Under canvas
Camping in Hwange National Park
Camping is how Hwange was meant to be done, and it is absurdly cheap for what you get: a pitch inside one of Africa's great elephant parks costs $23 a night, a whole picnic site to yourselves costs $235, and $60 buys you a night on a platform directly above a waterhole. The catch is that booking runs on email and phone calls, not a website, and the camps expect you to arrive self-sufficient.
If you only want the answer
You can camp at ZimParks' Main Camp and Sinamatella for $23 per pitch covering up to three people, at Robins Camp in the far north, now privately run, from $40 with an electric-fenced campsite, book one of six exclusive picnic sites (Shumba, Ngweshla, Masuma, Deteema, Kennedy 1, Mandavu) for $235 for up to six, or sleep on the Guvalala or Makwa viewing platforms for $60 per person. There is no online booking portal: reserve by email to info@zimparks.org.zw or by phone, and carry US dollars in cash.
The five ways to camp
The rates below are from the official ZimParks tariff published in February 2026, which replaced the old price list most other websites still quote. Camping is priced per pitch for up to three people, with each extra person charged the same $23 again; Zimbabwean residents pay $12. On top of the pitch you pay park entry at the staying-inside rate, $12 per international visitor per day instead of the $24 day rate, plus $3 a day for a foreign-registered vehicle. Two people camping for three nights therefore pay about $150 all in, which is what one person pays for a single night at most lodges around the park.
| Option | Where | Rate | What is actually there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Camp camping | At the main gate near Dete | $23 per pitch, up to 3 people | Shared ablutions, braai sites, a small restaurant, chalets and lodges alongside |
| Sinamatella camping | Northern sector, on a 55 m outcrop above the Deka riverbed | $23 per pitch, up to 3 people | The best view in Hwange; run-down facilities, so arrive fully self-sufficient |
| Robins Camp camping | Far north-west, two hours from Victoria Falls | From $40 | 25 pitches inside an electric fence, power at most of them; privately run, no longer ZimParks |
| Exclusive picnic sites | Shumba, Ngweshla, Masuma, Deteema, Kennedy 1, Mandavu | $235 per site, up to 6 people | Whole site to yourselves: shaded shelter, braai, small ablution block with running water |
| Viewing platforms | Guvalala and Makwa, above pumped pans | $60 per person, up to 6 | A raised platform over a waterhole; no staff, no facilities, no fence |
ZimParks publishes no child bracket for camping or entry; camps in the area generally charge half for ages 6 to 12, so ask when you book. A trailer or caravan pays its own $3 a day, separate from the towing vehicle.
How booking actually works
There is no ZimParks booking website, no live calendar and no pay button. Anything online that looks like one is a third-party agent adding a margin. Everything runs through the ZimParks reservations office by email or phone, it works, and it is slower than you want it to be, so start early: the platforms and the exclusive picnic sites are limited and popular, and July to October sells out first.
- 1. Decide where you want to be. Main Camp for a first visit and the Nyamandhlovu Pan hide, Sinamatella for the northern sector and the view, a picnic site or platform for a night in the middle of the park. Robins Camp is privately run now, so book that one directly with the camp, not through ZimParks.
- 2. Email info@zimparks.org.zw with the template below, or phone +263 8677707627; the Hwange regional office is on +263 779 559 236 if head office goes quiet.
- 3. Ask for the total in writing: pitch fee, extra persons, park entry at the staying-inside rate, and the vehicle fee. Getting the arithmetic confirmed now saves an argument at the gate.
- 4. Follow their payment instructions, and carry the full amount in US dollars cash in small notes regardless. ZimParks publishes nothing about card payment at the gates, so assume there is none.
- 5. Print the confirmation or save it offline. Park fees are settled at your entry gate or at the ZimParks office of the camp you enter through: Main Camp, Sinamatella or Robins. Arrive well before the 18:00 gate close.
