Hwange National Park

Hwange National Park

Just like the fine English romantic poet John Keats quotes in one of his romantic poems “a thing of beauty is a joy forever” Hwange National Park is ridiculously beautiful that its charm will not allow you to holdback your tears of joy. It won’t be for nine days like the spun of most joys, its kind you will forever reflect on and be forever grateful you made the safari. Hwange National Park pronounced “wang-ee”, once known as Wankie National Park is Zimbabwe’s most famous National park and one of Africa’s finest national parks with the likes of Kruger national park in South Africa. This is so because of its mammoth size and it being home to presidential herd of elephants estimated to be 60,000 strong. A number that is an exclusive for not more than five elite African national parks.

The area occupied by the park in the times when the dead sea was still in a critical condition was inhabited by the San bushmen known as the Nhanzwa who were fruit gatherers and hunters who got pushed out by the Matabele people who eventually made the area royal hunting grounds for King Mzilikazi. The area was deemed unsuitable for farming because of its insufficient water supplies and poor soils by the British administrators, coupled with the wanton hunting of game by both the indigenous and European hunters, the area was gazetted into a wildlife conservation area in 1928 with its first warden being the celebrated 22-year-old Ted Davison. He figured out adequate water supplies would bolster wildlife prosperity in the conservation area. A school of thought that drove him to tirelessly and unceasingly establish several windmills, boreholes and diesel pumps to create artificial waterholes for the wildlife during dry seasons. His school of thought indeed skyrocketed the statistics of wildlife in this rather thirsty conservation area, a thing that led to its establishment as a national park in 1930 with the inclusion of the neighbouring Robins Game sanctuary. Clearly artificial water pumped to several pans (waterholes) during the dry seasons is very vital to the wildlife success of this National park, a fact evidenced by the skyrocketing statistics of wildlife in the park now, with well over 108 species it has the highest diversity of mammals of any national park in the world. Thanks to the friends of Hwange that is you and me who sacrifice resources however bantam they may be to make sure water is pumped to these waterholes, dams and pans in order to conserve the wildlife in this park for the next generation. of course once in a while conservation efforts are derailed, like on the 1st of July 2015 Cecil the famous 13-year-old lion got killed by dentist Walter Palmer an American recreational big game hunter, a thing that spurred widespread social media outrage and as if that wasn’t enough two years later Cecil’s son Xanda met a similar fate like his dad and the wretched killers got away with it simply because they got permits to shoot game, nevertheless all the conservation indicators reflect progress is being met to safeguard the wildlife in this frontier.

Hwange National Park nestled on an area well over 14,000 square kilometres is the largest national park in Zimbabwe and the continent’s third-largest national park after Kruger National Park (19,500 km2) in South Africa and Zambia’s Kafue National Park (22,000 km2), a size equivalent to the battlefield of of Europe (Belgium). It is located in Matebeleland on the eastern edge of the vast Kalahari sands and scrublands, a makeshift zone between the bone-dry Kalahari Desert and the lush Zimbabwe Highlands in the north western Zimbabwe District of Hwange near the town of Dete. This diverse pristine ecosystem lies on the main road between Bulawayo and the magical Victoria falls, just 2 hours (100 km) away from the town of Victoria falls the site of the only African member of the seven natural wonders of the world, the remarkable Victoria falls. A geolocation vantage that makes it a perfect safari destination for a combined classic African safari combined with a visit to the indomitable Victoria falls. Furthermore, because of its location within the Zambezi basin it is a member of the five country KAZA TFCA (Kavango – Zambezi Transfortier Conservation Area), one of the world’s largest protected areas two times the size of the United Kingdom (UK). It lies on the Zambezi river basin that unites Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe with stunning wildlife jewels like Chobe National park (Botswana), Hwange national park (Zimbabwe), Victoria falls national park (Zimbabwe), Mosi Oa Tunga national park (Zambia) Zambezi national park (Zimbabwe), the Okavango delta (Botswana) dotted in this spectacular wildlife belt.

