Gonarezhou National Park

• Chilojo Cliffs

  Sandstone cliffs about 180 m high running some 20 km along the south bank of the Runde, the one picture of the park everybody knows. We list the east and west viewpoints.

  Wikipedia, Gonarezhou National Park
• Chipinda Pools

  Nine plain campsites, each with a shelter, braai and ablutions, and no shop anywhere in the park, so stock up in Chiredzi or Mwenezi. The pools are named from the Ndau word for enter, and Machaniwa and Massasanya are among the picnic spots in this Chinguli section. Chivilila (Chibilila) Falls on the Runde is about 600 m wide.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Gonarezhou National Park
• Chivilila Falls viewing platform

  Until 2020 the falls had no access or facilities, though visitors kept asking to see them. The park built a viewing platform and picnic spot on a ridge above the Runde Gorge, about 1.5 km downstream of the Chipinda Pools campsite and reached by the Chivilila campsite road, due to open in May 2020.

  Tourism Update, New viewing platform for Zim national park (17 February 2020)
• Benji (Bhenji) Weir

  A dam in the north of the park, built in 1974 to hold more than 200,000 cubic metres, and silting up ever since because the catchment is overgrazed and losing its woodland. A 1997 study asked whether it should be dredged, found the dam mattered to tourism, and argued against dredging unless the silt had somewhere safe to go. The viewpoint is on our list.

  C. Tafangenyasha, Should Benji Dam be dredged? Environment Systems and Decisions vol. 17 (1997)
• Tembwahata and Machanu pans

  The two big natural pans in the north, formed where the Save and Runde meet. Samalema Gorge, where the Mwenezi has cut a braided channel through solid igneous rock, is the southern counterpart.

  Wikipedia, Gonarezhou National Park
• Swimuwini and Wright's Tower, Mabalauta

  The southern section, Mabalauta, where the warden's office is about 111 km from the Mwenezi police station turn-off, part of it on dirt. Swimuwini, the place of the baobabs, is the thatched self-catering camp 8 km from the warden's office looking over the Mwenezi. Wright's Tower is on our list as well.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Gonarezhou National Park
• Mahenye village and Chilo Gorge

  Across the Save on the park's north-eastern boundary, outside the gates. Chilo Gorge lodge was refurbished and reopened in 2012 after a rocky period, its chalets done in the local Shangaan style, and visits to Mahenye village can take in the school, the clinic and community projects. Mahenye is tied to the origins of the CAMPFIRE model. The lodge has its own airstrip.

  Expert Africa, Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge in detail

• Where the Runde meets the Save the park drops to 162 m above sea level, the lowest point in Zimbabwe. Some 50 fish species live in the park, among them Zambezi (bull) sharks and smalltooth sawfish, a long way up from the Indian Ocean. source
• The treaty for the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, joining Gonarezhou to Kruger and to Mozambique's Limpopo National Park, was signed at Xai-Xai in Mozambique in December 2002 by Thabo Mbeki, Joaquim Chissano and Robert Mugabe. When the three countries' presidents opened the Giriyondo crossing between Kruger and Limpopo on 16 August 2006 (Mugabe arrived almost two hours late), Mbeki said six possible sites had been found for a bridge over the Limpopo to link Kruger with Gonarezhou, and Mugabe promised that the Zimbabwe National Army would clear the landmines from the Sengwe Corridor. source
• At more than two elephants a square kilometre the park has one of the densest herds in Africa, and the baobabs are paying for it: of more than 560 trees checked, 99 percent had been stripped of bark to some degree. David Cumming, quoted in November 2025, reckoned about 7,000 elephants would have to go for the woodland to recover, and said that cull was very unlikely to happen. source
• Crooks' Corner, the tripoint on the Limpopo south of the park, got its name in the 19th century from the criminals and poachers who stepped into whichever country's police were not chasing them. The Makuleke people who lived there were removed by the apartheid government in 1969, about 1,500 of them, and won the land back in 1998. source
• The boundary with the hunting areas is unfenced. In 2018 a bull wearing a Frankfurt Zoological Society research collar walked out of the park into the community-run Naivasha conservancy and was shot by a Russian client on a 14-day hunt; the hunters' association called it a genuine mistake and the society pointed out that no law in Zimbabwe protects a collared animal. source
• Along the Runde the tree cover rose from 14 percent in 1948 to 40 percent in 2005, once the fields and the clearing against tsetse fly stopped, then dropped by 20 percent by 2018. A 2023 Cape Town master's study of seventy years of aerial photographs and satellite images puts that down most likely to the elephants and severe droughts, and found the old tsetse clearing has had a lasting effect. source

Checked 19 October 2026.

