Conservation management techniques have been applied & 60 new water bores & dams were created in the early 1970’s which transformed Hwange & acted as a magnet for the densest wildlife concentrations in Africa, amongst which are many species ’ red-tagged’ as highly endangered by the World Wildlife Organization, making strong come backs here.

Hwange provides for moderate to modest quality guest accommodation at a selected few Camps within its boundary that are accessible easily. Main Camp contains Ranger Headquarters, the restaurant, pub, shop, fuel campground & cabins that require pre-booking due to high all year round demands. The route through the Park known as the Ngwethla Loop requires guests to be traveling in a sturdy 4 x 4 vehicle, but it is accessible & available for overnight camping trips where you are guaranteed to see large concentrations of animals. Sinamatella Camp is the nicest of the three large camps within the Park, having a restaurant, pub, food kiosk & most importantly, a service station for general motoring items, some repair capability & available petrol & oil.

Robin’s Nantwich camps near the northwest corner of the Park, lies in prime lion & cheetah savannah territory. This too is Hyena country as the age old love – hate relationship the’ King of Beasts’ has with the ugly, but brutally powerful Hyena, goes on eternally. This camp we would describe as ‘rough’ & definitely is prone to nocturnal visitations by predators of all sizes, so be warned & be prepared.

By far the best way to experience the Hwange National Park is on a Private Game Safari where you are staying on a private concession of land inside the Park in one of the most luxurious lodges imaginable, with all meals, many beverages & two professional Ranger hosted game drives a day included.

To access the private Game Lodge properties, the most efficient method is to fly in from Victoria Falls - which means a light aircraft flight usually of less than 45 minutes. It is like a flightseeing safari transfer all in one & will mean you can arrive into Victoria Falls off a commercial flight from Johannesburg or Maun, in Botswana, mid-morning & be looking out across the shimmering savannah at a herd of buffalo or elephant at the waterhole, by lunchtime.

Matusadona is one of the lesser known, but most spectacular of the National Parks in Africa, combining huge water-frontage of Lake Kariba with pristine wilderness, rugged rolling hill country & an extremely harsh internal network of roads that actually discourage land based visitors. It is best accessed by light aircraft flight from Victoria Falls (approx 1hr. 35min flight).

Matusadona is the largest remaining black rhino sanctuary in Zimbabwe & through a heavily patrolled, managed weaning & rehabilitation program, young orphaned black rhino are nurtured through adolescence, then relocated & liberated into other Zimbabwe National Parks such as Mana Pools & Hwange.

Some 170000 hectares in area, Matusadona is bounded to the west by the Ume River & to the east by the Sanyati River. Two thirds lies south of the Zambezi escarpment, formed by the 670 metre high, ‘Matuzviadonhia’ Hills from which it takes its name. Pen woodlands on the plateau behind the escarpment are dominated by Julbernardia golbiflora. Mountain acacia is common on the slopes & these attract giraffe as they adore the lush foliage albeit protected by sharp thorns which they somehow navigate their tongues around when grazing. From the plateau the Park falls abruptly to a flat, low-lying area covered with Mopane scrub & woodlands with dense patches of Jessie’s bush.

Much of the drowned forests that disappeared when the valley was dammed & the Zambezi waters rose either remains partly underwater or protrudes starkly – this covers several kilometers wide of dead trees which are a boating hazard, but definitely a bird-watcher & sports fisherman’s paradise.

Prominent herds of up to 1000 buffalo in a single herd congregate along the shoreline & where there are buffalo, not far behind there are always lions, ready to enact natures never ending evolutionary culling process of the weak, the infirmed, the unlucky & the dumb. Buffalo populations are thought to be rising at a steady 10% per annum, caused not only by their sexual activity, but proliferated by an abundance of lush lakeside torpedo grass ( panicum repens) which is one of their foraging delicacies & grows along the lake shoreline.

It is widely acknowledged that Matusadona has the largest concentration of wild lions – even more than Ngorongoro Crater – than anywhere else in Africa. The land also lends itself to cheetah reemergence, having been reintroduced in 1995, after they had all but become extinct here. White rhino too are being brought back in much the same way after the population dwindled & imported animals died, having been introduced without having been inoculated for tsetse fly.

The lakeside & shoreline literally teem with hippo & that age enduring sinister reptile, the crocodile. Populations may have dwindled after the man-made lake initially filled, but they have made enormous comeback gains.

A crocodile farm located beside one of the bush runways that services Matusadona Water Lodge is stocked with 50000 crocs’ that have been bred from eggs taken from the nests of adult crocodiles over the past 4 years. That’s an awful lot of handbags, shoes, belts & meat, indicating the tip of the iceberg in terms of crocodile populations overall in the lake.

