Camelthorn Lodge stands in acacia and camelthorn woodland on the south-eastern edge of Hwange National Park, in Zimbabwe, inside the Imvelo Ngamo Rhino Sanctuary. Eight stone villas are set well apart from each other in the woodland. This is communal land, where the surrounding villages are partners in the lodge itself, and in the reintroduced white rhinos that graze nearby.
Eight stone villas are set well apart from each other in the woodland
Guests walk with those rhinos, tracked at close range by Cobra rangers recruited from the villages around them. The sanctuary places the animals firmly under local custodianship, and beyond its boundary lies Hwange itself. A private gate opens onto the national park, a five-minute drive across the old Bulawayo to Victoria Falls railway line, and the whole of that vast wilderness begins.
Mark Butcher first worked Hwange as a game ranger. Later he joined forces with Njabulo Zondo, a rural development social worker, and in 1996 the two set out to build lodges on communal land so that the villages would earn directly from tourism. Camelthorn grew from that idea. The local chief agreed to it on one condition: that it be built of permanent stone to outlast his grandchildren.
Each has a spiral staircase climbing to an open upper deck
So the villas are solid rather than canvas. Thick masonry walls, high ceilings and stone floors keep them cool through the summer and hold the warmth through the cold, dry winter. Each has a spiral staircase climbing to an open upper deck. There you find a daybed and hammocks, set for an afternoon siesta beneath the acacia canopy, or for a whole night spent sleeping out under the stars.
Hwange holds one of the continent’s largest elephant populations, and in the dry months from July to November they file across the Ngamo Plains toward a busy waterhole a short distance from camp. That waterhole holds Stoffie’s Hide, buried beneath an ancient tree and disguised as a termite mound. From inside, the water sits at eye level, and the elephants drink and splash only a few metres away. It is the kind of encounter most safaris promise from a vehicle and rarely deliver on foot.
Game drives run in open vehicles inside the national park, where daytime viewing on the Ngamo Plains turns up buffalo, zebra, giraffe, sable antelope and the predators that follow them. Outside the park, on the community concession, the rules relax. Night drives and unrestricted walking become possible, and armed guides lead you to track big game on foot. The Elephant Express, a converted open-sided railcar, carries guests along the eastern rail boundary for a slow, scenic transfer between the sidings.
At night come the rumble of bull elephants at the pan and the crackle of the central fire
Meals move with the day and the season. Breakfast and lunch are usually taken outdoors beneath the namesake camelthorn tree, and on cold winter evenings dinner shifts indoors to the stone dining hall, served family-style at a long teak table beside three fireplaces. Picnics are packed for the full-day Pump Run, when guests join Imvelo’s team delivering fuel and rations to the pump attendants who keep Hwange’s boreholes running through the dry season.
Almost all the staff come from the neighbouring Ngamo villages, and the community is woven through the stay. A visit to Ngamo village, fifteen minutes away, and a morning at the local school sit alongside the safari programme, though the school visits pause through April, August and the mid-December holidays. Children aged seven and over are welcome, younger ones by prior arrangement. At night come the rumble of bull elephants at the pan and the crackle of the central fire.
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accommodation
Eight stone Forest Villas, each with a king bed or twin beds, an open fireplace, ceiling fan, minibar and a bathroom with double vanity and a deep tub set at a picture window. A spiral staircase leads to an upstairs deck with daybed and hammocks; four villas add a private splash pool.
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activities
Open-vehicle game drives and armed walking safaris inside Hwange National Park; night drives and unrestricted walks on the community concession. Walking with white rhinos alongside Cobra rangers in the sanctuary, photography from Stoffie's underground hide, the full-day Pump Run, the Elephant Express railcar, birdwatching, horseback outrides and Ngamo village and school visits.
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conservation
Camelthorn sits within the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative, which places reintroduced white rhinos under local custodianship and funds village infrastructure. The Cobras anti-poaching unit is recruited locally. The Water4Wildlife Trust fuels boreholes across Hwange, and the annual Smile and See Safari brings free dental and optical care to local communities.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
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The lodge sits on Hwange's southern boundary beside the Ngamo Plains, so the journey runs differently from the northern camps. Flying is quickest: a charter from Victoria Falls, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, reaches Bomani airstrip in around an hour, with a short road transfer to the villas; the transfers from the local airstrips and sidings are part of the stay.
Overland has its own appeal. Straight through by road takes four to five hours from Victoria Falls, or we can break the journey with the Elephant Express: two to three hours by road to Dete station, then around two and a half to three hours south along the rail line to Ngamo Siding in the open-sided railcar, watching the park pass at strolling pace. The railcar does not run in every season, so we check it against your dates when we plan.
Yes, the same advice covers all of Hwange. The region sits below the 1,200 metre altitude at which the UK's official travel health advice draws its line: below it, Zimbabwe's malaria risk is rated high from November to June, when antimalarial tablets are usually recommended, and lower from July to October. The CDC recommends tablets for travel anywhere in Zimbabwe all year round.
Confirm the current position with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel, and be disciplined about repellent and covering up once the light goes, especially around the waterhole at dusk.
A great deal. The rate covers accommodation, all meals, drinks from the local selection including beers, wines and local spirits, laundry, and the daily activities, the game drives, guided walks and village visits among them. The transfers from Bomani and Sipepa airstrips and from Ngamo Siding are included too, and a visit to the rhino sanctuary is part of the programme rather than an extra.
Park fees sit outside the rate, and we build them into your quote from the start along with the flights or road transfers, so you commit to one clear figure.
Yes, free wifi runs in the main lodge rather than in the villas, and there is mobile phone reception at the lodge as well, which is rarer than you might expect this deep into the park's southern edge.
The villas themselves stay unplugged by design, so evenings tend to end at the fire rather than a screen. If you need to be reliably contactable while you are away, tell us before you travel and we will advise on what is realistic.
The southern Kalahari sand country runs to extremes. Winter nights and dawns from June to August can hover near freezing, so bring a warm jacket, a hat and gloves for early drives and for the upstairs decks after dark, with light layers for the warm middle of the day. September and October turn hot, and the green season from November to April adds afternoon storms, so breathable neutral-coloured clothing and sun protection do the rest.
Closed walking shoes matter here more than at most lodges, since walking with the rhinos and the guided bush walks are the point of the place. Soft bags of around twenty kilograms each if you are flying in.
Three nights earns the journey south. That gives you a day with the rhinos on foot, a full day for Hwange itself through the lodge's private gate, and time for the hide, the village and a slow afternoon under the acacias, without the stay feeling like a checklist.
The Ngamo plains are a different Hwange from the north, so the lodge combines well with a northern camp for the full sweep of the park, or simply with Victoria Falls either side. We will shape the routing, road, rail or air, around the pace you want.
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