The email, ready to copy
This is everything the reservations office needs in one message, which saves a week of back and forth:
“Hello, I would like to book camping in Hwange National Park. Dates: [arrival] to [departure], [x] nights. Camp: [Main Camp / Sinamatella / exclusive picnic site or viewing platform, with preferences in order]. Party: [x] adults, [x] children with ages. Vehicles: [x], [type, e.g. Hilux with rooftop tent]. Nationality or residency for the rate: [Zimbabwean / SADC / international]. Please confirm the total per night including park entry at the staying-inside rate and the vehicle fee, and how you would like it paid.”
If you want a platform or picnic site on specific dates, give a second and third choice of site. They are single-party bookings, so one clash loses you the night, not the trip.
The three camp areas, honestly
Main Camp is the park's original camp and where roughly eight in ten visitors stay. You get shared ablutions, braai sites, a small restaurant and neighbours, with the tar road from the A8 running right to the gate and the Nyamandhlovu Pan platform ten kilometres away for the best free game viewing in the sector. Bring your own everything anyway: cookware, towels, food and drinking water.
Sinamatella buys you the best view in Hwange, a clifftop 55 metres above the Deka valley with elephants often visible below, and asks self-sufficiency in return. Recent visitors describe the camp as clean but tired, and you should assume the restaurant, shop and fuel pump are not working. Come with everything, treat it as a wild camp with ablutions, and the position repays you. Mandavu and Masuma, two of the park's best dam hides, are within reach.
Robins Camp in the far north-west is no longer a ZimParks camp, whatever older guides say: it is under private lease and has become the best-value serviced option in the park. For campers it is the odd one out in a good way, 25 pitches inside an electric fence with power at most of them, plus chalets, meals and refurbished hides nearby. The Robins sector delivers the park's biggest buffalo herds and its highest lion density, and it is about two hours from Victoria Falls via the Matetsi turn-off.
Picnic sites and platforms: the nights you remember
The exclusive picnic sites are Hwange's quiet masterstroke. For $235 you book the entire site, up to six people, at Shumba, Ngweshla, Masuma, Deteema, Kennedy 1 or Mandavu, which works out around $39 each for a night alone in the middle of the park with a shaded shelter, a braai and a small ablution block. Masuma is the standout, with its hide overlooking the dam a few steps from where you sleep; Mandavu sits by the park's biggest dam. Bring absolutely everything, including water you trust.
The viewing platforms at Guvalala and Makwa are simpler still: $60 per person, a maximum of six, and a raised deck directly above a pumped pan. No staff, no facilities, no fence, and elephants drinking below you through the night. If you do one thing in Hwange that you will still talk about in ten years, make it this. Bring everything, including drinking water, and be set up before the 18:00 curfew.
The rules that catch people
- Gates open 06:00 and close 18:00, and you must be back in camp by 18:00. Arriving late can mean a fine, and there is no driving after dark inside the park.
- Assume there is no fuel for sale anywhere in Hwange, including Main Camp. Fill up in Victoria Falls, Bulawayo, Hwange town or Dete and carry range for the whole circuit plus reserve.
- There are no shops inside the park. Bring all food, drinking water, firewood or charcoal, and spares.
- Bring US dollars in cash, small notes. Nothing is published about card payment at the gates.
- The internal roads need a high-clearance 4x4, and from December to March 4x4 is essential everywhere.
- Stay in your vehicle except at designated picnic sites and hides, and give elephant cows with calves a very wide berth; ZimParks warns about this specifically.
- The camps and sites are unfenced apart from Robins. Lock food away at night and keep a torch by the tent zip.
- Assume drones are prohibited: flying over a Zimbabwean national park needs written permission from both ZimParks and the civil aviation authority, which is rarely given.
Which camp suits you
First time in the park, or first time camping in big-game country: take Main Camp. It has the infrastructure, the neighbours, the tar-road access and the park's most famous hide up the road, and if the tent fails you there are chalets from $60 at the same office. If you want the reassurance of a fence and a power point, Robins is the only camp that offers either, and its sector has the lions to justify the extra distance.
Fully equipped and self-sufficient, with a real 4x4, all your water and a fuel reserve: Sinamatella gives you the view and the quiet north, and the picnic sites give you what the expensive concessions sell, a piece of Hwange with nobody else on it, for $39 a head. Whatever your setup, add one night on a platform at Guvalala or Makwa. It is the cheapest extraordinary night in African safari, and it books out first.