BULAWAYO TOUR GUIDE CHAMPIONS HERITAGE STORYTELLING BEYOND THE CITY

A Bulawayo-based cultural tourism figure is drawing attention to the role of storytelling in shaping how visitors experience Zimbabwe, positioning herself not merely as a city guide but as a custodian of the country’s broader historical and cultural narrative.

Thubelihle Thuba Nkomo, former Cultural Tourism Director at Amakhosi Productions in Bulawayo, shared her philosophy on guiding in a recent social media post, describing her work as going beyond simply walking visitors through the city. “I don’t just guide visitors through Bulawayo, I open the pages of Zimbabwe’s rich history and heritage,” she said, framing each tour as an opportunity to showcase the country beyond its urban centres, one story, one journey and one experience at a time.

Her comments reflect a growing emphasis within Zimbabwe’s tourism sector on cultural and heritage-based experiences, as operators and guides increasingly position storytelling and historical context as central to what sets a destination apart, rather than treating guiding as a purely logistical service. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, carries a particularly rich cultural and historical backdrop, having served as the capital of the Ndebele Kingdom under King Lobengula in the nineteenth century and later developing into a key industrial and railway hub during the colonial era.

Nkomo’s background at Amakhosi Productions, a well-known Bulawayo-based arts and cultural organisation with a long history of promoting theatre, music and cultural heritage in the region, appears to inform her approach to tourism, blending performance and narrative traditions with the more conventional aspects of city guiding. Her framing of tours as an extension of Zimbabwe’s storytelling tradition suggests an effort to connect visitors with the deeper cultural fabric of the country, rather than offering a purely sightseeing-focused experience.

Guides who foreground heritage and narrative in this way are seen by many in the tourism industry as playing a critical role in shaping visitor perceptions, particularly in a market where destinations compete not only on attractions but on the depth and authenticity of the experiences they offer. For a city like Bulawayo, often positioned in the shadow of Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park on Zimbabwe’s tourism circuit, guides emphasising its unique historical identity may help carve out a distinct space within the country’s broader tourism offering.

As Zimbabwe continues efforts to diversify and deepen its tourism appeal beyond its most internationally recognised attractions, voices like Nkomo’s point to the value placed on cultural custodianship within the industry, positioning local guides not simply as facilitators of movement through a city, but as narrators of a nation’s layered and living history.

Image: Thubelihle Nkomo Facebook page