Eastern Hwange Grasslands

Our next destination in Hwange is the Eastern side of the park which offers us a completely different perspective with open golden grasslands peppered with sun bleached dry groves of trees and forested giant trees off the main track. It feels good to have more open space to view wildlife and we are in luck here with seeing plains antelope such as zebra, impala, giraffe and LOTS of elephant.

We are camping back in our own tents at a special private Zim Parks campsite called Kennedy Camp and run by a wonderful young caretaker who keeps the ablutions and campsite meticulously clean and donkey boiler always on the ready for a warm shower.

At night we have regular elephant visitors in camp coming to shake the Camelthorn trees and then vacuuming up the pale grey pods with their trunks from the ground. The pinging sound of pods falling onto the tin roof of our caretakers home peppers the sounds of the night and we hear lions roaring so close to camp they must be just outside.

The next day we drive to the nearby waterhole where we find two large male lions lying under the shade of a large Leadwood tree. Later in the day towards evening a herd of two hundred or so elephant come down to drink and one large bull in musk chases off the lions and then proceeds to charge our vehicle. It’s a stand off and he grumpily turns back to enjoy his daily drink of water.

We are reluctant to leave Hwange on our last day but one of the highlights we are really looking forward to is a visit to the Painted Wolf Educational and Rehabilitation Center located just outside its main gate.

The centre is a critically important venue for local communities and children to learn about the importance of Wild Dogs in their area and to bring awareness to the dangers they face at the hands of humans as poaching is still a major issue and many wild dogs get either caught in snares or are killed on roads or community lands. The Painted Wolf Center does amazing work fitting collars and keeping track of over 31 packs of wild dogs in Zim also housing a state of the art hospital and rehabilitation area. We are so impressed by their professionalism and the positive impact they are having on the local communities.Read more