Roads, flights and the train

How to get to Hwange National Park

Name: Hwange National Park
Address: Zimbabwe

Three ways into Hwange: a short charter flight, a drive from Victoria Falls, or the weekly overnight train. What has changed in 2026 is the drive itself, now a building site that takes far longer than the distance on the map suggests.

If you only want the answer

Fly to Victoria Falls and drive: the park's Main Camp area is a straightforward two to three hours on tar. That combination of a real international airport and a short approach makes Hwange the easiest of Africa's great parks to reach, and it needs no charter unless you want one.

By road from Victoria Falls (the usual way)

Head south on the A8 towards Bulawayo for 172 km, turn at Cross Mabale and follow 23 km of tar to Main Camp. It is surfaced the whole way, so an ordinary car will get you there. What has changed is the clock: on the distances alone this is a ninety minute drive, and in 2026 you should allow three to four hours.

From Bulawayo it is the same junction from the other direction: 283 km north-west on the A8, then the same 23 km of tar. The distance says four hours; while the works are on, reckon on rather more than that.

For the northern sector and Robins Camp there is a shorter route from Victoria Falls: 45 km south on the A8, right at the Matetsi turn-off, then about 60 km of graded dirt to Nantwich gate and 12 km more to Robins. Roughly two hours, and high clearance is advisable rather than essential. Those first 45 km are the same A8 and carry the same works, so leave yourself some margin.

The Victoria Falls road in 2026, and what it does to your day

The A8 between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, which is the road into Hwange from either end, has been under rehabilitation since July 2025 and is nowhere near finished. As of 30 July 2026 only 73.4 km of the 440 km had been resurfaced and reopened to traffic, with eight contractors working separate lots. The programme stalled once on funding before the transport ministry said work would resume in August 2026.

The pressure to finish is real. Zimbabwe co-hosts the 2027 Cricket World Cup, and Victoria Falls is a host city, with matches at the new Mosi-oa-Tunya stadium in October and November 2027. The road programme carries a December 2026 completion target, and an operator who drives the road expects the run to Main Camp to come back towards two hours once the works are done. Set that target against the 73.4 km finished by the end of July 2026 and draw your own conclusion for early 2027.

Between the finished stretches you are on old surface or on gravel diversions. Reports from the road describe deep potholes, sharp drop-offs at the edge of the new layer, and unmaintained corrugated detours. None of it needs a 4x4. It is simply slow, and it is hard on tyres.

What that means in practice, from an operator who drives it constantly: the roughly 150 km of tar from Victoria Falls to the Main Camp entrance ought to take an hour and a half, and is currently taking two and three quarter hours on a good day and three and a half on a bad one. Some diversions are 10 km/h going, and on the worst potholed sections anything above 20 km/h costs you a tyre.

If you are heading for one of the private concession camps in the south-east, add the sand road on from Main Camp. Victoria Falls to Davison's Camp used to be a relaxed three to four hours that finished as a game drive. It now runs to about six, and the good part, the hour and a half to two hours of sand, comes after you have already been shaken about for three. Carry a spare you trust, and do not plan on arriving at dusk.

Driving times told to us by a safari operator who drives the road regularly, 25 August 2026. The two-hour expectation after the works is from a second operator, 1 September 2026. The state of the works, the December 2026 target and the World Cup schedule are from the reporting listed under Sources.

Distances and driving times

Route	Distance	Time	Surface
Victoria Falls to Main Camp	195 km	3 to 4 h	Tar, under reconstruction
Bulawayo to Main Camp	306 km	over 4 h	Tar, under reconstruction
Victoria Falls to Davison's Camp	195 km, then sand	±6 h	Tar, then sand road from Main Camp
Victoria Falls to Robins Camp	±117 km	±2 h	45 km tar, then graded dirt
Victoria Falls airport to park	±100 km	±1.5 h	Tar
Main Camp to Robins, through the park	145 km	half a day	4x4 needed
Pandamatenga border (Botswana) to Robins	±57 km	±1.5 h	4x4, rough in places

What vehicle you need

A high-clearance 2WD will reach Main Camp and Robins Camp from the main roads.
Driving through the park and doing your own game drives needs a high-clearance 4x4, without exception.
December to March, when the rains soften the internal roads, 4x4 is essential everywhere.
Fill your tank before you arrive. Despite what many guides claim, there is normally no fuel for sale anywhere in Hwange, including Main Camp.
There is no shop inside the park. Bring everything you need.

By air: flights to Hwange

Victoria Falls International (VFA) is the practical gateway, with international and regional flights, about 100 km from the park. From there most fly-in guests take a light aircraft charter: Victoria Falls to Robins airstrip takes 30 minutes against two hours by road.

The park has serviced airstrips at Main Camp (prior permission from Main Camp required), Robins, and Giraffe Springs for the Sinamatella-sector camps; the private camps in the south use their own strips such as Linkwasha. Light aircraft limit you to 20 kg per person in soft-sided bags, camera gear included.

By train, the slow way in

The overnight Bulawayo to Victoria Falls train resumed in October 2025 and stops at both Dete and Hwange, the two stations closest to the park. It leaves Bulawayo on Fridays and Victoria Falls on Sundays, both at 19:00, and takes about fifteen hours to cover 472 km.

Fares are almost comically low: about $18 for a first-class berth, $9 for an economy seat, $5 for bedding. Tickets are sold at the station on the day of travel only, and the carriages are 1950s British stock with no air conditioning. It is not a luxury train, it is an experience, and you will need a transfer from the station to your camp.

Something this page does not answer?

Routes and road conditions change faster than any page can. If yours does not fit what is written here, ask.

Ask us. We answer questions about the park itself, and we can usually tell you which camps work on one route and who to write to. If what you want is a trip someone else arranges, we will say so and hand you to an operator we know, and we earn a commission if that becomes a booking.

Nothing on this site sits behind the form. Every figure we have is already on the page.

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Sources

Where to go next

Entry Fees What you pay when you arrive at the gate Map Gates, airstrips and coordinates Lodges & camps Where to sleep once you are in