Hwange national park’s ecosystem is exceptional in its beauty offering safari goers an authentic vintage visual and sensory treat of a classic African safari, a feat it owes to its size, geolocation and the many years of extremely low visitor numbers that have enabled it to recover. The national park is divided into two ecological zones that are largely flat, the Kalahari sands and desert thickets in the south towards the boundaries of the Kalahari Desert and the rockier terrain in the north region of the park characterised with granite hills, large strips of dense Mopane woodland valleys, forests of teak and vast savanna grasslands. Scattered within these woodlands are ancient fossil lakebeds and drainage lines which are now large savannah grasslands fringed with Acacia and Leadwood trees. They still get filled with water in the rainy seasons of December - March attracting migratory birds from all over Africa and Eurasia. The woodlands are nestled with spellbinding natural bleeds such as Nehimba and Shakwanki in the north west where Elephants and other animals still dig for water just like the San bushmen did during the times they inhabited the Park. Several managed waterholes, dams and pans dotted all over the park like Nyamandhlovu Platform, Masumo dam and Mandavu dam offer visitors joyful bush picnics as they attract and sustain large populations of wildlife in this rather thirsty park, since they are the only sources of water for wildlife in this area that doesn’t have natural surface water sources. These waterholes have photographic hideouts in form of buried container viewpoints that will give visitors endless incredible photo opportunities and hair brush proximity to the thousands of animals drinking at the various controlled waterholes, dams and pans. The park is equally laden with several roads and walking trails not forgetting the thought-provoking ancient archaeological sites at places such as Bumbuzi and the Mtoa Ruins in the northern region of the park.

Hwange national park has the greatest diversity of mammals out of all the world’s national parks with well over 108 mammal species. This is attributed to the fact that it lies in the spectacular Zambezi Basin which acts as a wildlife corridor for animals moving between itself and the neighbouring Victoria falls national park in Zimbabwe, Zambezi national park in Zimbabwe, Mosi Oa Tunga national park in Zambia, Chobe National Park in Botwasna, the Okavangao delta in Botswana and the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana paired with its extraordinary vast ecosystem attract and sustain a diverse range of wildlife species and in tremendous numbers. The park is home to the big five which include the African elephant, African lion, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and the rhino, with elephants shadowing the rest of the animals in statistics (60,000) and size of course, their populations are even controlled by culling because if they become too many they destroy their own habitat.

Remarkably Hwange national park has one of Africa’s largest populations of the endangered wild dogs (160) whose total number on the African continent is a measly 5,000 and rare species such as roan and sable, plus a very healthy population of giraffes, elands, wildebeests, hippos, zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, gemsboks and many more others. Carnivores like cheetahs, lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs are equally in healthy numbers in this scenic thirsty African wilderness, hence be on the lookout for painted dogs hunting in packs for it’s such a scene to behold. All these animals and their theatrics really come alive to put on spectacular wildlife dramas befitting of a classic African safari in the dry winter months of July – October when the animals gather at the 60 waterholes in the park to partake of the scarce artificially pumped sweet waters.

Hwange national park is equally impressive when it comes to birding with well over 420 species registered in the park. Birders will be impressed by the wet seasons of December - March when the fossil lakebeds and drainage lines in the woods that have since largely become grasslands fill up with water attracting the multi coloured feathered fellas from all over Africa and Eurasia. The park is renowned for the large numbers of raptors with well over 50 species recorded in the park, the most common being the bateleur eagle that is often sighted casually soaring overhead looking for prey. Other birds like the gigantic kori bird, secretary bird, the southern hornbill and many more are all residents here. So for any avid birder or regular visitor Hwange national park is a bucket list birders safari destination.

Hwange national park is an elite classic African safari destination of choice because of first and foremost its mammoth size, pristine ecosystem, abundance of wildlife especially the big five but mainly the elephants, it’s on the Hwange Victoria main way hence very accessible, a railway line that predates it crosses right through it making the park more accessible, proximity to Victoria falls, its remarkable wild dog numbers of overly 160 wild dogs of the 7000 left in Africa, the remarkable well over 420 species of birds, unique absence of natural surface water that necessitates the animals to rely on the 60 artificially filled waterholes dotted all over the park, remote exclusivity owing to its off the beaten nature of safari hotspots, exceptional safari guides since Zimbabwe has an unrivalled quality of safari guides and all at a very pocket friendly rates that is the best safari rates in the whole world.