Where a Zimbabwean LegacyTakes Flight

On the shores of Lake Chivero, just 30 kilometres from Harare, a sanctuary born from an extraordinary passion for birds has survived, rebuilt and begun to soar again. More than three decades after Gary Stafford founded Kuimba Shiri, his son Joshua is carrying that legacy into an ambitious new era—one that brings conservation, hospitality and the beauty of the lake together to create one of Zimbabwe’s most distinctive destinations.

And increasingly, when evening comes, there is no need to leave.
Four striking, newly-built chalets now face Lake Chivero, their balconies catching the changing light over the water. They are among the first unmistakable signs of a new Kuimba Shiri emerging—more polished, more ambitious and increasingly capable of becoming not simply somewhere Harare visits, but Harare’s great lakeside escape. Yet to understand where Kuimba Shiri is going, you first have to understand where it came from. Because beneath the beauty of this place lies an extraordinary story of passion, loss, resilience and renewal.And it began with one man and his birds.

Kuimba Shiri has the rare quality of feeling like a world entirely its own.Remarkably, it lies barely 30 kilometres from Harare. The city begins to fall away and the landscape opens towards Lake Chivero. Traffic gives way to trees. Buildings disappear behind open country. And then there is the lake—wide, luminous and alive with birds. On its shores, beneath great Zimbabwean skies, lies Kuimba Shiri. Its name means “singing birds” in Shona, and it is difficult to imagine a name more perfectly suited to the place.
African Fish Eagles call across the water. Horses graze beneath the trees. Families linger over lunch beside the lake. Boats move away from the shore. Children race towards the swimming pool and playground. Guests wander between aviaries before gathering in the late afternoon to watch some of Africa’s most magnificent birds take to the sky.

A DREAM BUILT ON WINGS
When conservationist and falconer Gary Stafford founded Kuimba Shiri in 1994, he was creating something Zimbabwe had never quite seen before. His world revolved around birds—particularly raptors—and the sanctuary that grew on Lake Chivero became an expression of that lifelong fascination. Kuimba Shiri expanded rapidly. Its collection of indigenous birds became exceptional, and by 2002, the sanctuary’s own historical records describe it as the largest collection of indigenous birds in Africa. But perhaps the greatest indication of the expertise developing quietly on the shores of Lake Chivero came from much further afield. Birds trained at Kuimba Shiri were used in major BBC wildlife productions, including Eagles and Sir David Attenborough’s celebrated The Life of Birds. For a sanctuary in Zimbabwe, it was an extraordinary chapter.

But the collection was never simply about spectacle. Kuimba Shiri became a refuge for injured, orphaned and displaced birds. Some arrived temporarily, requiring care before they could return to the wild. Others had suffered injuries or circumstances that made release impossible. The philosophy was straightforward: where rehabilitation and release were possible, the wild remained the ultimate destination. Where they were not, the birds could find permanent sanctuary and become ambassadors for their species. Education naturally followed. Children who might otherwise know an eagle only as a distant silhouette could stand metres away from one. Students could encounter Zimbabwe’s extraordinary avian biodiversity not as an illustration on a classroom page, but alive in front of them. And visitors began coming. They came for the birds. They came for the lake. They came to watch raptors fly. Something remarkable was taking shape on the shores of Lake Chivero. Then, in 2002, everything changed.

THE YEAR KUIMBA SHIRI ALMOST DISAPPEARED

Zimbabwe was entering a period of profound uncertainty. For the Stafford family, the question was no longer how Kuimba Shiri would grow. It was how it would survive. Amidst the political turmoil of the 2000s, approximately a thousand birds were relocated to South Africa for safekeeping. Pause for a moment on the scale of that undertaking. A sanctuary built bird by bird, aviary by aviary and year by year had to be dismantled. Hundreds upon hundreds of living animals had to be safely transported across an international border. The collection that had taken years to build was gone from Lake Chivero. Kuimba Shiri entered its wilderness years. For many stories, that would have been the ending. But Kuimba Shiri had never been built around an easy dream, and the Staffords were not giving up. By 2011, the decision had been made. They would stay, and rebuild. Slowly, life returned to Kuimba Shiri. The sanctuary was restored. Birds returned. Visitors returned. The restaurant re-opened. The grounds began to fill again with families and schoolchildren. The sound of wings returned to Lake Chivero. And from those difficult years emerged something perhaps more powerful than the original sanctuary. A legacy.

