Paul Hubbard

Paul Hubbard, Born in Bulawayo, Paul has lived all over Zimbabwe both in town and in the wild – which he much prefers. He holds a couple of degrees in archaeology from the University of Zimbabwe and University College London. Paul currently works around the country as a professional tour guide specialising in the culture and history of Zimbabwe, and spending most of his time in the majestic and marvellous Matobo Hills World Heritage Site where he currently works exclusively from Camp Amalinda. He has been recently rated by Conde Nast Traveller (USA) as one of the top 25 guides in Africa and Vanity Fair (UK) magazine as one of the top 10 safari guides in Africa.

Paul has served as a project manager for both the Mother Africa Trust and the Matobo Rhino Initiative Trust (MRIT). For both organisations, he was responsible for creating and completing many projects focused on conservation and education in the Matobo Hills, Hwange and Bulawayo. With the MRIT, Paul was responsible for overseeing the construction of a fence around a portion of the Matopos National Park to assist with white and black rhino conservation efforts. This was completed in January 2015 and the results were very positive. He has also been an observer for the Black Eagle Survey in the Matopos since he was a teenager.

Having worked as an Associate Researcher at the Natural History Museum in Bulawayo (2012-2015), Paul continued with his archaeological and historical research. He has published several papers, reviews and a few books on these subjects, including his latest books, Khami: Capital of the Torwa State(2014), Great Zimbabwe: Spirits, Stones and the Soul of the Nation (2015) (both co-authored with Rob Burrett), the second edition of Malindidzimu: A Guide To The People And Events Associated With The “View of the World”, Matopos (2014) (with Terence Ranger, Rob Burrett & Anthony Chennells) as well as Zimbabwe: A Simple History (2013) (written with Mark Igoe).

In his limited spare time, Paul enjoys hunting down obscure archaeological and historical sites in southern Africa and visiting them in the company of his long-suffering friends together with a GPS, camera, notebook and full cooler box. He occasionally plays golf and squash enthusiastically but not, it must be said, competently. Paul collects books and memorabilia relating to the history of Zimbabwe – his family jokingly claim he owns a library and museum with a bedroom attached!