Why Hwange

Hwange National Park (formerly Wankie Game Reserve) was named after a local Nhanzwa chief.  It is Zimbabwe’s largest and most prolific game reserve at roughly 14 650 square kilometres and lies in the north-west corner of Zimbabwe.  The park is accessible from the main road that runs between ‘the City of Kings’ Bulawayo, and the popular tourist destination The Victoria Falls.

The area became the royal hunting grounds to the Ndebele warrior-king Mzilikazi in the early 19th Century and then was founded as a National Park in 1929, with the enthusiastic 22-year old Ted Davison as the first warden.

Hwange National Park has a wealth of wildlife all year round and in this 14 650 square kilometre expanse of land, game moves freely to and from Zambia, Namibia and Botswana.  The park boasts an incredible amount of wildlife, with over 100 species of mammals and nearly 400 bird species recorded.  These species include 19 large herbivores such as buffalo, impala, kudu, eland, sable, waterbuck, wildebeest and many more.   In addition to this Hwange possesses 8 large carnivores including lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena and wild dog to name a few.  The elephants of Hwange are especially famous and and at over 20,000, the population of these majestic creatures is one of the largest in the world.

In addition to the wildlife and safari lodges, Hwange National Park has some of the most beautiful and diverse scenic areas in the whole of Southern Africa.  These include large rolling plains, miombo, teak and false mopane woodlands and grassy savannahs.

Click here to see why Nicholas Duncan, from Save the Rhino Foundation, says ‘Why Hwage’