Lake October is a unique three-day tourism destination festival that is held at Great Zimbabwe, Masvingo, to celebrate Zimbabwe’s diverse tourist attractions, arts, sports, music, culture, and dance. Masvingo is an ancient City, situated in the southern part of Zimbabwe.
The Great Zimbabwe Monuments, the epicentre of Zimbabwe’s history and cultural heritage is one of the major tourist destinations in Zimbabwe. Theme: : A Destination Marketing and Promotion Festival with a Purpose-Tourism for Cancer Awareness
Established in 2018 by founder and Director, Garikayi Garande- the event was recognized and endorsed by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, an important destination marketing festival
This year, the festival is back under the theme ‘A Destination Marketing and Promotion Festival with a Purpose-Tourism for Cancer Awareness and will be held five locations – Caravan Park- in Masvingo City, Masvingo Golf Club, Granez Restaurant, Tambai Lakeside Park and Great Zimbabwe Monuments- the epicenter of Zimbabwean history, culture, and heritage.
This year’s edition of the annual Festival is an important opportunity to honor individuals and organizations that have made substantial contributions to improving the lives of people affected by cancer, through our Partnership with the Cancer Association of Zimbabwe we are excited to celebrate the courage and resilience of our community and we hope our contributions will help those affected by cancer and also raise awareness on Breast Cancer.
The Cancer Association of Zimbabwe (Cancer Centre) is a non-profit making organization which was started in 1961. The Association was formed by a group of cancer survivors and volunteers in a bid to support each other morally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
In line with CAZ’s vision vision is to raise cancer awareness and improve the quality of life of cancer patients and their families. We are dedicated to raise awareness on breast cancer through our programming throughout the festival as prevention and early diagnosis are the thrust of the awareness or education programs throughout the festivities with the help of our various partners we will also be sharing information on the most common cancers in Zimbabwe, cancer prevention, the importance of diet, the role of change of lifestyles towards wellness and cancer.
The opening night of the music festival dubbed ‘Pink Friday Music Concert’ will be held on Friday 20 October 2023. The music concert will be headlined by live performances from Zimbabwe’s top female artistes Selmor Mtukudzi, Feli Nandi and DJ Liz. Winky D and Enzo iShall will perform as guest artist. The line-up for the ‘ZIM’S FINEST MUSIC CONCERT’ on Saturday 21 October 2023 will be headlined by Zimbabwe’s top artists; King Her, Killer T, Exq, Holyten, and Mbeu.
The festival is dedicated to promoting new voices and providing a platform that nurtures our local artists. We have created a line-up with artists from the province of Masvingo to showcase their talent to over 10000 attendees over the festivities.
the Festivities began with the golf day on the 13th of October at Masvingo golf club and end with the culinary competition, food and wine tasting day at Masvingo Sports Club on Saturday the 28th of October 2023. GRANEZ Restaurant will host this year’s edition, we are expecting participants from all over Zimbabwe and the response in terms of participants has been positive.
The opening night of the music festival dubbed ‘Pink Friday Music Concert’ will be held on Friday 20 October 2023 at Caravan Park-Masvingo. The music concert will be headlined by live performances from Zimbabwe’s top female artistes Selmor Mtukudzi, Feli Nandi and DJ Liz, Enzo iShall and Winky D will perform as guest artists
On Saturday 21 October 2022 the festival shifts to the Great Zimbabwe Monuments for the Great Zimbabwe marathon followed by a Culture day. Tambai Lakeside Park on the shores of Lake Mutirikwi will host a full day of activities that include tour of Great Zimbabwe Monuments, Lion encounter, game-drives, fun shooting, Quad biking, boat cruises, fishing, beach sports and fun activities. In the evening Zimbabwe’s top artists, Killer T, EX Q, HOLYTEN, MBEU, and king her will headline the ‘ZIM’S FINEST MUSIC CONCERT’ at Caravan Park Masvingo
We have also engaged local artists and djs from Masvingo province to perform throughout the festival. The festival will be supported by tourism products that include accommodation, tour packages, tour of Great Zimbabwe monuments, day trips to Tugwi-Mukosi dam, and visits to Gonarezhou National Park amongst many other attractions. The festival also offers many other activities such as boat cruises, game drives and fishing.
Our locations are easily accessible and we are providing one of a kind shuttle service from Mashava and Civic centre to our venues for festival goers. The festival uses arts and sport in the form of musical concerts, golf day, marathon, cultural tourism to generate revenue and exposure for Great Zimbabwe Monuments and indeed Masvingo Province as a prime tourist destination in Zimbabwe.To decongest the main entrance we have opened an entrance from Cary street for ordinary tickets for people with cars only. main entrance along Mutare road will be for vip cars only and ordinary entry for pedestrians. The new Cary road entrance is strictly for cars and people in cars [ordinary tickets holders who want parking insoles the Caravan Park Venue) no pedestrians and no cooler boxes permitted.
The project is set to revive tourism in Masvingo. Local businesses will generate sales worth over USD1 Million United states dollars during the festival period. This will positively impact on the growth of the provincial economy. With thousands of people converging in Masvingo, at Great Zimbabwe Monuments and at the Lakeshore at Lake Mutirikwi, the event provides enormous business opportunities for tourism establishments and the retail industry to generate business by reaching out to existing and new customers, promote their brands and make fantastic sales. The event will expose Zimbabwean arts and tourism to a wider national and international audience.
The festival provides a great opportunity to partner with organizations that seek an association with a high-quality event that draws thousands of music, sports lovers, and artists together as one for an unforgettable tourist experience. Born out of the desire to market and promote tourism to Masvingo and to re-establish Great Zimbabwe as a prime tourist destination of choice, the festival is set to become one of Africa’s largest festivals.
Lake October Great Zim Tourism Festival: A Destination Marketing and Promotional Festival with a Purpose- Tourism for Cancer Awareness.
By Tabitha Black Pepper Mpala
