Linkwasha

Join the ever-changing wildlife parade on the Ngamo Plains, dotted with vleis and ilala palms. On a guided walk or game drive, find uncountable dust-kicking buffalos; some of the 40 000 local elephants; herd after antelope herd, with predators like lions, cheetahs, or African painted dogs in their wake; the more elusive pangolins, caracals, lesser bushbabies, and honey badgers; more than 400 bird species, including raptors, which fill the skies once the rains start. Sleep in a Star Bed high in a tree. Toast the day and each other to sensational blood-orange sunsets or dramatic summer thunderstorms, sound and light shows flashing across the plains.

Linkwasha sits on the edge of the renowned Ngamo Plains of Hwange, Zimbabwe’s largest national park. A staggering 5 657 square miles of diverse habitat, Kalahari sands seeping into teak woodlands and golden savannah grasslands, Hwange serves up some of the best game viewing on Earth, year-round but especially rewarding during the dry season. Linkwasha has access to the exclusive-use Makalolo and Linkwasha concessions, incorporating the Plains. With solar-pumped waterholes sustaining the wildlife population, dry-season game viewing around the concessions’ 15 water sources is mind-blowing.

A contemporary safari camp in an iconic African landscape, Linkwasha and its panoramic views of the plains immerse you in the bush, as a steady stream of elephants, buffalos, wildebeest, zebras, sable antelopes, eland, and other game make their way past the ground-level rooms to the busy waterhole in front of the main area. Nine elegant tents, nestling under a tree canopy, are shaded in the environment’s neutral tones as well as bolder Ndebele patterns, reflecting local culture. On many evenings, you’ll be joined for dinner – perhaps just drinks – as elephants siphon their fill from the pool, then rumble off into the darkness, just as the stars come out.

About the Hwange National Park

One of Africa’s top national parks, Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe’s northwest should be on any safari lover’s bucket list. Roaming Hwange’s savanna grasslands and woodlands are the Big Five and 100 other species of mammals – the park has the biggest diversity of mammals out of the world’s national parks. The Belgium-sized park is also home to some 50 000 elephants and is known for regular sightings of cheetah, leopard and lion, as well as one of Africa’s largest populations of the endangered wild dog and rare species such as roan and sable. Birdwatchers will be impressed with the 500 species recorded here.

Visiting Hwange during the dry winter months of July to October guarantees spectacular wildlife sightings, as animals gather around the man-made waterholes in the park to drink.

One of the big draws of Hwange is that it’s easily accessible – you can fly into Victoria Falls and either hire a car or get a road transfer to the park, an hour’s drive away. You can drive most of the park’s roads in a 2x4 vehicle, and there are many options of places to stay to suit a range of budgets – everything from campsites to luxury safari lodges.

What makes Hwange so special is its lack of crowds. For all of its biodiversity, huge herds of elephants and ease of sightings in the winter months, the park never gets crowded, which means you have the space and the quiet to soak up the magic of the bush.