Travel guide

Zimbabwe’s Best Celebrations, From New Year at the Falls to HIFA

Of Zimbabwe’s eleven public holidays, four are worth timing a trip around: the Victoria Falls Carnival over New Year, Independence Day on 18 April, Easter and the return of HIFA.

Focus Travel & Tours September 25, 2026 930 views

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The celebrations you can actually join

Three that are worth building a trip around

Most of Zimbabwe's public holidays are commemorative. Heroes' Day and Defence Forces Day in August, Unity Day on 22 December and Africa Day on 25 May are marked with ceremonies and speeches rather than with anything a visitor attends.

Three are different. The Victoria Falls Carnival over New Year is a ticketed music festival built for exactly this. Independence Day on 18 April fills stadiums and streets. And HIFA, the Harare International Festival of the Arts, has just returned after an eight-year gap.
Public holidays and the best windows to travel
https://focustravelandtours.com/public-holidays/

29 to 31 December: the Victoria Falls Carnival

Three nights, a steam train, and midnight by the gorge

The Victoria Falls Carnival runs annually from 29 to 31 December in Victoria Falls town, a short walk from the falls themselves. It is the largest gathering of the year in the town and the reason a lot of people choose Zimbabwe for New Year at all.

The shape of it has been consistent for years: a party on a vintage steam train out to a bush venue on the first night, a daytime colour party on the second, and the main New Year's Eve event on the third, running past midnight. Tickets go on sale through the festival's own channels, and the train night is traditionally the first to sell out.

Practical warning: the town is at its absolute fullest that week. Rooms, transfers and activity slots need booking months out, and rates over New Year are the highest of the year.
Mosi-oa-Tunya, Victoria Falls, UNESCO World Heritage Centre
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/509

29 to 31 December: the Victoria Falls Carnival

18 April: Independence Day

The date the country became Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe marks independence on 18 April, the date in 1980 when the country became Zimbabwe. It is the largest civic celebration of the year, centred on a main stadium event with music, military display and a presidential address, and echoed by smaller gatherings in every town.

It falls in autumn, at the end of the rains, when the Zambezi is high and Victoria Falls is close to its peak flow. That is the opposite trade-off from the dry season: the falls are thunderous and the spray is heavy enough to soak you and obscure the view, while game viewing in Hwange is at its hardest because water is everywhere and the animals are dispersed.

In 2026 it falls on a Saturday, in 2027 a Sunday, and in 2028 a Tuesday.

Easter, and the domestic rush that comes with it

Four days off, and everyone travelling

Zimbabwe treats Easter generously: Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Monday are all public holidays, giving a four-day weekend. It is the biggest domestic travel weekend of the year, and Victoria Falls, Nyanga and Kariba fill with Zimbabwean families.

The dates follow Easter, so 3 to 6 April in 2026, 26 to 29 March in 2027 and 14 to 17 April in 2028. Tour operators run normally through all of it. What changes is availability: the popular lodges go early, and self-drive traffic on the Harare to Bulawayo road is heavy.

If your dates are fixed to Easter, book the beds before you book anything else.

HIFA, back after eight years

The arts festival that stopped in 2018

The Harare International Festival of the Arts ran from 1999 and became one of the largest arts festivals on the continent, with several hundred performances across theatre, music, dance, poetry and visual art. It stopped after 2018.

It has now returned with a published run of dates: 3 to 9 August 2026, 26 April to 2 May 2027, and 1 to 7 May 2028. That makes it plannable again, which it has not been for most of a decade.

It is in Harare, not Victoria Falls, so it pairs with a safari rather than sitting inside one. The usual shape is a few days in Harare for the festival and then a flight west.
Harare International Festival of the Arts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harare_International_Festival_of_the_Arts

What closes, and what keeps running

The practical part

Tours, activities, lodges and restaurants all operate on Zimbabwean public holidays. Banks, government offices and the immigration desks at head offices close. Border posts, including Victoria Falls and Kazungula, stay open and get busier.

National park gates keep normal hours, and park fees do not change for holidays. What changes is the domestic demand around them.

Booking guidance: the New Year week needs six months or more for a room in Victoria Falls. Easter needs three to four. Independence Day needs nothing in particular unless you want to be in Harare for the main event.
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority
https://www.zimparks.org.zw/