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Zimbabwe: Matobo Hills and Matobos National Park
The Matobo Hills and Matobos National Park are regarded as one of Zimbabwe’s major tourist attractions, these famous rocky outcrops extend across 2000 square kilometres of countryside. About one hour south of Bulawayo by road, are the stunning Matobo Hills. These are signposted and directions and maps are available. Despite their antiquity, many of the depictions are well-preserved and very clear. The massive granite boulders and gigantic rock formations are more than 3 000 million years old, creating an ancient, brooding landscape. A focal point is Rhodes Grave on the summit of the Hill of Benevolent Spirits. The entire area has great cultural and religious significance for the African people. The vegetation in the Matobos is quite different from the surrounding countryside and provides fascinating and varied habitats for wildlife. There are hundreds of caves, many of which were home to early man, and rock painting bear testimony to the value of wildlife to the artists. Matobo National Park contains some of the more rare species of wildlife, including the sable antelope and both black and white rhino. It is renowned for having the highest concentration of leopards and black eagle in an area of its size in the world. Bird life is prolific and the area is a botanists delight. There is a fenced area where most of the country’s big game can be viewed in a short space of time against a dramatic setting.
Zimbabwe: Lake Mutirikwi and Mutirikwi Recreation Park
The park has a good selection of raptors and grassland birds and the lake provides habitat for a wide range of water birds. There are hotels on the lakeshore offering chalets, lodges and camping.
Dammed at the confluence of the Mshagashe and Mutirikwi rivers, the 90 square kilometres of water make Lake Mutirikwi Zimbabwe’s third largest water body. Boating and licenced fishing is allowed, but since the water contains both crocodile and the bilhazia parasite, swimming is not advised. Spreading back up the two rivers, the lake forms two sides of a 12 000 ha triangular game park. Undulating and broken hill country covered mainly by miombo woodland and grassland make this scenically one of the most attractive parks in Zimbabwe. The area owes much of it’s undisturbed beauty to the absence of elephant. A lack of predators makes game-viewing on horse-back and unaccompanied game-walks a major attraction. Apart from a thriving population of white rhino, the park offers good viewing of tsessebe, reedbuck, oribi, giraffe and nyala, among others.
Zimbabwe: Gonarezhou National Park
This park is 5,053 square kilometres in extent and is characterised by low altitude (most of it is below 400 m above sea level), high temperatures of up to 50ºC and rainfall that is low, varied, and unreliable. Gonarezhou (pronounced Gonna-res-or) or “place of the elephant” is the only large big-game national park in Zimbabwe not in the Zambezi basin. Its situated in the south-east lowveld, and bordering on Mozambique, Gonarezhou is in one of the hotter and drier parts of the country. Despite these apparent drawbacks, the Park is an extraordinary place to visit. It is a true wilderness area. Three drainage systems traverse the park and have created an extraordinary landscape. To watch the light of sunset illuminate the ochre-coloured castellated sandstone of Chilojo Cliffs across the sandy bed of the Runde River is an unforgettable experience. Apart from being known as a bird-watchers paradise, a number of animals considered rare in Zimbabwe occur in this ecosystem. These include the pangolin, wild dog, bat-eared fox, Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, roan antelope and nyala. It is the only park in Zimbabwe that has the diminutive suni. This tiny and elegant rufus-brown creature has moderately long ears that seem almost transparent. A shy and secretive browser, it lives exclusively in dry sand forest areas and is found only at the confluence of the Save (pronounced Sah-vie) and Runde rivers in Gonerezhou. Though seldom seen, it is unlikely to cause a stir if you do spot one, being roughly the size of a fox-terrier and of unremarkable features. The elephants that gave their mane to the area are known for their small body size and, in the bulls, relatively large tusks. They have earned the reputation of being among the most irascible and aggressive of their species.
Zimbabwe: Matusadona National Park
Situated on the southern shore of Lake Kariba and bounded on the east by the Sanyati Gorge and the west by the Umi river, this scenic 600 square mile park has an abundance of elephant, Kudu, impala and buffalo. Game viewing by boat near shore, fishing and walking safaris are available.
A one-hour flight from Harare will take you to one of the most stirring sights in Africa: Victoria Falls, known locally by the Kololo people as Mosi-Oa-Tunyaa (Smoke That Thunders). At Victoria Falls, the mile-wide Zambezi River suddenly plunges 30 stories, at times spilling water at a volume of more than 2 million gallons per second. Rainbows, mist and the tremendous roar of the water stir the senses – few other natural wonders match its raw power.
First-time visitors to the falls are often surprised to find that it can’t all be taken in from one vantage point on land; rather, it’s seen from several viewing points along a paved, winding path on the opposite side of a narrow gorge, and there’s no sweeping perspective. But seeing it one piece at a time has its own rewards – each viewing point isolates and reveals another aspect of this spectacular place.
Zimbabwe: Hwange National Park
A good sighting (lions, rhinos) can quickly produce a traffic jam of buses, minivans, jeeps and cars, and the animals are likely to move along sooner than they might otherwise. While this concentration of tourists may be frustrating for those seeking a peaceful commune with nature, it’s actually the result of sound wildlife management. This huge game park is the largest in Zimbabwe – 8,760 sq mi/22,690 sq km. How much visitors enjoy Hwange (pronounced h’WAIN-gay) depends upon two factors: where in the park they go and whether they’ve previously visited other game parks. If this is your first African game park, anywhere in the park will impress: The abundance of game guarantees sightings, so you’ll see more than enough to be satisfied. The Hwange Safari Lodge, one popular property, even has its own flood-lit water hole, and guests can climb into an observation tower and watch animals all night. But the massing of tourists in the most accessible areas – near the Main Camp entrance, especially – can be a turnoff. The animals live in relative peace throughout much of the park – authorities restrict casual visitors to just a portion of this large park. And it is possible to visit the less touristy areas by booking one of the remote tented safari camps (which generally have enough amenities so that most guests won’t miss civilization too much).
Anywhere in the park, visitors are likely to encounter huge herds of elephants – 27,000 live there, and it’s one of the few parks on the continent where pachyderms have to be culled to prevent overpopulation. Other resident animals include white rhinos, lions (more likely seen in the mountainous, western areas), great kudu (a kind of magnificent antelope), giraffes, wildebeests, zebras, impala, baboons, sable (another gorgeous antelope), warthogs and more than 400 species of birds. The animals tend to congregate around man-made borehole wells, particularly in the dry season (August-October), and game-viewing platforms have been constructed at many of these water holes. Weeks could be spent exploring the backcountry, but most visitors will be happy with two nights, if they’re staying near the perimeter, or three to four nights, if they’re going into an interior camp. Activities in the park include several kinds of safaris: on horseback, on foot and by vehicle. Most visitors arrive at Hwange via a two-hour flight from Harare via Kariba or an hour’s flight from Victoria Falls. 310 mi/500 km west of Harare.
Zimbabwe: Chizaria National Park
This national park in western Zimbabwe is one of the country’s most remote and least-developed reserves. The park sits astride the dramatic Zambezi Escarpment and is filled with steep cliffs and river gorges. The wildlife, particularly in the Busi Valley, is abundant. There are a few camps in the park, but the Chizaria Wilderness Lodge, just outside the park is the lodging of choice if you can afford it. Be aware that there are no facilities within the park, so you’ll need to take along your own supplies. 200 mi/320 km west of Harare.
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