WHERE CONSERVATION AND TOURISM MEET

Perhaps the greatest surprise about Kuimba Shiri is how little effort it takes to leave the city behind. Harare is only around 30 kilometres away. Close enough for a spontaneous lunch, an afternoon with the children or an unplanned night away. Yet somewhere between the city and the shores of Lake Chivero, the pace changes. The road opens into the landscape. The noise recedes. The lake appears. And suddenly, there is nowhere else you particularly need to be. This is the Kuimba Shiri that many visitors are only beginning to discover. The birds may be its heart, but around them has grown an experience that can easily consume an entire day. A morning wander through the sanctuary might become lunch beneath the trees. Lunch might become an afternoon beside the pool, a horse ride through the grounds or a boat disappearing across Lake Chivero. Children find their own adventures while adults rediscover the rare pleasure of having nowhere to rush to. There is something wonderfully unstructured about it. You can come with a plan. Or you can simply arrive. On the water, the sanctuary takes on another perspective. From a boat, the shoreline recedes and Lake Chivero becomes enormous.

The sanctuary sits within a wetland landscape internationally recognised under the Ramsar Convention, an ecosystem supporting more than 400 species of birds. The cry of a wild African Fish Eagle carries across the water; game can sometimes be seen along the opposite shore of the Lake Chivero National Park. Back on land, lunch is waiting. There are horses beneath the trees, cold drinks beside the lake and lawns made for long afternoons. And then, as four o’clock approaches on weekends and public holidays, people begin drifting towards the flying display. Some have travelled specifically to see it. Others arrived knowing very little about it. Almost everyone looks up. A bird launches. For a few seconds, conversation disappears beneath the rush of wings. A raptor passes overhead with Lake Chivero behind it, and suddenly the birds encountered earlier in the sanctuary are no longer exhibits to be observed. They are athletes of the sky. It is theatre, education and wild instinct meeting in one extraordinary moment.
For generations of Zimbabweans, the flying display has been Kuimba Shiri’s signature. But these days, four o’clock is no longer the culmination of the entire experience. It can simply be the beginning of the evening.

STAY A LITTLE LONGER
When the last bird has flown and the afternoon visitors begin the journey back towards Harare, Lake Chivero changes character. The bustle softens. The light turns golden across the water. And the guests staying overnight don’t have to go anywhere. Along the lakeshore, four newly built modern chalets rise above the lawns—the most visible expression yet of Kuimba Shiri’s new chapter.
Each looks towards the lake, with a master bedroom opening onto an upstairs balcony and enough space for families and small groups to settle in for more than a fleeting visit. They replaced Kuimba Shiri’s older accommodation as part of the redevelopment that began under Joshua Stafford in 2024. But their real luxury may be something much simpler.

Time to watch the sun disappear across Lake Chivero without thinking about the drive home. Time for dinner and another drink.
Time to sit outside after dark and listen to a sanctuary that sounds very different once its visitors have gone.
And then, in the morning, to open the doors and find the lake still there. It transforms Kuimba Shiri from a place that can fill a day into somewhere that can hold an entire weekend. Although calling it simply a “weekend getaway” almost undersells its greatest advantage. You don’t need a weekend. That is the beauty of being only around 30 kilometres from Harare. Kuimba Shiri can be the holiday you planned weeks ago—or the escape you decided you needed this morning. A long lunch can become an afternoon on the lake. An afternoon can become dinner. And sometimes the best decision of the day is simply not to drive home.

