Bulawayo, Zimbabwe · UTC+2
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Bulawayo is Zimbabwe’s second-largest city and the historical heart of Matabeleland, the region that was the center of the Ndebele Kingdom before colonization. It runs on Africa/Harare: UTC+2, Central Africa Time, year-round. No daylight saving time is observed.
The city sits at 1,340 meters elevation on Zimbabwe’s Highveld plateau. The altitude gives it a temperate climate despite its position at 20 degrees south latitude. Sunrise falls between 5:30am and 6:30am depending on season. Winters are cool and dry; summers warm and wet.
Seat of the Ndebele Kingdom
Bulawayo, whose name means “the place of slaughter” in Ndebele, was the royal kraal of the Ndebele kings. King Lobengula made it his capital in the 1870s and 1880s. The city’s pre-colonial significance gives it a different historical identity from Harare, the post-colonial administrative capital to the north.
British South Africa Company forces under Cecil Rhodes occupied the city in 1893 after the First Matabele War. The colonial city was built on and around the site of Lobengula’s destroyed kraal. The railway reached Bulawayo in 1897, making it an early terminus of the Cape to Cairo railway ambition.
Railway city
Bulawayo’s identity is shaped by the railway more than almost any other African city. The National Railways of Zimbabwe has its headquarters here. The city was built as a railway junction, and the grid of wide streets (reportedly designed wide enough for a full ox wagon span to turn) reflects its origin as a transport hub.
The time difference between Bulawayo and London is two hours in winter, one in summer when the UK observes BST. Harare and Chitungwiza are on the same clock.
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Questions about time in Bulawayo
- What timezone is Bulawayo in?
- Bulawayo uses the IANA timezone
Africa/Harare. The UTC offset is always UTC+2 — this timezone does not observe daylight saving time. - Does Bulawayo observe daylight saving time?
- No. Bulawayo does not observe daylight saving time. The UTC offset remains UTC+2 all year round.
- What is the current UTC offset for Bulawayo?
- Bulawayo is currently at UTC+2.
- What is the time difference between Bulawayo and New York?
- Bulawayo is currently 6 hours ahead of New York.
- What is the time difference between Bulawayo and London?
- Bulawayo is currently 1 hour ahead of London.
- What is the time difference between Bulawayo and Los Angeles?
- Bulawayo is currently 9 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
- What is the time difference between Bulawayo and Tokyo?
- Bulawayo is currently 7 hours behind Tokyo.
- What is the IANA timezone name for Bulawayo?
- The IANA timezone database identifier for Bulawayo is
Africa/Harare. Use this string in programming languages and APIs: JavaScript (`new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: 'Africa/Harare' })`), Python (`pytz.timezone('Africa/Harare')`), or any IANA-compatible library.