The spectacular Chinhoyi Caves are the focal point of a 365 acre Recreational Park set in a range of hills some 6.2 miles west of Chinhoyi. A labyrinth of limestone caves centres on the 'Sleeping Pool', an open sinkhole with vertical sides in which the water reaches a depth of over 328 feet.
The pool has an introduced population of goldfish and is noted for the translucent, crystalline quality of its water. There is evidence that the caves and their surroundings were inhabited for at least 1 500 years before their declaration as a park.
They are known to local people as 'Chirorodziva' ('Pool of the Fall'), referring either to the fall of rock that created the sinkhole or to the use of the pool and its cliffs as a place of execution by the Nguni people in the 1830s. A former Chief Chinhoyi, from whom the area takes its name, used the caves as a refuge from raids by the Ndebele over 100 years ago.
The Department of National Parks and Wild Life Management provides camping and caravan sites in the park. The caves area was proclaimed a National Park in 1955 and redesignated a Recreational Park under the Parks and Wild Life Act (1975).