Hwange National Park

Hwange National Park is Zimbabwe’s biggest and oldest game reserve and is named after a local Nhanzwa chief, Hwange Rosumbani. In 2009 the park celebrates its 60th anniversary as a national park.

The 14,650km² park (roughly the size of Belgium) consists mostly of savanna, scrubland and scattered woodland and is considered to be one of the greatest conservation areas in Africa. Just two hours drive from Victoria Falls it shelters over 108 mammal species, the highest diversity of mammals of any National Park in the world. Species include 19 large herbivores and eight large carnivores.

Over 400 species of birds have been recorded in Hwange including around 50 different types of raptor. It is home to one of the largest elephant herds on earth who utilise Hwange National Park as well as Chobe National Park for feeding (population thought to be anything between 20000 to 75000 and up to 110 000 in Chobe during the peak dry season).

The park has low rainfall and most of the game relies on man-made waterholes, dams and boreholes during the dry winter months. In recent years it has become harder and harder to maintain the water facilities and "Friends of Hwange" perfom an incredible job keeping many of the pumps in working order from privately donated funds. In the north of the park, the vegetation becomes sparser and natural pans make for great game viewing during the dry season. It's Hwange’s varied topography, arid semi-desert in the west to lush teak forests in the east, which allows the extreme diversity.

Mammal species include elephant, buffalo, lion, and leopard, white and black rhino, painted hunting dog (thought to be the largest populations in Africa), cheetah, hyena, giraffe, sable, kudu, eland, waterbuck, wildebeest, impala, zebra, baboon, jackal, bat-eared fox, warthog and many other smaller species.

Hwange boasts a good infrastructure with roads, shops, restaurants and even an airport. It is, however, not as touristy as many of the better known game parks and therefore offers a wonderful wilderness experience. Wildlife has been relatively well protected over the last few years of troubles in Zimbabwe and just in September 2008 a well-known lionness called "Ugly" gave birth to these cute cubs. The Hwange Lion Project and the Painted Dog Conservation project are both very active in the area.

Accommodation ranges from hotel type lodges to basic national park chalets at Robins, Sinamatella and Main Camp to luxury privately owned lodges on surrounding private concessions. The most popular area is around Main Camp during peak season (July/August), as this is easily accessible by self drive visitors.

For a more exclusive visit during this period, we tend to stay on the private concessions which have the pleasure of easy access into the main park itself, as well as their own privately managed land. For a full circuit to Zimbabwe's prime national parks we combine Hwange National Park with the more remote parks of Mana Pools or Matusadona.

Hwange is an outstanding destination to combine with Victoria Falls offering an ideal safari which combines the thrills of Victoria Falls with the superb game viewing in Hwange. It is also the first national park in Africa to allow horse riding safaris to take place within the borders of the national park itself. We offer a 7 night ride which takes experienced riders through an exciting and game rich circuit - see "Horse riding in Hwange National Park".

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