THE NEXT CHAPTER
For Gary’s son, Joshua Stafford, scenes like these offer a glimpse of what Kuimba Shiri can become. He grew up inside a place shaped by his father’s extraordinary relationship with the natural world. He watched Kuimba Shiri flourish, lived through the upheaval of the 2000’s, and helped the family with the slow, patient work of rebuilding. Now the second generation is beginning to leave its own mark on the shoreline. And Josh’s vision reaches far beyond restoring what was once here. He sees a Kuimba Shiri that takes its place among Zimbabwe’s great destination experiences: a wildlife sanctuary at its heart, surrounded by a beautiful lakeside resort that gives people more reasons to come, more ways to experience it and more reasons to stay.
The beginnings of that future are already appearing.

The new chalets now face the lake from the ground where the old thatched rooms once stood, carrying a familiar part of Kuimba Shiri into a new era. Below them, the marina has been expanded and transformed, with a new harbour built far larger and deeper than its predecessors. The work has brought year-round water back to the shoreline in front of Hippo Creek, while a substantial new pier wall creates a sheltered haven where boats can retreat from the wind and waves. Nearby, a newly built A-frame campsite opens another way to experience the sanctuary, giving school groups the chance to turn a day visit into nights around the campfire and mornings of team-building by the water. And the transformation is not finished. Beyond what stands today are plans for larger spaces where groups, events and conferences will eventually find their place—part of a wider vision for Kuimba Shiri that is steadily taking shape. Yet the most exciting part of the vision is not any single building. It is what the whole place will become.

A LEGACY THAT FUNDS ITS OWN FUTURE
There is another reason the future of Kuimba Shiri matters. Every new guest who discovers the destination becomes, perhaps without realising it, part of the story that began here in 1994. Kuimba Shiri’s conservation and rehabilitation work is self-funded. There is no separation between the experience visitors enjoy and the sanctuary they have come to see. The lunch overlooking the lake, the night in a chalet, the boat leaving the marina and the family spending a Sunday beneath the trees all help sustain the work behind the scenes.

It gives every new development a deeper significance.A fuller restaurant means more than a good Sunday.
A chalet occupied for the weekend means more than another guest. As the destination flourishes, so too does the sanctuary at its heart. And so Josh’s vision does not pull Kuimba Shiri away from the legacy his father created.
It brings that legacy with it.
The birds remain.
The rehabilitation continues.
The sanctuary grows stronger.
Only now, the world around it is growing too.

“My father founded Kuimba Shiri around his love of birds and conservation. My responsibility is to make sure the sanctuary has a secure and vibrant future, and to build it into a destination that people are proud to have here in Zimbabwe. On a sunny afternoon, you can look across the lawn and see people from every creed, colour and background gathered together. To me, that is a testament to the way nature unites us. Whatever our differences, creation has the power to inspire awe in all of us.”
And perhaps that is what makes this new chapter so compelling

WHERE THE STORY TAKES FLIGHT
Thirty-two years after Gary first brought his vision to the shores of Lake Chivero, Kuimba Shiri feels as though it is standing at another beginning. The scars of its history are still part of it. So are the birds. But look beyond them and there are signs everywhere of what comes next.

What is compelling about the next phase of Kuimba Shiri is precisely that it does not require the destination to abandon its past. It requires the opposite. Its history is part of what makes Kuimba Shiri unlike anywhere else. There are newer lodges, larger resorts and more conventional wildlife destinations. But there is only one Kuimba Shiri. For Josh, the future is therefore not simply about building more. It is about making Kuimba Shiri matter more: more to Zimbabwean families, more to conservation education, more to travellers discovering our beautiful country, more to schools and the generations of children who will encounter its birds for the first time and more to Zimbabwe’s tourism story. It is a story about the relationship between people and wildlife; about the memories made beside Lake Chivero; and about one family’s determination to keep that relationship alive. Thirty-two years after Gary Stafford founded a sanctuary for Zimbabwe’s “singing birds”, the next chapter is already taking flight. And this time, the world is invited to come and see it.

The new chalets are less a simple accommodation upgrade than a marker of how far the rebuild has come — a sanctuary that once had to release its entire flock to survive now has enough confidence in its future to invest in bricks, mortar and solar panels for overnight guests. For travellers plotting a weekend outside Harare, it offers something increasingly rare: a stay with a story attached.

From Destination Issue 27