Investments
Opportunities
Land, timber and eco-tourism.
The Forestry Commission invites investors and strategic partners to participate in a portfolio of high-value, sustainability-driven land, timber and eco-tourism investment opportunities across Zimbabwe.
Opportunities range from protected indigenous forests with mature hardwood timber and value-addition potential, to premium tourism and mixed-use developments adjacent to Victoria Falls and Lake Kariba, plus a flagship green-campus redevelopment in Harare.
Anchored by the internationally recognised Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area and the Victoria Falls conservation areas, the region offers a durable foundation for premium nature-based tourism and attractive, high-return investments.
Why invest here
Natural capital with a commercial pathway.
Strategic natural assets
Projects sit inside or adjacent to major regional conservation and tourism nodes, including the Kavango Zambezi corridor and the Victoria Falls tourism catchment — delivering unique experiential tourism, regulated hunting, and conservation revenue models.
Investment facilitation
Zimbabwe operates an investment facilitation system through the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency, providing licensing, tax incentives and Special Economic Zone regimes for qualifying projects — important for structuring joint venture and concession deals.
Diversified revenue
Timber harvesting and value-addition; luxury eco-lodges and airport-proximate resorts; hunting and photographic safaris; commercial real estate and mixed-use green campus income; carbon and biodiversity finance potential.
Project portfolio
Nine opportunities, across Zimbabwe.
Each of these sits on land the Commission holds or manages. Detailed site maps, timber inventories, concession records and draft joint-venture templates are available on request, under a non-disclosure agreement.
Sijarira Forest
Approx. 20,000 ha · Lake Kariba. Mature teak and mopane woodlands with direct Lake Kariba shoreline, an operational photographic lodge with eight chalets and a registered airstrip on site. Established populations of elephant, buffalo, leopard, crocodile and hippo. Suited to photographic safari lodges, fishing and water-safari products, and regulated hunting under existing quota frameworks.
Gwaai Forest
Approx. 66,000 ha · 83 km from Bulawayo. A vast, largely untouched indigenous forest estate containing critical watersheds and intact populations of elephant, sable, zebra and wildebeest. Priorities are boundary protection and community engagement, selective low-impact timber harvesting, safari and tourism corridors, and payments for ecosystem services.
Bembesi Forest
Approx. 26,000 ha · Adjacent to Gwaai. A vital landscape for regional biodiversity and for the livelihoods of surrounding communities, now under pressure from illegal settlement. The Commission seeks partners for a community-centred conservation initiative: habitat restoration, community wildlife monitoring, anti-poaching support and sustainable livelihood alternatives.
Chirinda Rainforest
960 ha · Chipinge. A nationally rare and globally significant rainforest remnant, with more than 350 bird species, over 80 butterfly species and record-height canopy trees reaching approximately 60 metres. Suited to conservation management partnerships, low-impact eco-lodges and interpretation centres, canopy and guided nature experiences, research and training facilities, and biodiversity finance.
Fuller Forest
Approx. 10,000 ha · Victoria Falls corridor. A forest estate within the KAZA Transfrontier Wildlife Corridor, roughly 20 km from Victoria Falls town and close to Victoria Falls International Airport. Suited to luxury airport-proximate lodges and boutique resorts, gated conservation tourism estates and private conservancies, and mixed-use hospitality clusters integrated with game-sanctuary management.
Airport Lodges
Approx. 300 ha · Victoria Falls. Intact forest immediately adjacent to Victoria Falls International Airport and 20 km from the Falls, inside the KAZA corridor and within a designated Special Economic Zone. Suited to low-density luxury lodges and villas that preserve canopy and wildlife movement, a managed game sanctuary or private conservancy, and an eco-tourism hub.
Ubuso Block
Approx. 1,700 ha · 30 minutes from Victoria Falls. A greenfield parcel suited to a master-planned, conservation-led tourism estate: clustered eco-lodges and boutique camps, adventure and interpretation zones, a conservation management core linked to research partnerships, and community partnership initiatives including skills training and revenue-sharing.
Orange Grove Business Park
Approx. 32 ha · Harare. A redevelopment of the Commission’s headquarters site into a low-carbon flagship campus and mixed-use commercial hub: a low-carbon office and research complex, a Sustainability and Innovation Centre, a boutique eco-hotel with retail and residential components, rooftop and ground-mount solar, and public amenities including interpretive trails and conference facilities.
Foresthill Sawmills
Hardwood timber value-addition. The Commission controls inventory-backed stands of teak, rosewood, mukwa and other premium hardwoods across gazetted forest blocks, and operates small-scale sawmilling and kiln-drying facilities. Joint-venture investment is invited to scale a fully integrated, legally compliant timber value chain: modern sawmills, expanded kiln capacity, and downstream furniture and joinery manufacture for export.
Partnership structures
How an investment is put together.
The Commission can provide tailored term sheets and draft memoranda of understanding. All projects on gazetted forests or protected areas are subject to Commission regulatory oversight, environmental and social impact assessments, and sustainable harvesting and wildlife management rules.
Concession, lease or joint venture
A long-term lease or concession on defined blocks with Commission oversight, where the investor funds capital expenditure, operations and employment costs.
Equity joint venture
A special purpose vehicle in which the Commission contributes land and the investor contributes capital.
Build, operate, transfer
The investor constructs facilities to agreed standards, operates them for a concession period, then transfers ownership as agreed.
Public-private partnership
Blended finance — grant, equity or concession — to secure biodiversity and social outcomes alongside commercial returns, and long-term off-take contracts for sustainably sourced timber.
Business Development Unit
Start a conversation.
Forestry Commission, No. 1 Orange Grove Drive, Highlands, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Enquiries about any project in this portfolio go to the Business Development Unit.