Reviews of Camp Hwange

"Quite outstanding in all respects." See all these reviews: 10n in Zimbabwe

"Pros: This is an excellent camp in the north of Hwange with absolutely amazing staff. We were most fortunate to have Spike as our guide, although he usually works at the sister bush camp. We have been on many safaris and Spike has been the most knowledgeable guide we have ever had. Kim the manager of the camp is extremely efficient and professional, as well as enjoyable to talk to and kind.

Cons: June is very cold and even with the hot water bottles and blankets provided, it is still cold at night and very cold getting dressed in the morning. Although the camp tries hard e.g. warm ponchos and blankets in the jeep, our very early drive out of the park in order to be picked up for transportation to Victoria Falls, was long and freezing. Ensure that you have a warm hat, many layers including a down jacket, and a face mask." See all these reviews: 8n in Zimbabwe; 5n in South Africa

"tented rooms were clean and had a nice outlook onto a water hole. Main lodge had a campfire around which we gathered each evening prior to dinner and which was lit in the morning if you wished to warm up. The mornings were quite chilly so definitely needed my down vest for game drives. Loved the hot water bottles which were put in our beds each night.

Try to go when the French investors are not in camp--they tend to take over while there and it flavours the whole experience. Two of them smoked while we were there and I saw one of them simply drop his cigarette and grind it out in the sand in front of the lodge.

We had a very bad experience with a trainee guide which Julian dealt with and which I won't go into details here. Julian is a superb Zimbabwean trained guide with a wealth of knowledge. His story telling is magical as he talks about the lions Lots of good walking here, but is always preceded by a drive to get to a walking location." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia; 8n in Zimbabwe

"We were quite early in the season(May) so wildlife wasn't as plentiful as we hoped, but the camp did a nice job overall.

Our guide Nigel was exceptional and contributed to us having one game drive that was just great, we saw everything from Cape Buffalo running to being surrounded by six lions." See all these reviews: 11n in Zimbabwe; 1n in South Africa

"Camp Hwange is a beautiful camp. I like the view of wide plain and waterhole with an elephant from my room.

Food was excellent, I think one of the best food experience I have ever had at the camps in Africa.

Julian, who has wealth of knowledge, was my guide throughout my stay and I really enjoyed walking. It was an exciting moment facing an elephant. We happened to find Bat-eared fox while walking. And walking up to buffaloes was another exciting moent as well.

All of camp staff are very friendly and helpful." See all these reviews: 6n in Zimbabwe

"Our experience at Camp Hwange was phenomenal! The guest rooms are simple yet elegant, and completely met our needs. The setting is peaceful and a perfect escape from the bustle of everyday life, where we were serenaded to sleep by the grunts of hippos.

The staff were thoughtful, professional and approachable, and anticipated all our needs. The guides, in particular, were second to none. The information they provided and the efforts they made were truly the highlight of our trip.

The food was also fantastic, and without our even mentioning it, they noticed our preferences and made an effort to meet those.

Overall, I cannot praise Camp Hwange highly enough, and it will be our first choice should we make another trip to Zimbabwe." See all these reviews: 4n in Zimbabwe

"Unfortunately this lodge did not live up to expectation. I was guided by Julienne the former manager twice, then a trainee twice, before Spike.

Julienne I truly didn't feel was very committed to or interested in guiding. He picked me up at the gate, and only pointed out a small number of animals we happened to come across along the road. I discovered later that there was a lake and hide half way to the camp that we could have gone to to see a good variety of birds and animals. Upon arrival I was given the closest room to the public area which could result in me hearing all the laughters and conversations in the dining room late at night when I want to go to bed early with my jetlag. I requested a move further away, and was told by him that I had requested the room closest to the dining area for mobility reasons. I never made such a request, and why would anyone come to a camp renowed for walking safaris if they can't walk from their room to the public area?

Expert Africa passed all the room requests to me to check, and the requests we ever made were for the quietest room possible, or the room with the best view for photography. He argued and argued about this non-existent request, and that all future guests coming were families and they want to keep them next to each other. I ended giving up and walked away. As it turned out the next guest was elderly and had mobility problems, and would have made such as request. So good the way they read their emails! As for keeping families together - all incoming guests were adults, and the cottages were spaced several meters apart. Do they expect guests to yell across that distance to have a family conversation? They did end up changing me to a different room but it wasn't a pleasant exchange. As for guiding, Julienne and the trainee Blyde (who is a nice bloke) drove up to the animals too fast, resulting in them running away. Their style of guiding was to drive up, tell you the name of the animal, give you a few moments to take photos, and then drive off to look for the next animal. As there had been alot of rain, game was very thin, and we spent alot more time driving around on bumpy roads than doing anything else. Blyde who was in training, was not in a position to give much information, but Julienne often truly seemed uninterested even when asked. I guesd it's no worse than guides I experienced in many other parts of Africa. But I was told the guides here were very knowledgeable and I was looking forward to much more.

