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Hwange National Park
Hwange National Park (formerly Wankie) is the largest game reserve in Zimbabwe. The park lies in the west, on the main road between Bulawayo and the world-famous Victoria Falls. It was founded around 1928 by a 22-year-old game ranger, Ted Davidson. He befriended the Manchester-born James Jones who was the stationmaster for the then Rhodesian Railways at Dete which is very near Hwange Main Camp. Jones managed incoming supplies for the park. The area was designated a Game reserve in 1928 and awarded National Park status in 1930.
Hwange National Park covers over 14,600 square kilometers. 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.There are not less than 401 bird species. 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 too 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.
Other popular species in the area include Black rhinoceros and white rhinoceros which have been reintroduced and appear to be prospering. There are strong populations of buffalo, giraffe, zebra, hippopotamus, lion, leopard, cheetah and two hyena species. There is a wide variety of birdlife which includes waxbills, canaries, doves, francolins, hooded vultures, sand grouse and starlings during the dry season and migrant cuckoos, to mention just a few.
As the Hwange National Park celebrates in 80th anniversary, we are extending an invitation to the world, to sample this 'Jewel in the jungle',forgotten by many due to the political turmoil experienced in the last decade by Zimbabwe
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