Hwange National Park is the largest game reserve in Zimbabwe. It covers over 14,600 square kilometres. The park is close to the edge of the Kalahari desert, a region with little water and very sparse, semi-arid vegetation.

The Park hosts 105 mammal species, including 19 large herbivores and eight large carnivores. All Zimbabwe's specially protected animals are to be found in Hwange and it is the only protected area where gemsbok and brown hyena occur in reasonable numbers. The population of African wild dogs to be found in Hwange is thought to be of one of the largest surviving groups in Africa today.

Elephants have been enormously successful in Hwange and the population has increased to far above that naturally supported by such an area. However there have been consecutive years of drought in the Hwange region and this population of elephants has put a lot of strain on the resources of the park. There has been a lot of debate on how to deal with this, and culling may well be the only solution.

While in Hwange NP, we stayed at Linkwasha Tented Camp in a beautiful setting with a watering hole about 50 yards from the observation area of the Camp. As you'll see from some of the pictures, elephants were a prime user of the watering hole, and even came to the lodge and drank out of a little splash pool by the main lodge area. Cabins are very spread out at the camp, and each cabin has its own indoor and outdoor showering facility. You can watch the wildlife while showering, and they can watch you :)