Matusadona 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 large waterhole park on tar; Matusadona is a smaller lakeshore park on Kariba, reached by boat or a long road. Pick Hwange for ease and value: tar from Victoria Falls, $12 a day when you sleep inside against Matusadona's flat $30, elephant guaranteed, giraffe likely and a park open all year. Walking goes out with licensed guides through the camps, and night drives only on private concessions. Pick Matusadona if the water is the draw: boat cruises into the Sanyati Gorge, hippo guaranteed on the shoreline, guided walks with a park official and the multi-day Matusadona Trails. The park runs no night drives, and you should never swim in the lake. The Binga road between them is a full day and in poor condition, so self-drivers can ship the vehicle to Kariba, while seat-rate charters link Hwange with Kariba and Matusadona.
Best for big game HwangeBest for birding HwangeBest for walking MatusadonaBest for on the water MatusadonaBest for self-drive HwangeBest for low budget HwangeBest for families HwangeBest for a first safari HwangeBest for wilderness Matusadona
Tap a row label to see the reasoning behind a rating.
| Compare | MatusadonaAbout 1,400 km² | Hwange14,650 km² |
|---|---|---|
| 3June to October, on the lakeshore | 4Aug to early Nov | |
3June to October, on the lakeshoreElephant: About 480 (2022 count); Hippo on the shoreline: Over 2,100 (2021 survey); Wild dog: 20 reintroduced, Feb 2026 | 4bestAug to early NovElephants: ±40,000 in dry season; Large carnivores: 8 species; Wild dog: Major stronghold | |
| Elephant | Likely | Guaranteed |
| Lion | Fair chance | Likely |
| Leopard | Rare | Fair chance |
| Buffalo | Likely | Likely |
| Wild dog | Rare | Fair chance |
| Cheetah | Absent | Rare |
| Hippo | Guaranteed | Rare |
| Giraffe | Not published | Likely |
2350 speciesAbout 350 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | 3best400 speciesAbout 400 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | |
| 5Water | 5Self-drive | |
4bestGuided walks of two to three hours with park guides at about $40, and the Matusadona Trails, multi-day escarpment backpacking at $275 a day; walking only with a designated official and no under-12s on the Trails. | 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. | |
2The park runs no night drives; only Bumi Hills offers them, on its own concession outside the boundary. | 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. | |
5bestMorning and evening cruises from Tashinga and every lodge, the Sanyati Gorge by boat, houseboats along the shore and tigerfishing under a five-fish limit; canoeing is not offered. | 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. | |
2Self-drive is allowed from sunrise to sunset, but getting a vehicle in means the private McMaster ferry, 3 to 3.5 h plus about 2 h of bush road, or 9 to 10 h from Harare with a 4x4 recommended. | 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. | |
| $30cheapest bed | $10cheapest bed | |
$30International adult per day ({'name': 'ZimParks De-Gazetted Tariff 2026 (Matusadona conservation row p.12, vehicles p.23)', 'url': 'https://www.zimparks.org.zw/media/2026/02/De-Gazetted-Tariff-2026.pdf'}, 2026-09-24). | $24 / $12bestInternational 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). | |
$30Lowest listed rate per person per night across 38 places; 22 are budget tier. | $10bestLowest listed rate per person per night across 33 places; 7 are budget tier. | |
$630Median of 6 priced places; top end $999. | $490bestMedian of 30 priced places; top end $803. | |
3Cheapest listed bed $30, 22 of 38 places in the budget tier, park fee $30 a day. | 4bestCheapest listed bed $10, 7 of 33 places in the budget tier, park fee $12 a day. | |
| $2,420mid-range | ||
Not published | $350Budget one: self-drive camping at Main Camp | |
Not published | $2,420Budget two: Robins Camp, the mid-range that includes your park fees | |
Not published | $10,602Budget three: fly-in to Wilderness Linkwasha | |
| Kariba townnearest airport | Victoria Falls (VFA)nearest airport | |
Kariba town, about 1 h by speedboat to TashingaFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | Victoria Falls (VFA), 3 to 4 h by road in 2026From the getting-there and flights pages. | |
RecommendedFrom the getting-there page. | Needed inside the park; essential Dec to MarFrom the getting-there page. | |
| June to October, on the lakeshorepeak game viewing | Aug to early Novpeak game viewing | |
June to October, on the lakeshoreFrom the best-time page. | Aug to early NovFrom the best-time page. | |
No closure published; interior roads may close in the rains (unconfirmed)From the best-time page. | Open all yearFrom the best-time page. | |
| Prophylaxis recommended by the pa…malaria | High Nov to Jun, lower Jul to Octmalaria | |
Prophylaxis recommended by the parkFrom the health page. | High Nov to Jun, lower Jul to OctFrom the health page. | |
Not publishedThe guide found no Matusadona-specific source; the management plan says tsetse were eradicated from the surrounding communal areas. | 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, up to 40°C and moreMean 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. | |
Clinic at Tashinga headquarters; hospitals a boat ride or a long day's drive awayAir evacuation: Recommended by the park. | Bulawayo, 4 h plus by roadAir evacuation: MARS and ACE, both based in Victoria Falls. | |
| 4Wilderness | 5First safari | |
3There is a clinic at Tashinga and Changa has family tents with adjoining children's tents, but every camp is unfenced, the park recommends malaria prophylaxis and Jenje and the Trails take no one under 12. | 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. | |
2Hippo, crocodile and impala are guaranteed and elephant likely, but lion is only a chance in what the guide calls a recovering park. | 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. | |
4bestAcross the lake from the nearest town, with a park fleet of two pontoon boats and four vehicles in 2023 and no more than three vehicles allowed at a sighting. | 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.