Save the coordinates before you leave town: 20.4925 south, 28.4902 east. Signal goes patchy in the hills and a pin's worth more than a signpost out there. We send a WhatsApp location when your booking is confirmed.
The drive from Bulawayo
One road for most of it, and a standard car is fine between May and October.
- Start
- Head south out of the city centre on Robert Mugabe Way, which becomes the Matopos Road. It's signposted for the park, and it's the only road you need for the next half hour.
- 32 km
- Good tar through granite country that gets steadily more dramatic. Speed limit 80, speed humps through the settlements, and police checkpoints are normal rather than ominous.
- The gate
- You come through the main National Parks gate. Entry is per person and settled there unless you are on a package that includes it.
- 10 km on
- Turn right onto the signposted gravel road for the Maleme valley.
- Last 8 km
- Graded gravel. Fine in a sedan in the dry months, better with clearance in the rains. Slow down for the zebra, wildebeest and warthog, which do not look before crossing.
- Arrive
- About fifty-five minutes from the city centre. There's a cold drink on the verandah.
Fill up before you go
There's no fuel between Bulawayo and the lodge. The last reliable pumps are on Robert Mugabe Way out near Ascot, about five kilometres from the centre, and the TM Pick n Pay at Ascot is the last supermarket.
The tar holds up all year. The gravel is graded regularly but corrugates and puddles in the rains, and the dust behind another vehicle is thick enough to justify headlights. If you want to know what the road is doing today, message us.
If you would rather we drove
We run road transfers from town and from the airport, in an air-conditioned vehicle with a driver who knows the road. Book them with your stay rather than on the day.
- Bulawayo to the lodge
- US$75 private. About an hour, door to door.
- Airport to the lodge
- US$110 private, about ninety minutes, with a meet and greet at arrivals.
- Notice
- Forty-eight hours is comfortable. Less than that and we'll still try.
Flying in
Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International, BUQ, is 70 km away and about ninety minutes by road. It's an hour from Harare and there are direct connections through Johannesburg.
Victoria Falls has the better international schedule if you are building a wider trip, and flying Falls to Bulawayo saves you a long day on the road.
Coming from further away
- Harare
- About 490 km and five and a half hours by road via the A5, or an hour in the air to Bulawayo.
- Victoria Falls
- About 440 km and five and a half hours through Hwange, which is a good way to split the trip. Or fly direct to Bulawayo.
- Johannesburg
- About 780 km and nine hours through Beitbridge. Allow one to three hours at the border, and don't plan to arrive in the dark.
- Beitbridge
- About 320 km and four hours on the A6, which is a well-kept road.
- Great Zimbabwe
- About 290 km and three and a half hours via the Mbalabala junction. Worth pairing with a Matobo stay.
What you pay at the gate
Park fees are set by Zimbabwe Parks, not by us. They are settled at the gate, unless you are on the Matobo Experience or the All-Inclusive, where they are already in the rate.
- Park entry
- US$18 per international adult per day, US$9 for children 6 to 12. SADC visitors pay US$14 and US$7. Zimbabwean residents pay US$4 and US$2. Under 6 is free.
- Vehicle
- US$12 for a foreign light vehicle, US$5 for a local one. More for minibuses and anything larger.
- Rhodes' Grave
- A separate entry of US$10 per international adult and US$5 per child. It catches people out, so budget for it.
- Rhino walk
- US$24 per person for the guided rhino tracking walk, which is the conservation levy and goes to Parks rather than to us.
Bring some cash for the gate. Card isn't a given out here.
The last thing
The drive is part of it. Somewhere around the halfway mark the bush stops being bush and the rock starts standing up, and by the time you're on the gravel you've usually stopped talking. Don't rush it, and don't do it in the dark if you can avoid it, because you'll miss the whole point.
