Mana Pools or Gonarezhou?
The two parks side by side on what you will see, what you can do, what it costs, how you get there and the health picture, with the facts behind every rating.
Our verdict
The split is feet against wheels: Mana Pools is a small Zambezi floodplain where you may walk among big game, Gonarezhou a far bigger park you explore by 4x4. Pick Mana Pools if walking is the point: ranger walks at $12 per person per hour, unguided walking on a permit, hippo guaranteed and better odds on lion and wild dog. Night drives are not permitted, and malaria and tsetse come with the valley. Pick Gonarezhou for emptiness and the drive itself: about an hour from Chiredzi and Buffalo Range airport against six to seven hours from Harare, a cooler October and $15 a day in a park camp. Walking there goes through operators. Mana closes in practice from December to March, Gonarezhou from 10 January to 1 March. Our Gonarezhou guide argues for doing both in one dry season: Mana for your feet, Gonarezhou for your wheels.
Best for big game Mana PoolsBest for birding Mana PoolsBest for walking Mana PoolsBest for on the water Mana PoolsBest for self-drive GonarezhouBest for low budget GonarezhouBest for a first safari Mana PoolsBest for wilderness Gonarezhou
Tap a row label to see the reasoning behind a rating.
| Compare | Mana Pools2,196 km² | Gonarezhou5,053 km² |
|---|---|---|
| 4Aug to Oct | 3Sep to Nov | |
4bestAug to OctElephant sightings: 100% of visitors; Wild dog sightings: 58%; Hippo & crocodile: Largest in Zimbabwe | 3Sep to NovElephants: ±11,000; Elephant density: 2.18 / km² (2022); Wild dog: Documented stronghold | |
| Elephant | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
| Lion | Likely | Fair chance |
| Leopard | Fair chance | Fair chance |
| Buffalo | Likely | Likely |
| Wild dog | Fair chance | Rare |
| Cheetah | Rare | Rare |
| Hippo | Guaranteed | Likely |
| Giraffe | Absent | Not published |
3380 speciesAbout 380 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | 3400 speciesAbout 400 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | |
| 5Water | 5Self-drive | |
5bestOne of a tiny handful of parks where the public may walk unaccompanied, on a permit and on the open floodplain; a ZimParks ranger walks with you at $12 per person per hour, and under-16s may not walk. | 2Guided walking runs only through registered third-party operators, with ages, rules and rates unpublished; the one short option is a 3 km trail to Chivilila Falls from Chilo Gorge on the boundary. | |
2bestNight driving and spotlighting are prohibited and a curfew keeps you in camp from 18:00 or 18:30; only Kavinga and the Ruckomechi concession on private land at the edges run night drives. | 1Night-driving policy is not published and the guide says to assume the conservative answer; the camp curfew keeps you in camp from 18:00 or 18:30. | |
5bestCanoe safaris on the Zambezi are the signature, from half days to multi-day trails, alongside tigerfishing from bank or canoe on a $15 licence; motorboats are not allowed in the park. | 2Catch-and-release tigerfishing on the Runde for overnight visitors with a permit is the only water activity; no operator could be confirmed for canoeing. | |
4Self-drivers are welcome on the designated roads: 384 km and 6 to 7 h from Harare with a Marongora check-in and 74 km of gravel, a high-clearance 4x4 required and the park closed in practice Dec to Mar. | 5bestThe Trust calls self-drive the park's primary offering: wild campsites, river drives on the Runde and Mwenezi, and Chipinda Pools gate 55 km and 1 to 1.5 h from Chiredzi, with a true 4x4 needed for most of the park. | |
| $120cheapest bed | $50cheapest bed | |
$24bestInternational adult per day ({'name': 'Official ZimParks tariff, published February 2026', 'url': 'https://www.zimparks.org.zw/media/2026/02/De-Gazetted-Tariff-2026.pdf'}, 2026-07-26). | $25 / $15International adult per day, the lower figure if you sleep inside the park ({'name': 'Official ZimParks Gonarezhou tariff 2026 and the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust rate card', 'url': 'https://www.zimparks.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Gonarezhou-Fees.pdf'}, 2026-07-27). | |
$120Lowest listed rate per person per night across 21 places; 6 are budget tier. | $50bestLowest listed rate per person per night across 14 places; 8 are budget tier. | |
