Friends of the Museum

Museums are centres of education and research and play an important role in society documenting our culture and the natural world around us. As such museums belong to the community and without the involvement and pride of the community museums will flounder. The Natural History Museum of Bulawayo is one of the best in Southern Africa and is something of which the citizens of Bulawayo are immensely proud.

The Friends of the Natural History Museum is a loose association of volunteers and supporters who have an affinity for our heritage and would like to help in whichever way they can to preserve this for future generations. The Friends act on a voluntary and non-remunerative basis. Their support is moral, financial or consists of voluntary work or expertise.

Fund raising efforts have included Fun Days at the Museum, Treasure Hunts in the Museum, Nights in the Museum, Golf Days, Screening of Motion Pictures and Conservation Club to name a few.

The Natural History Museum of Bulawayo launched its Friends of the Museum on 16th May 2012. Membership to the Friends is minimal. To join or make a donation please contact either the Museum Director or the Friends Association: friendsnhz@gmail.com

Successful projects that the Friends have supported include:

Recovering of the benches in the lecture hall (Newman Hall)
Replacement of the carpet in the geology galleries
Mounting of a live display on the poisonous snakes ofMounting of a live display on the poisonous snakes of Zimbabwe and revamp of the permanent Herpetology displays
New Permanent Hippo Display
Revamping of Khami World Heritage Site Museum
Printing of the Museum Guide Book
Information Panels at World’s View Matobo

Projects that the friends are currently fund raising for and supporting are:

Large Projects that have had international support have included repairs to the leaks in the roof with assistance from Beit Trust and creation of an E-learning Education Centre with assistance from UNICEF.

Other large projects that require substantial capital investment and partnership include:

Databasing of Museum collections
Multidisciplinary Research at Chirinda Forest and Matobo Wetlands
Conservation Projects on Matobo Rock Art
Rhodes Stable and Summer House Restoration and creation of Site Museum
Rebuild of Old Bulawayo
Purchase of Steel Cabinets to house the museum collections
Connection of Museum to Solar lightning
Painting of the Museum

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258 reviews on

David Reason

26/01/2021

This is a fabulous treasure for Zimbabwe with around 7 separate galleries of very well presented exhibits such as geology, entomology, herpetology, African mammals, colonial history, local African tribes, astronomy, humankind and mycology (fungi). It also houses hundreds of thousands of specimens in around 10 Collections, including arachnids, Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), birds, snakes, plants and fungi - these Collections can be seen but by appointment only. The museum staff are pleasant and knowledgeable. There is an onsite café to pick up a snack or two and a public library of really interesting natural history books. There is also good info on the two World Heritage sites managed by the museum, these being the Matobo World View site and the Khami Ruins which are also magical places to go and visit!