Hwange National Park

Hwange National Park is Zimbabwe's largest national park, covering 14,651 km² of Kalahari sandveld and mopane woodland in the country's northwest corner. It was established as a game reserve in 1929 and designated a national park in 1950. The park shares a 100 km border with Botswana's Chobe National Park to the northwest, and wildlife — particularly elephants — move freely across this boundary.

The park lies on a flat, nearly rainless plateau of deep Kalahari sand. Unlike river-fed ecosystems, Hwange is entirely dependent on artificial waterholes — boreholes and pumping systems — for its dry-season water supply. These waterholes, first established by the park's founding warden Ted Davison in the 1930s and maintained continuously since, are responsible for the extraordinary wildlife concentrations for which the park is famous.

The elephant population of Hwange is one of the most studied in Africa. Population estimates vary, but most surveys suggest between 45,000 and 50,000 elephants use the park on a seasonal basis — a number that exceeds the park's estimated ecological carrying capacity and has led to ongoing management debate among conservation bodies.

Beyond elephants, Hwange is a stronghold for African wild dog — one of the most endangered carnivores on the continent, with fewer than 6,600 individuals remaining in the wild (IUCN, 2020). The park's flat, open terrain is ideal wild dog habitat and several well-known packs have been continuously monitored by researchers for over a decade.