$235Median of 9 priced places; top end $1,140. | $130bestMedian of 13 priced places; top end $600. | |
2Cheapest listed bed $120, 6 of 21 places in the budget tier, park fee $24 a day. | 4bestCheapest listed bed $50, 8 of 14 places in the budget tier, park fee $15 a day. | |
| $915mid-range | $729mid-range | |
$810Budget one: self-drive camping at Nyamepi | $561bestBudget one: self-drive camping, the trip most people take | |
$915Budget two: a ZimParks lodge, Hippo, Nyati or Muvee | $729bestBudget two: a tented camp at Little Bosman's | |
$6,240Budget three: fly-in to Wilderness Ruckomechi | $3,630bestBudget three: fly-in and top-end | |
| Harare, 384 km, 6 to 7 h by roadnearest airport | Buffalo Range (BFO)nearest airport | |
Harare, 384 km, 6 to 7 h by road; ±1 h 35 by light aircraftFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | Buffalo Range (BFO), about 1 h to Chipinda PoolsFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | |
High-clearance 4x4 requiredFrom the getting-there page. | Required for most of the parkFrom the getting-there page. | |
| Aug to Octpeak game viewing | Sep to Novpeak game viewing | |
Aug to OctFrom the best-time page. | Sep to NovFrom the best-time page. | |
Effectively closed Dec to MarchFrom the best-time page. | Closed 10 Jan to 1 Mar; remote camps late Nov to Mar or AprFrom the best-time page. | |
| High all year in the Zambezi Vall…malaria | High Nov to Jun, lower Jul to Octmalaria | |
High all year in the Zambezi ValleyFrom the health page. | High Nov to Jun, lower Jul to OctFrom the health page. | |
PresentZimbabwe's surviving tsetse belts sit in the Zambezi Valley; worst in the mopane and jesse bush between escarpment and river. | Not publishedBiting flies are common and overlander guides give tsetse advice, but the guide could not verify an official confirmation of tsetse in the park. | |
October, 36.9°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | October, 32.5°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | |
Kariba, Karoi, Chinhoyi (stabilisation only); serious cases by air to HarareAir evacuation: MARS (Kariba base) or ACE (Chirundu, Chinhoyi) to Harare. | Chiredzi, 1 to 1.5 h from the north gateAir evacuation: Chipinda Pools, Mabalauta, Mahenye. | |
| 4Wilderness | 5Wilderness | |
2Every camp is unfenced, malaria risk is high all year in the Zambezi Valley, tsetse is present and under-16s cannot walk; Nyamatusi Mahogany is the family exception with a kids' programme. | 2Malaria risk is high Nov to Jun, camps are mostly unfenced, the nearest hospitals are in Chiredzi 1 to 1.5 h from the gate and the park closes 10 Jan to 1 Mar; lion and leopard are only a chance and no camp publishes a minimum age. | |
3bestElephant is seen by 100 per cent of visitors and lion by 89, but access is a 6 to 7 h drive or a charter and night drives are banned. | 2Elephant is guaranteed but lion and leopard are a chance and wild dog takes luck, the game is thinly spread, and the camps assume your own 4x4, water, food and recovery gear. | |
4Unfenced camps, a five-vehicle cap at sightings and no facilities at all at Chitake Springs, though most visitors share the 15 by 3 km floodplain and September books out up to a year ahead. | 5bestHours without seeing another vehicle in the remote interior, 19 camping areas where solitude is the default, and no shop or fuel anywhere inside. |
Compare all of Zimbabwe's parks on the comparison page. Gonarezhou has its own guide at visitgonarezhou.com.
How the ratings work
- Big game is calculated from each park's sightings table on its wildlife page: guaranteed counts 3, likely 2, a fair chance 1, rare 0.5 and absent 0, across elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, wild dog, cheetah, hippo and giraffe, scaled so that 16 points is 5 out of 5.
- Birding follows the species count on the wildlife page. Low-budget safari follows the cheapest listed bed, the share of budget places and the daily park fee.
- Walking, night drives, water, self-drive, families, first safari and wilderness are our ratings, whole numbers from 1 to 5. Press "Why?" on any row to read the facts each one rests on, with the page they come from. Where a rule is not published we say so rather than guess.
- Prices are per person per night in US dollars as listed on the lodges pages, before park fees; the three-night totals come from each park's costs page and use the dated rates there. Fees are the international adult rate per day.