Hwange National Park

Hwange National Park, in the northwest near Victoria Falls, is Zimbabwe's largest and finest wildlife reserve, a vast wilderness of golden savanna, grassland and teak forest. It is renowned above all for its huge elephant population, one of the largest in Africa, which gathers in great numbers at the waterholes in the dry season, and it teems with lions, buffalo, giraffe, sable antelope and a rich array of wildlife and birds, seen on game drives and at the floodlit waterhole hides. It offers a superb, less-crowded safari.

What you actually see

• The elephants - the enormous herds at the dry-season waterholes.
• The predators - the lions and other big cats.
• The waterhole hides - the game-viewing platforms and pans.
• The plains game - the buffalo, giraffe, sable and antelope.

When to go

July to October, the dry season, is by far the best, when the animals, especially the great elephant herds, concentrate at the waterholes and the thinning bush makes them easy to see; the green rainy season is lush but the wildlife disperses and roads worsen.

Honest expectations

It is a big, wild park where sightings, as always on safari, take patience and are best on organised game drives, and the dry season, while superb for wildlife, is dusty and the landscape bare. It pairs perfectly with nearby Victoria Falls for a combined trip. Its huge elephant herds and uncrowded wilderness make it one of Africa's great, underrated safari destinations.

Nearby

Victoria Falls and the Zambezi are close by.