Hwange National Park
Hwange National Park is Zimbabwe’s largest national park, located in the far west of the country along the border with Botswana. Covering an area of over 14,000 square kilometres, Hwange is one of Africa’s finest havens for wildlife. It is actually sub-divided into three smaller parks, namely Main Camp to the south & east, Sinamatela to the north - near the Hwange coalfields - and Robins to the west. Hwange is named after the hereditary chief of this district.
Image supplied courtesy of Wilderness Safaris
Situated on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, this vast wilderness area comprises sands, saltpans, acacia scrub, vleis, Zambezi teak and large leaved false mopani forests. Ancient fossilised rivers have since become grassy plains in the region of Main Camp. Red lowveld and black cotton soils support mopani woodlands around Sinamatela and Robins. The semi-arid vegetation makes Hwange excellent for game viewing, and a scarcity of water means that man-made waterholes have been introduced to sustain the animals through the dry season. The game congregates at waterholes as the surface water diminishes making game viewing very easy.
The terrain supports over 100 species of mammals including zebra, buffalo, hyena, lion, leopard, cheetah, sable, kudu, steenbok, eland, waterbuck and impala. It is the immense number of elephant that are truly spectacular though. With up to 30,000 elephant, Hwange is rated amongst the finest elephant conservation areas on the continent. The Park is also home to the largest concentration of giraffe in Africa and shelters a stable population of one of Africa’s most endangered species, the wild dog. The specially protected gemsbok, bat-eared foxes, roan, white rhino and brown hyena occur here in reasonable numbers.
Hwange is birders paradise with over 400 species identified to date. Bird life includes the kori bustard, secretary bird, red-crested korhaan, shaft-tailed whydah, violet-eared waxbill, shrike, martial eagle, crimson-breasted bush shrike including the yellow form, little grebe, dark-chanting goshawk, cape penduline tit, red-eyed bulbul and cape shoveller, along with red-billed, yellow-billed and Hottentot’s teals.
Hwange is a year-round destination. The driest months, September and October, are the prime game-viewing months when animals converge at water holes, providing excellent photographic opportunities. During the rainy season, mainly December to March, the game is spread out across the Park. For birding enthusiasts this is a wonderful time to visit, with all the migratory birds present and most breeding. This is also the best time for flora and is an opportunity to examine a variety of other small and interesting ecological features.
After the rains the vegetation is green and lush, with colourful wild flowers carpeting the ground. This is the ideal time to see an abundance of newly born animals cavorting with their parents on the plains. Prey and predator interaction hits its peak at this time, as snacks are readily available for the ever-hungry carnivores.
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Victoria Falls