Activities and facilities
Things to do in Hwange National Park
Hwange is built for watching, not driving. With no permanent water in the park, every activity here eventually comes back to the same question: which pan is busiest today?
If you only want the answer
Sit at a pumped waterhole, such as Nyamandhlovu or Masuma, and let the animals arrive. Beyond that: self-drives, $60 sleep-out platforms, guided walks and night drives, the last only on the private concessions.
Waterhole sitting: the Hwange speciality
This is the thing to do here. Because game must come to water, a good pan in September delivers more than hours of driving will. Nyamandhlovu Pan near Main Camp has the park's best-known elevated hide, and Masuma, Mandavu and Shumba are all set up for long, patient watching.
Better still, you can sleep above one. ZimParks rents the viewing platforms at Guvalala and Makwa for about $60 per person a night, up to six people, so you fall asleep to elephants drinking below you. It is the cheapest extraordinary night in African safari.
Game drives
Self-driving is normal and allowed in Hwange, unlike in some neighbouring parks. You need a high-clearance 4x4 for the internal roads, you must stay on the tracks, and you must be back in camp by 18:00. Guided drives from the camps typically run 06:00 to 09:00 and 15:00 to 18:30.
Zimbabwe publishes no official price list for guided activities, so rates come from your camp rather than from the park.
Night drives: read the small print
Night drives are one of the most misrepresented things about Hwange. Inside the national park, driving after dark is prohibited and everyone must be in camp by 18:00. The night drives you see advertised take place on the private concessions and forestry land bordering the park, which operate under their own rules. If a night drive matters to you, book a camp on a concession and check that specifically.
Walking safaris
Camps with licensed professional guides offer walks, usually around three hours starting at 07:00, with small groups of two to six. Most set a minimum age of twelve to sixteen at the guide's discretion. Walks are generally arranged on the day and cannot always be guaranteed, since a qualified walking guide has to be available.
Exclusive picnic sites
An underrated option: ZimParks rents entire picnic sites overnight to a single group of up to six at Shumba, Ngweshla, Masuma, Deteema, Kennedy 1 and Mandavu. For $235 you get a whole site to yourselves in the middle of the park, which works out cheaper per person than most lodges and gives you a far wilder night.
Park rules
- Gates open at 06:00 and close at 18:00; being late back to camp can bring a fine.
- No driving after dark inside the park.
- Stay on the roads and stay in your vehicle except at designated picnic sites and hides.
- Give elephants with calves a very wide berth; ZimParks warns about this specifically.
- 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.