I have read a review that some of their vehicles have seats (which are just old fashion benches) so high that nobody's feet could reach the floor. We made a request for the more comfortable type of vehicle as I have back problems. That didn't seem to be taken into account and I was given the back breaking vehicle. Even after using a tyre or a stool to raise the feet, after one and a half days my back flarred up very badly ( the worst in 20 years). I still wasn't offerred a different vehicle (they did have several vehicles), and given the disappointing safaris experience, I felt so depressed that I decided to give up the next 2 days of safaris, stay in my room to rest my back, and just go home to watch David Attenborough for a better experience. The next morning I went to breakfast when others are leaving for their safaris, and found Spike had a vehicle with proper seats same as the ones at the last lodge I stayed in.

I joined them at the last minute and found in Spike the most considerate person towards guests and animals. He is one of a small number of guides who truly knows how to approach animals, and particularly birds which require alot of care. With him I had good sightings and was able to get many good bird photos. He had a true love of nature and was ready to impart his extensive knowledge to guests at all times. Even with the late turnaround, I cannot recommend this camp as there is no guarantee that one would get Spike for their stay. I actually preferred guides from Namibia to most of the ones here. They were more communicative and approachable. I cannot comment on the quality of walking safaris here as there wasn't really much game around to attempt that.

And for the accomodation, this place was set up and run on a shoe string. Lighting is the dimmest in all lodges I've stayed in for this trip. They could have mounted the lights lower and it would have been brighter. There's no light in the bathroom whatsoever. Basically one has to use a torch throughout the cottage, and in the dining room to see what food is being displayed, and to eat. Expect Africa made a couple of food requests on my behalf. Some weren't brought in until I was half way thru my stay. Even then they were of such low quality (rotten) that some had to be thrown out and recooked.

This place, unlike most lodges, made no attempt to cover their food. Virtually everything was consumed by insects of all kinds, before by humans. They could see I was bothered by flies, and made attempts to use a fly net to cover my food. But what about other guests? Even with their attempts, I still found a dead fly in my food and dead ants in my honey. Since such issues seemed insignificant compared to other things I had to deal with, I just scooped them out and continued the eat the rest of the meal. If insects in your room and food bothers you, definitely don't consider this place.

Kim who looked after guests' daily needs made a genuine attempt to accomodate my dietery needs. But as was the case across Africa in general, only half the instructions were followed as they got passed down the chain.

The best thing about this lodge was their meat was the tastiest I 've ever had anywhere (even with no favoring).

In summary, I experienced the lowest standard in accommodation and vehicle comfort at this lodge. Another lodge with the same uncomfortable vehicle had built metal footrests across to fix the problem. Here you are expected to rough everything. For me, it just wasn't worth it." See all these reviews: 15n in Namibia; 4n in Zimbabwe; 1n in South Africa

"This was an unbelievable experience for us.

It was OVER THE TOP." See all these reviews: 10n in Zimbabwe; 3n in Botswana

"We really enjoyed our time at Camp Hwange.

The staff was great and wonderful experience on safari.

We stayed 4 nights which we thought about right for starting our trip and the guiding was superb and very educational.

We were lucky enough to see a second leopard and a pride of lion staying the fourth night!" See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana; 6n in Zimbabwe; 1n in South Africa

"The drive to Hwange through the Park was at first quite uninspiring, through an open cast coal mine, then mile after mile of quite burnt out scrub land. After a long drive through the park reaching the camp was a great reward and the warmth of the reception by staff was very welcoming. The chalets were very good but in the heat of the day, would really have benefited from some form of aircon.

Adam,our guide and host did a fantastic job. we had an amazing walking safari, tracking lion several unforgettable encounters with elephants, including a heart-stopping close encounter from behind some fallen tree stumps with an older bull and then a younger more nervous one. And our last night dinner in the bush (a birthday treat) lit by candles was a true highlight of our trip." See all these reviews: 14n in Namibia; 5n in Zimbabwe; 2n in Botswana