Hwange 1

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General information about Hwange National Park

Hwange (speak: wankie) is the most accessible game park of Zimbabwe. When you compare it with the East African parks in Kenya and Tanzania it is not overcrowded by tourists. In the dry season, the game gathers together around the (artificial) waterholes, which are driven by diesel pumps. All those waterholes are near to the main camp. The dry season is the best time to see the animals. In the wet season the animals spread out over the park that has an area of 14.650 sqkm. Most visitors stay within 15-20 km of the main camp. If you want to be alone, you have to drive a little further.

The park is open all year around: enter with your own (rented) car, an organised tour or for a guided game walk.

When we entered the park we saw a fence but no checkpoint. Everyone could enter the park without be seen. After a few km we reached the main camp. We paid for the entrance and the camping site. Everyone who wants to go in the park must pass the entrance gate at the main camp. You will be registered at the beginning and at the end of your game drive. When you want to go to one of the 2 other camps you must tell them so they could check if you really arrived. Because of this system they know exactly who is in the park or who stayed behind.

It was a large campsite, basic and beautiful. They made a 3-meter high fence around it with electricity on the wires. That didn’t bother the monkeys anyway; they climbed via a tree over it but it would stop large animals like lions and elephants. It better did because we heard at night the lions roar, very close (a few hundred meters away). Every afternoon a group of striped mongooses walked over the campsite looking for food. Nice little animals.

Mangooses

Almost empty campsite

Baboon eats from garbagecan

We made the game drives with our own car. The gravel roads were not so good, just like we experienced in Matopos Park. The roads are relatively crowded by vehicles especially the pick-up-trucks from the organised tours. Some people thought Hwange was a attraction park like Disneyland. They didn’t respect nature in our opinion. By the viewing points they opened the cool boxes, drank beer and eat patatochips. They made a lot of noise. One man lit a sigarette, in the dry season!!!

We were lucky that we were with our own car so that we could drive away from those stupid tourists. We wanted to see and experience the beauty of nature in complete silence. Without the music of Mozart or Händel like in documentaries on the TV.

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