Mana Pools or Hwange?
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
Hwange is a vast pumped-waterhole park; Mana Pools is a small Zambezi floodplain that trusts you on foot. Pick Hwange if access, budget or dates decide: tar from Victoria Falls, $12 a day when you sleep inside, camping pitches at $23 and a park that never closes. It also holds giraffe, which Mana does not, and a $60 sleep-out platform puts you above a waterhole for the night. Pick Mana Pools if walking is the point: ranger walks at $12 per person per hour, unguided walking on a permit, hippo and crocodile guaranteed, and canoeing on the river. Expect a high-clearance 4x4, six to seven hours from Harare, a practical closure from December to March and the valley's tsetse. Neither allows night drives inside the park. The guide's classic run in one dry season is Victoria Falls, Hwange, then the Zambezi valley.
Best for big game Mana PoolsBest for birding Mana PoolsBest for walking Mana PoolsBest for on the water Mana PoolsBest for self-drive HwangeBest for low budget HwangeBest for families HwangeBest for a first safari HwangeBest for wilderness Mana Pools
Tap a row label to see the reasoning behind a rating.
| Compare | Mana Pools2,196 km² | Hwange14,650 km² |
|---|---|---|
| 4Aug to Oct | 4Aug to early Nov | |
4Aug to OctElephant sightings: 100% of visitors; Wild dog sightings: 58%; Hippo & crocodile: Largest in Zimbabwe | 4Aug to early NovElephants: ±40,000 in dry season; Large carnivores: 8 species; Wild dog: Major stronghold | |
| Elephant | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
| Lion | Likely | Likely |
| Leopard | Fair chance | Fair chance |
| Buffalo | Likely | Likely |
| Wild dog | Fair chance | Fair chance |
| Cheetah | Rare | Rare |
| Hippo | Guaranteed | Rare |
| Giraffe | Absent | Likely |
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. | 3Camps with licensed guides run walks of about three hours from 07:00 for two to six people, minimum age twelve to sixteen, but they are arranged on the day and cannot always be guaranteed. | |
2Night 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. | 2Driving after dark is prohibited inside the park and everyone must be in camp by 18:00; advertised night drives run only on the private concessions and forestry land bordering it. | |
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. | 1The park has no rivers: surface water comes from pumped pans, hippo occur only at the dams, and the activity list has no boat or canoe trips. | |
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. | 5bestSelf-driving is normal and allowed: tar to Main Camp, 195 km and 3 to 4 h from Victoria Falls in 2026, ZimParks pitches at $23, and a high-clearance 4x4 for the internal roads. | |
| $120cheapest bed | $10cheapest bed | |
$24International 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). | $24 / $12International adult per day, the lower figure if you sleep inside the park ({'name': 'Official ZimParks tariff, published February 2026', 'url': 'https://www.zimparks.org.zw/media/2026/02/De-Gazetted-Tariff-2026.pdf'}, 2026-07-26). | |
$120Lowest listed rate per person per night across 21 places; 6 are budget tier. | $10bestLowest listed rate per person per night across 33 places; 7 are budget tier. | |
$235bestMedian of 9 priced places; top end $1,140. | $490Median of 30 priced places; top end $803. | |
2Cheapest listed bed $120, 6 of 21 places in the budget tier, park fee $24 a day. | 4bestCheapest listed bed $10, 7 of 33 places in the budget tier, park fee $12 a day. | |
| $915mid-range | $2,420mid-range | |
$810Budget one: self-drive camping at Nyamepi | $350bestBudget one: self-drive camping at Main Camp | |
$915bestBudget two: a ZimParks lodge, Hippo, Nyati or Muvee | $2,420Budget two: Robins Camp, the mid-range that includes your park fees | |
$6,240bestBudget three: fly-in to Wilderness Ruckomechi | $10,602Budget three: fly-in to Wilderness Linkwasha | |
| Harare, 384 km, 6 to 7 h by roadnearest airport | Victoria Falls (VFA)nearest airport | |
Harare, 384 km, 6 to 7 h by road; ±1 h 35 by light aircraftFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | Victoria Falls (VFA), 3 to 4 h by road in 2026From the getting-there and flights pages. | |
High-clearance 4x4 requiredFrom the getting-there page. | Needed inside the park; essential Dec to MarFrom the getting-there page. | |
| Aug to Octpeak game viewing | Aug to early Novpeak game viewing | |
Aug to OctFrom the best-time page. | Aug to early NovFrom the best-time page. | |
Effectively closed Dec to MarchFrom the best-time page. | Open all yearFrom 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 publishedThe health and best-time pages do not mention tsetse; only the history page records the fly across much of the park in the 1920s. | |
October, 36.9°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | October, 34.7°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. | Bulawayo, 4 h plus by roadAir evacuation: MARS and ACE, both based in Victoria Falls. | |
| 4Wilderness | 5First safari | |
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. | 4bestMalaria risk is lower in the Jul to Oct peak months, Ivory Lodge takes children from two inside a fence and Somalisa Acacia runs a children's club; the park's camps are unfenced and full hospital care means Bulawayo, 4 h plus. | |
3Elephant 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. | 5bestElephant is guaranteed and lion likely, Victoria Falls airport has around eleven airlines, and beds run from $10 camping to concession camps on a tar approach. | |
4bestUnfenced 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. | 3Main Camp and the southern pans take 80 per cent of visitors, while the private concessions and the south-west at Jozibanini see almost no vehicles in a 14,650 km² park. |
Compare all of Zimbabwe's parks on the comparison page. Hwange has its own guide at visithwange.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.