this area. Due to the low visitor patronage, the facilities have been turned into office and accommodation for various NGOs and Government agencies working in the area. During the survey, almost every roundavel was being rented out to service providers. There is generally lack of technical and managerial capacity to run the center efficiently. This was evidenced by the general state of disrepair of the water and power supply and other equipment on the center. The generator that was donated a few years ago has not been connected and is lying idle this is despite the erratic supply of electricity to the center. Future Prospects: There has been a relatively earnest investment in this center compared to other cultural centers in the country. The village has potential to be the main attraction in the district given its relatively good access roads, its centrality and the legacy that the center has as a preserve and interpretive center for the Kalanga culture. There are plans to repair the water and electricity supply and to restore the tourism utility value through removing the tenants and refurbishing the roundavels. The votels are a growing area of interest for the villagers and a number of homesteads have been earmarked for this type of