From our experience the best way to experience Matusadona National Park is to base yourself at one of the Private Lodges or water camps, such as Spurwing Island or Matusadona Water Lodge.

From the luxury of a floating hotel suite, the daily activities include Ranger hosted game walking safaris, boating safaris skirting the foreshore seeking out animals who come down to the lake to drink early morning & again as evening becomes dusk, or fishing for the highly prized ‘Tiger Fish’. If none of those options appeal, or is you instead would rather go out looking for birds, this place provides an unrivalled smorgasbord as the many hundreds of species who flock here on migratory tracks, or are here year round, make for fabulous bird-watching experiences.

Over 240 species of birds reside. The glorious yet unmistakable cries of Fish Eagles are chorused in the early morning & again late afternoon, as mated pairs take turns to hunt for fish swimming too close to the surface or in the shallows, unawares of death descending from on high; copious populations of gray & goliath herons, great white herons, egrets, saddle billed & maribu storks, pelicans, plovers, geese, ducks, osprey & many species of brilliantly coloured kingfishers are abundant.

Colonies of darters & reed cormorants live in the dead trees. They roost here at dusk while bee-eater colonies (both the common & carmine species) inhabit the sandstone banks & cliffs that drop into the lake. Aside from Fish Eagles, most other raptors are present in good numbers, so bring high powered binoculars & a wide species book to tick off the variety that await bird lovers here.

To lie in a feather bed in complete safety & luxury with flimsy transparent mosquito gauze windows separating you from the inky black star studded African skies, ever so gently rocking on the lake 50 metres from shore, listening to the grunts & growls of leopard on the hunt, contrasting to the sharp warning calls emitted by impala- this is pure magic. But to wake up as the first shafts of sunlight from the brilliant orange orb that is still below the distant horizon create pink reflections on the underside of white fluffy clouds overhead & to see directly outside your floating bedroom, a family of elephant munching on torpedo grass up to their bellies in the cool dawn waters – this is something that neither photos nor words capture sufficiently. You have to have lived & experience this, to truly savour & respect it.

These sights & sounds truly are the signature of Matusadona National Park. It awaits & beacons those who seek purity & harmony with our worldly natural wonders.

Lake Kariba is a man-made inland sea of freshwater – a result of the dam at the head of the Kariba Gorge & Zambezi River valley which was build 30 years past for hydro-electrical generation. At that time, an extensive animal rescue operation was mounted by International animal rights activists – called ‘Operation Noah’ – it would bear witness to the capture & relocation of thousands of stranded animals as the waters rose.

Leaving Lake Kariba, the Zambezi River is a changed entity. It no longer thunders & plunges at rapid pace. Instead, it meanders & winds its way sedately towards a destiny in the Indian Ocean with an elegance & austerity that conveys an air of royalty. Old channels - which are left behind remains of past courses of the river - form seasonal pools scattered across the 2000 sq km of the surrounding valley escarpment. This is Mana Pools National Park, home to an amazing array of amphibious mammals & reptilian dinosaurs, as well as huge flocks of resident & migratory birds.

During the dry months of May – October, the Park by virtue of the water here, attracts a staggering profusion of large game animals. Elephant, buffalo, eland, kudu, zebra, waterbuck as well as a wealth or predators all congregate close to the life continuing waters.

The protein rich pods of the Aracia albida tree attract attention, especially from the elephants & there is a distinctive graze line along the river banks where they are predominantly found growing.

Mana Pools is the solitary National Park where visitors are allowed to walk on foot unaccompanied – not recommended & certainly at their own risk. But the best option is to make one of the very popular canoe canoeing trips that various commercial companies operate. If you are planning a canoe excursion there is no better place in Africa than Mana Pools to undertake such an adventure. Like much of Zimbabwe, this is a malaria zone, so you must take suitable precautions of which your physician or medical professional is in the best position to recommend which is the best brand & dosage to suit your circumstances prior to your arriving here.

Dry season is the best time to visit Mana Pools. From May to October insects are far less prevalent & foliage is sparse, allowing for excellent game viewing. While the best game viewing time is definitely July to December spanning the dry & the early part of the wet season when animals come down to the river to drink , prospective visitors must understand that it gets very hot & sticky from October onward when the first rains usually fall & roads become impassable once they turn from hardened mud, to sticky ooze. This is the time to take to the river on a canoe safari.

Mana Pools is a place where game viewing from the river will provide magnificent opportunities to get close to large elephant, herds of hippo & birds but equally, land based game viewing will deliver wonderful instances to observe the predators & plains game alike.