Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy

Imire is a family-run game farm in the Hwedza (Wedza) district of Mashonaland East, about 120 km and 90 minutes from Harare. Norman and Gilly Travers started it as a tobacco farm in 1948 and in 1987 took in seven orphaned black rhino calves from Ruckomechi. It is not a wild safari, but it is the surest rhino sighting within a morning’s drive of the capital.

Getting there

Take the Mutare road out of Harare, cross the railway line just before Marondera (72 km from the capital) and turn right at the first Imire sign. After 3 km turn left at the second sign and carry on for 37 km, past the Imire store and butchery, to the Sable Lodge sign about 800 m further on. The lodge is 1 km inside the park, and the road is tarred all the way to the gate. Toll gates and roadblocks are covered in the self-drive guide.

When to go

Imire counts more than 300 days of sunshine a year, with rain from November to March. Marondera, at 1,688 m, gets close to 190 mm a month in December and January and almost nothing from May to September. July nights average 5.9 C, so pack a jacket for the 17:30 sundowner drive. NaTHNaC puts the high-risk malaria zone below 1,200 m from November to June, so check the altitude of where you are heading next.

What to do

Everything is by prior booking. A day visit runs from tea at 9:30, through a game drive and lunch in the park, to 16:00. Overnight guests add the sundowner drive, rhino and elephant feeding, and an optional early walk with a rhino or an elephant.

Imire’s own pages give different rhino counts (ten black and eight white on one, nine and four on another); Mudiwa, born in October 2023, was the 23rd born here. The three elephants are Mac, Mandebvu and Nzou, and Nzou lives with a herd of buffalo as their matriarch. Sable, eland, kudu, giraffe and zebra fill the plains. Of the Big Five you get three: rhino, elephant and buffalo. Horseback safaris are for experienced riders only. Ask about the Makwe Caves, rock art put at about 2,000 years old, visited with the local chief’s permission. The dams hold bream, bass and catfish, and there are canoes.

Good to know

The first rhino were bottle-fed calves. The elephants sleep in a secure boma at night, armed guards stay with the rhino around the clock, and adult rhino stay on site rather than being released while poaching continues in the national parks. One overlander on the 4x4 Community forum called it a destination in its own right. Bring US dollar cash in small notes; day trips can be paid by local card, but cards are not always accepted in Zimbabwe and change is scarce. Electricity is intermittent, worst in the rains, and so is phone signal. Fish the dams but do not swim in them, bilharzia lives in fresh water here, and be off the road before dark.

Last updated 19 October 2026. Sources: Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation, home page (around 10,000 acres, around 120 km and 90 minutes from Harare, Hwedza district, 1950s beginnings, seven orphaned black rhino in 1987, 21 born and 12 released, nine black and four white rhino, more than 300 days of sunshine, rainy season November to March, warm days and cold nights in winter, phone +263 772 522 201), Imire, About (founded 1948 by Norman and Gilly Travers, wildlife conservancy from 1972, still family-run, seven orphaned calves in 1987, 11 black rhino released, two cheetah from Parc Safari in February 2021 moved on in August 2023), Imire, Visit (Sable Lodge heading, Imire Lodge with seven thatched en-suite rooms, day trip itinerary 9:30 to 16:00, overnight itinerary with 17:30 sundowner drive and 19:00 dinner, rhino and elephant feeding, early walk, elephant encounter, horseback for experienced riders only, Makwe Caves rock art about 2,000 years old, more than 150 bird species, dams with bream, bass and catfish and canoes, prior booking only, cash, bank transfer or local cards), Imire, Contact (directions: Mutare road, cross the railway line just before Marondera, right at the first Imire sign, left after 3 km at the second, 37 km past the Imire store and butchery, 800 m to the Sable Lodge sign, lodge 1 km past the entrance, tarred the whole way, phone and WhatsApp +263 772 522 201), Imire, Conservation (Magnificent Seven in 1987, 11 released by 2006, Mudiwa born October 2023 as the 23rd rhino born at Imire, ten black and eight white rhino, four white rhino from a 2023 emergency relocation, adults kept on site while poaching continues, armed guards 24 hours, elephants Mac, Mandebvu and Nzou, Nzou lives with a buffalo herd, elephants in a secure boma at night, three of the Big Five, plains game list, over 152 bird species), Imire, Volunteer (4,500 hectares, electricity intermittent especially in the rainy season, solar lighting and a generator, cellphone signal intermittent, borehole drinking water), Imire blog, The arrival of the first Imire rhino (seven calves from Ruckomechi aged 4 to 6 months, bottle-fed, first calf Dangwe born to Cuckoo on 26 July 1994), Imire blog, Who was Norman Travers? (began as a tobacco farmer, farm in the Wedza district about 110 km east of Salisbury, game farming from the late 1970s starting with impala), Wikipedia, Hwedza (district of Mashonaland East, about 50 km south of Marondera and 127 km south of Harare, Imire Game Park in the district), Wikipedia, Marondera (1,688 m, about 72 km east of Harare, July mean minimum 5.9 C, December 187.7 mm and January 193.4 mm, under 11 mm a month May to September, on the Beira to Bulawayo railway), SA 4x4 Community forum, General advice collection (12 June 2013 post: Imire near Marondera is a destination and worth a stop all by itself), NaTHNaC TravelHealthPro (UK), Zimbabwe (high malaria risk below 1,200 m from November to June, low risk July to October, very low risk in Harare, schistosomiasis in fresh water), UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Zimbabwe safety and security (roadblocks and toll gates, get a receipt for fines, fuel sometimes unavailable, avoid driving outside towns at night, cards not always accepted, US dollar cash and small notes, frequent and sometimes long power blackouts).