Hwange or Moremi?
The two parks side by side on what you will see, what you can do, what it costs, how you get there and the health picture, with the facts behind every rating.
Our verdict
Moremi is the Okavango Delta's world of flood and sand; Hwange is Zimbabwe's pumped-waterhole elephant country. Pick Moremi if the Delta is the point: mokoro and boat safaris on the flood, hippo guaranteed, red lechwe in their thousands and leopard on 77 per cent of trips. It costs more and asks more: a 4x4 on deep sand from Maun, a campsite booked before you may enter, and occasional closures in the rains. Pick Hwange if budget and ease decide: $12 a day when you sleep inside against about $20, $23 camping pitches, tar from Victoria Falls and a park open every day of the year. Sable, roan and the Kalahari species are better there too. Neither allows night drives inside the park, and walking is not permitted inside Moremi. They combine through Kasane, and from the Pandamatenga border Hwange's Robins Camp is about 1.5 hours away.
Best for big game MoremiBest for birding HwangeBest for walking HwangeBest for on the water MoremiBest for self-drive HwangeBest for low budget HwangeBest for families HwangeBest for a first safari HwangeBest for wilderness Moremi
Tap a row label to see the reasoning behind a rating.
| Compare | Hwange14,650 km² | Moremi3,900–5,000 km² |
|---|---|---|
| 4Aug to early Nov | 5Jul to Oct | |
4Aug to early NovElephants: ±40,000 in dry season; Large carnivores: 8 species; Wild dog: Major stronghold | 5bestJul to OctMammal species (Delta): 130; Wild dog (Okavango): ±500, a world stronghold; Red lechwe (Delta): 30,000–90,000 | |
| Elephant | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
| Lion | Likely | Likely |
| Leopard | Fair chance | Likely |
| Buffalo | Likely | Likely |
| Wild dog | Fair chance | Fair chance |
| Cheetah | Rare | Rare |
| Hippo | Rare | Guaranteed |
| Giraffe | Likely | Likely |
3400 speciesAbout 400 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | 3400 speciesAbout 400 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | |
| 5Self-drive | 4Water | |
3bestCamps with licensed guides run walks of about three hours from 07:00 for two to six people, minimum age twelve to sixteen, but they are arranged on the day and cannot always be guaranteed. | 2Walking safaris are not permitted inside the reserve; walks happen in the surrounding private and community concessions such as Khwai. | |
2Driving after dark is prohibited inside the park and everyone must be in camp by 18:00; advertised night drives run only on the private concessions and forestry land bordering it. | 2Night drives are not permitted in the reserve, Chief's Island included; Khwai and the private concessions run them legally. | |
1The park has no rivers: surface water comes from pumped pans, hippo occur only at the dams, and the activity list has no boat or canoe trips. | 4bestMotorboat cruises from Xakanaxa to the Gcodikwe heronry, mokoro trips from Mboma when water allows, and boats year-round on the permanent lagoons, best May to Sep. | |
5bestSelf-driving is normal and allowed: tar to Main Camp, 195 km and 3 to 4 h from Victoria Falls in 2026, ZimParks pitches at $23, and a high-clearance 4x4 for the internal roads. | 4Self-driving is the main activity on the sand tracks, 92 km and about 2 h from Maun to South Gate, but a high-clearance 4x4 is essential and the four public campsites sell out 6 to 8 months ahead for June to October. | |
| $10cheapest bed | $30cheapest bed | |
$24 / $12International adult per day, the lower figure if you sleep inside the park ({'name': 'Official ZimParks tariff, published February 2026', 'url': 'https://www.zimparks.org.zw/media/2026/02/De-Gazetted-Tariff-2026.pdf'}, 2026-07-26). | $20bestInternational adult per day ({'name': 'Government of Botswana national parks tariff (Ministry of Finance Savingram, December 2025) and DWNP', 'url': 'https://www.christourszambian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Botswana-Park-Fee-Updates.pdf'}, 2026-10-04). | |
$10bestLowest listed rate per person per night across 33 places; 7 are budget tier. | $30Lowest listed rate per person per night across 35 places; 7 are budget tier. | |
$490bestMedian of 30 priced places; top end $803. | $718Median of 31 priced places; top end $2,889. | |
