The hills were formed over 2 billion years ago with granite being forced to the surface; it has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation.

The highest point in the hills is the promontory named Gulati (1,549 m; 5,082 ft) just outside the north-eastern corner of the park.

These areas were redesignated for settlement as part of a compromise between the colonial authorities and the local people, creating the Khumalo and Matobo Communal Lands.

[3] The park area then increased with the acquisition of World's View and Hazelside farms to the north.

The area "exhibits a profusion of distinctive rock landforms rising above the granite shield that covers much of Zimbabwe".

[7] Matobo National Park has a wide diversity of fauna: 175 bird, 88 mammal, 39 snake and 16 fish species.

[5] The game park in the west has been restocked with white and black rhinos, the former from KwaZulu-Natal in the 1960s and the latter from the Zambezi Valley in the 1990s.

It has been designated as an Intensive Protection Zone for the two species,[9] as well as hyenas, hippopotami, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and ostriches.

[10] Matobo National Park contains the highest concentration of black eagles, and breeding pairs of these birds, worldwide.

San (Bushmen) lived in the hills about 2,000 years ago, leaving a rich heritage in hundreds of rock paintings.

In the many crevices and caves, clay ovens and other historic artefacts have been found,[12] and various archaeological finds date back as far as the Pre-Middle Stone Age, around 300,000 B.P.

[7] Pomongwe Cave,[2] near Maleme Dam, was damaged by a preservation attempt in 1965, where linseed oil was applied to the paintings.

Bone fragments showed that hyrax formed a major part of the meat component of the diet of early human inhabitants of the cave, which also included tortoise, baboons and larger game animals.

The hills were the scene of the famous indaba between white settlers and Ndebele leaders in 1896—the Second Matabele War, known in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga—which ended with the assassination of the Mlimo by Frederick Russell Burnham, the American scout, in one of the Matobo caves.

[24] Upon learning of the death of the Mlimo, Cecil Rhodes boldly walked alone and unarmed into this Ndebele stronghold and persuaded the impi to lay down their arms.

[26][27] Today much of the pottery and artifacts found on cave floors and most of the clay grain bins in the hills are remnants from the 1896 rebellion era.

There are other reminders too - bronze plaques dotting the area mark the sites of armed forts or brief skirmishes.

Cecil Rhodes, Leander Starr Jameson, and several other leading early white settlers, including Allan Wilson and all the members of the Shangani Patrol killed in the First Matabele War, are buried on the summit of Malindidzimu, the 'hill of the spirits' -- this is a great source of controversy in modern Zimbabwe as this is considered a sacred place by nationalists and indigenous groups.

Imbila Lodge offers a higher standard of luxury with ensuite bathrooms and teak furniture.

The Boy Scouts Association of Zimbabwe operates a camp called Gordon Park, in the north of the Mtsheleli Valley.

[30] The Girl Guides Association of Zimbabwe maintains a camp site at Rowallan Park, in the north of the Mtsheleli Valley.