Africa · Eastern Africa
How to draw Zimbabwe from memory
Zimbabwe is a single continuous landmass, roughly as wide as it is tall. Lock that proportion in before you worry about any individual stretch of border. Its border is simple by world standards, which makes it a good place to build confidence — and also means a low score here has nowhere to hide.
- Difficulty
- easy
- Population
- 14.6 m
- Code
- ZWE
Draw Zimbabwe
Practice · draw from memory
Zimbabwe
A four-step strategy for Zimbabwe
- 01
Start by fixing the overall footprint. Zimbabwe is close to square overall, so a lopsided sketch loses points fast.
- 02
Anchor one unmistakable feature — the straightest border section or the sharpest cape — and draw outward from it in a single continuous stroke.
- 03
Close the loop back to where you started. An open shape gets filled unpredictably and drags your score down.
- 04
Submit, read the nine-sector grid, and redraw immediately. The sector readout names the region you under-drew, and a second attempt typically gains 10–20 points.
Top scores for Zimbabwe
Nobody has submitted a score for Zimbabwe yet. Draw it above and you are first on this board.
Full leaderboard →Quick facts
- Continent
- Africa
- Subregion
- Eastern Africa
- Outline pieces
- 1
- Detail score
- 1.47
Three things that go wrong when people sketch Zimbabwe
Each one is measured off the outline the game scores, not copied from a reference atlas: the proportions, the straight sections and the way the shape breaks into pieces are all properties of the coordinates your stroke gets compared against.
Both ends are pinched
The widest slice across the centre is 1.8× broader than either the northern or the southern edge. Place the two narrow ends early and the bulge between them cannot come out wrong.
Zimbabwe is close to square
Width against height comes out at 1.09 to 1, so the shape neither runs away sideways nor stretches vertically. Set that box first: with a near-square country almost every lost point comes from the coast detail inside it, not the footprint.
Most of the mass sits to the east
The area centre is well off the middle of the outline, and the thin side is the part people extend too early. Draw the heavy side first and let the tail grow out of it.
Answer key: the real shape of Zimbabwe
- Box on the canvas
- 440 × 404 units
- Width to height
- 1.09 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 1
- Longest straight run
- Nothing over 8% of the perimeter
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.09× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn Zimbabwe at least once. Seeing the shape first replaces the recall the score is meant to measure with tracing, and tracing always scores higher than remembering.
Why Zimbabwe is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of Zimbabwe. It scales and centres both your stroke and the real border into the same box, fills them, and measures how much of the two shapes overlap relative to their combined area. That means you are never punished for drawing Zimbabwe small, off to one side, or rotated slightly — only for getting the shape itself wrong. The nine-sector grid then splits the real border into a 3×3 mesh and reports coverage per cell, which is how it can tell you that you lost the whole eastern edge rather than just handing you a number.
Zimbabwe by the numbers
Zimbabwe covers 390,757 km², which makes it the 59th largest of 190 countries in the game and the 26th largest in Africa. The capital is Harare at about 20°S, 30°E, and it sits in Eastern Africa. It touches Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia, and 100% of its area sits in one main landmass. Being landlocked, there is no sea edge to help you orient it.
Next to Zimbabwe: its land neighbours
Size is what the outline has to fill, so comparing the countries that share this border side by side is the fastest way to get the proportions into your head before you draw.
| Country | Area | Population | Capital | Pieces | vs Zimbabwe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zimbabwethis page | 390,757 km² | 14.6 m | Harare | 1 | — |
 Botswana | 582,000 km² | 2.3 m | Gaborone | 1 | 1.49× |
 Mozambique | 801,590 km² | 30.4 m | Maputo | 1 | 2.05× |
 South Africa | 1,221,037 km² | 58.6 m | Pretoria | 1 | 3.12× |
 Zambia | 752,612 km² | 17.9 m | Lusaka | 1 | 1.93× |
Draw these next
Countries near Zimbabwe share border conventions and coastline styles, which makes them the most useful follow-up practice.
Working through one country at a time is slow. Take the blank map of africa and label the whole region from memory — it shows you which neighbours you have never actually seen.
Zimbabwe drawing questions
How big is Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe covers 390,757 km², ranking 59th of 190 countries here by land area and 26th in Africa. About 32% of the area of South Africa.
What is the capital of Zimbabwe?
The capital is Harare at about 20°S, 30°E. The game scores the shape of the border rather than the position of any city, so the capital and its coordinates are here to help you place Zimbabwe on a blank map.
Is Zimbabwe hard to draw?
It is rated easy, and carries more outline detail than 8% of the 190 borders in this game. The shape has to be placed as 1 landmass, with no straight edge longer than 8% of the perimeter to anchor it.
Which countries border Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe shares a land border with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia, so the entire outline is made of these frontiers.