4bestCheapest listed bed $10, 7 of 33 places in the budget tier, park fee $12 a day. | 3Cheapest listed bed $30, 7 of 35 places in the budget tier, park fee $20 a day. | |
| $2,420mid-range | $2,610mid-range | |
$350bestBudget one: self-drive camping at Main Camp | $570Budget one: self-drive camping, the classic Maun loop | |
$2,420bestBudget two: Robins Camp, the mid-range that includes your park fees | $2,610Budget two: mid-range at Sango Safari Camp | |
$10,602bestBudget three: fly-in to Wilderness Linkwasha | $18,200Budget three: fly-in to Mombo Camp | |
| Victoria Falls (VFA)nearest airport | Maun (MUB)nearest airport | |
Victoria Falls (VFA), 3 to 4 h by road in 2026From the getting-there and flights pages. | Maun (MUB), 92 km and ±2 h to South Gate; 30 to 45 min by light aircraftFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | |
Needed inside the park; essential Dec to MarFrom the getting-there page. | Essential, no exceptionsFrom the getting-there page. | |
| Aug to early Novpeak game viewing | Jul to Octpeak game viewing | |
Aug to early NovFrom the best-time page. | Jul to OctFrom the best-time page. | |
Open all yearFrom the best-time page. | Open all year; occasional wet-season closures (6 Mar to 13 Apr 2026)From the best-time page. | |
| High Nov to Jun, lower Jul to Octmalaria | High Oct to Maymalaria | |
High Nov to Jun, lower Jul to OctFrom the health page. | High Oct to May, low Jun to Sep (NaTHNaC)From the health page. | |
Not publishedThe health and best-time pages do not mention tsetse; only the history page records the fly across much of the park in the 1920s. | Not publishedOnly the history page discusses tsetse, as the shifting fly belts of old Ngamiland; the health page is silent. | |
October, 34.7°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | October, 36.5°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | |
Bulawayo, 4 h plus by roadAir evacuation: MARS and ACE, both based in Victoria Falls. | Maun, ±2 h from South GateFrom the health page. | |
| 5First safari | 5First safari | |
4Malaria risk is lower in the Jul to Oct peak months, Ivory Lodge takes children from two inside a fence and Somalisa Acacia runs a children's club; the park's camps are unfenced and full hospital care means Bulawayo, 4 h plus. | 4Malaria risk is low Jun to Sep, the best all-round months, and Sandibe, Gomoti Plains, Kiri and Monachira take all ages; campsites are unfenced and the nearest hospitals are in Maun, ±2 h from South Gate. | |
5Elephant is guaranteed and lion likely, Victoria Falls airport has around eleven airlines, and beds run from $10 camping to concession camps on a tar approach. | 5Hippo on 100 per cent of reported trips and elephant on 99, lion 91 and leopard 77, with 30 to 45 min light-aircraft hops from Maun's scheduled airport. | |
3Main Camp and the southern pans take 80 per cent of visitors, while the private concessions and the south-west at Jozibanini see almost no vehicles in a 14,650 km² park. | 4bestProtected core country with no off-road driving, three vehicles per campsite and Chief's Island reachable only by air; the Khwai strip is the busiest in the area. |
Compare all of Zimbabwe's parks on the comparison page. Moremi has its own guide at moremipark.com.
How the ratings work
- Big game is calculated from each park's sightings table on its wildlife page: guaranteed counts 3, likely 2, a fair chance 1, rare 0.5 and absent 0, across elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, wild dog, cheetah, hippo and giraffe, scaled so that 16 points is 5 out of 5.
- Birding follows the species count on the wildlife page. Low-budget safari follows the cheapest listed bed, the share of budget places and the daily park fee.
- Walking, night drives, water, self-drive, families, first safari and wilderness are our ratings, whole numbers from 1 to 5. Press "Why?" on any row to read the facts each one rests on, with the page they come from. Where a rule is not published we say so rather than guess.
- Prices are per person per night in US dollars as listed on the lodges pages, before park fees; the three-night totals come from each park's costs page and use the dated rates there. Fees are the international adult rate per day.