• very likelyElephantAnywhere, but mostly along the rivers. The Trust says you are almost certain to meet one at some point. The middle of the park is another story: one writer counted five elephants in the 100 km of transit road between Mabalauta and Chilojo. All yearsource
• very likelyHippo and Nile crocodileThe pools of the Runde and Save, and the Save-Runde confluence. Rated for a dry-season staysource
• very likelyImpala, kudu, zebra, waterbuck and warthogImpala are as close to guaranteed as anything here. Game in general is more thinly spread than in fenced or busier parks. Rated for a dry-season staysource
• very likelyCape buffaloExpert Africa's travellers reported buffalo on every trip (the figures cover Gonarezhou and Savé Valley together). All yearsource
• very likelyBirds: over 400 speciesThe rivers, and the natural pans at Chindhlambai and Tembahata, which the field guide singles out for birding. All year, though parts of the park are hard to reach in the rains from November to Aprilsource
• likelyGiraffeExpert Africa's travellers saw them on about six trips in ten. All yearsource
• possibleNyalaGonarezhou is known for good numbers of this shy antelope, but it keeps to cover and is easy to miss. All yearsource
• possibleLionExpert Africa's travellers saw lion on about one trip in three. All yearsource
• possibleLeopardExpert Africa's travellers saw one on a little under half of trips, which is a high rate for leopard, but each sighting is luck. All yearsource
• possibleSpotted hyenaHeard far more than seen. Trip reports describe hyena calling through the night at Chipinda Pools and at Mabalauta. All year, after darksource
• rareAfrican wild dogThe Trust calls the park a stronghold for this endangered dog, but a stronghold is not a promise of a sighting. All yearsource
• rareBlack rhinoTwenty-nine were moved in from the Bubye Valley, Malilangwe and Savé Valley in mid-2021, the first in the park for nearly thirty years. Good news for the park, but not something to plan a trip around. All yearsource
• rareCheetah, sable, roan, eland and suniAll present at low density and all down to luck. Cheetah are genuinely rare here. The tiny suni lives in thicket, and VisitGonarezhou says the park is one of only two places in Zimbabwe it is found, with Mana Pools. All yearsource

Likelihood is for a normal visit of two or three days, from the sources linked. Nothing is guaranteed in the wild.

Malaria

UK travel health advice rates Zimbabwe below 1,200 m as high risk from November to June, with tablets recommended (atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline or mefloquine), and low risk from July to October. Only Harare and Bulawayo are singled out as very low risk, so plan for the higher rating in Gonarezhou and see a doctor about any fever during or after the trip. source

Elephants

The Trust's own advice: give elephants space, do not push them, rev the engine or hoot, have a plan to back away, stay calm and watch the animal's body language. Wikivoyage adds that they can behave defensively here and that you should never drive between members of a herd. source

Walking and unfenced camps

Walking safaris go only with a licensed professional guide, through one of the Trust's registered operators, and walking on your own is unsafe anywhere outside camps, picnic sites and other designated spots. Most campsites and self-catering camps are unfenced (Swimuwini has a small two-strand fence and nothing more), so elephant, lion, hyena and buffalo can pass through. Keep food stored securely. source

Rivers, crocodiles and bilharzia

Campsites without running water mean fetching it from the river, and the Trust's warning is to mind the crocodiles when you do. Hippos use the same pools. Bilharzia is a risk in Zimbabwe's fresh water, and UK health advice is to stay out of it altogether: no swimming, wading or bathing. Boil, filter or disinfect river water before drinking it. source

Vehicles, crossings and the closed season

The Trust recommends a high-clearance vehicle everywhere and a 4x4 wherever possible. In the dry season a high-clearance two-wheel drive manages most of the park, but not the river crossings, and Wikivoyage notes the Save crossing needs a 4x4. For remote areas and sand crossings go with two vehicles and recovery gear. Motorbikes need special permission to enter any Zimbabwean national park. The whole park is closed to visitors from 10 January to 1 March, and the remote camps from late November until March or April. source

The drive in

The UK government names the Masvingo to Beitbridge road for smash-and-grab robberies from cars, so keep bags out of sight and windows up at stops. Stop at police roadblocks and toll gates, get a receipt if you pay a fine, and avoid driving outside the main towns at night: deep potholes, stray livestock and poorly lit roads. On the Mozambique track to the Sango border, stay on the road. The area was mined in the civil war, and both the Tracks4Africa and 4x4 Afrika writers who drove it say the same. source

• Stick to the river roads. Trip reports agree that the game clusters on the Runde in the north and the Mwenezi in the south. One writer counted five elephants and three giraffe in the 100 km of transit road between Mabalauta and Chilojo and called it almost empty of game. Plan your days as river drives and treat the middle as a transfer. several sources
• Chilojo Cliffs are about two and a half hours from Chipinda Pools before any game stops, so sleep near them rather than day-tripping. They are at their best late in the day: a Tracks4Africa writer who stayed at Chipinda said next time it would be a campsite near the cliffs for the afternoon light, and a forum trip report praises the sunsets there. several sources
• Bring all your drinking water. The self-catering camps and developed campsites have running water, but it is untreated borehole or river water, and the other campsites have none. One 2016 trip report had campers near Chilojo filling containers from the river at the Fishans causeway, twenty minutes' drive from camp. several sources
• Chiredzi is the last reliable fuel, the last real shops and the last dependable phone signal. There are no shops or pumps inside the park, Chipinda Pools is about an hour away (some 55 km, 21 km of it tar), and the Chikombedzi pump on the southern road cannot be counted on. Fill the tank and the jerry cans for the whole circuit, because the driving is slow. A 2016 trip report found a signal at Chipinda Pools and Mabalauta; elsewhere it is patchy to none. several sources
• Book camps ahead through the Trust's reservations office, which forum members describe as quick to answer, and expect to pay for the accommodation when you book. If you come in by the Sango or Boli gate you must report to the Mabalauta office before going to your camp. Forum regulars say the park is getting more popular, so do not leave it late. several sources
• Baboons are a nuisance at Hlaro and Directors on the Runde. One trip report has a baboon trashing the inside of a car at Hlaro after the driver's door was left open, and the Mabalauta troop will ransack any food left out. Keep the vehicle shut, the cooler boxes latched and nothing edible in the tent. several sources

Checked 19 October 2026. Conditions change, so confirm with the park or venue before you go.