Stanley and Livingstone Private Game Reserve

This is the fenced private reserve on the Masuwe River, a short drive from Victoria Falls, and most people know it by another name: the Victoria Falls Private Game Reserve. Stanley and Livingstone is the hotel on it, now run by Anantara. The reason to come is rhino. Black rhino had been wiped out on this stretch of the Zambezi decades ago, and the reserve is where they were brought back. It is the quickest Big Five outing from town.

Getting there

The reserve sits about 12 km from the town centre and shares a boundary with Zambezi National Park. Self-drivers take the airport road, turn right just after the Masue River bridge and follow roughly 3 km of dirt. Most visitors never drive themselves. Game drives booked from town hotels come with a pick-up, and the hotel’s inclusive rates cover transfers into town.

When to go

The drives run all year, but this is bush, not a zoo. In the rains the grass grows tall and the animals spread out, and people who have done it say you can see very little. Dry season sightings are much better. Our best time to visit Victoria Falls guide has the month by month picture.

What to do

A game drive is the main event, morning, afternoon or after dark with a bush dinner, in groups of no more than ten, and children need to be six or older. Expect lion (there is a resident pride), leopard, a few elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, sable and eland. Painted dogs have been released here too. The Masuwe pulls in over 400 bird species, so birders get their own outings.

Hotel guests can also walk with a guide and join the rhino conservation experience. The patio at Stanley and Livingstone looks over a busy waterhole, and that alone fills an afternoon. Old Ursula Camp, on the same land, is the smaller choice with four chalets.

Our honest view: a single morning or afternoon drive is enough. The reserve is small, and a second day starts to repeat itself. If you want space, go on to Hwange.

Good to know

Size figures do not agree. Sources quote anything from 2,400 to 4,500 hectares, so treat it as a few thousand hectares inside a 32 km fence. That fence is the point. Rangers check it daily, track every rhino on foot each day and dehorn the animals every three to four years, and surplus rhino have gone to restock reserves in Zambia and elsewhere in Zimbabwe. The 2007 release included a bull bred at Imire.

The conservation fee is charged on top of the drive, so ask what your quote covers. Malaria is a real risk here: NaTHNaC rates the Zambezi valley as risky all year and land below 1,200 m as high risk from November to June. Pack tablets.

Last updated 19 October 2026. Sources: Victoria Falls Guide, Victoria Falls Private Game Reserve (2,500 hectares, 12 km from Victoria Falls town centre, borders the 56,000 hectare Zambezi National Park, Masuwe River through the middle, over 400 bird species, teak forest and grassland on Kalahari sand, black rhino Intensive Protection Zone, Big Five, resident lion pride, painted dogs released, whole reserve fenced, free pick-up for drive guests staying in town, little seen in the rains and good sightings in the dry season, a morning or afternoon drive is enough), Victoria Falls Guide, Stanley and Livingstone (hotel on the Victoria Falls Private Game Reserve, about 15 minutes from the Falls entrance, turn right after the Masue River bridge on the airport road then about 3 km of dirt road, raised patio over a waterhole, black rhino conservation experience, game walks and drives, free daily transfers into town), Bushtracks Africa, Stanley and Livingstone game drive (4,000 hectare reserve, Big Five, black rhino, morning, afternoon and night drives, night drive with bush dinner, open all year, groups of up to 10, minimum age 6, conservation fee charged separately), Zimbabwe Field Guide, Stanley and Livingstone Safari Lodge (2,400 hectare private reserve near Victoria Falls town, sixteen suites, Old Ursula Camp with four chalets, walking safaris, rhino encounters, night drives, birding), Journal des Palaces, Anantara Stanley and Livingstone press release, 2 July 2026 (hotel in the Victoria Falls Private Game Reserve, 4,500 hectares, elephant, rhino and occasional cheetah, game drives, walking safaris, rhino conservation experience, bush dinner), Minor Hotels, black rhino conservation in Zimbabwe (black rhino gone from the area around Victoria Falls by about 1970, three black rhino received in 2006, black and white rhino now, surplus moved to reserves in Zambia and Zimbabwe, 32 km perimeter fence checked daily, every rhino tracked on foot daily, dehorning every three to four years), Tourism Update, Black rhino back in Vic Falls, 14 December 2007 (four black rhino released on the Victoria Falls Private Game Reserve, three females from Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage in Bulawayo and a bull from the Imire breeding programme, first black rhino in the area since 1982), NaTHNaC TravelHealthPro, Zimbabwe (malaria risk all year in the Zambezi valley, high risk below 1,200 m from November to June).