Nine canvas tents face an open grassy plain in the private Linkwasha Concession, in the remote south-eastern corner of Hwange National Park. They are pitched beneath a grove of ancient false mopane trees, and everything at Davison’s Camp turns toward a single stretch of permanent water, each tent, the dining room and the raised deck all angled at the same view.
Lions use the surrounding scrub as an ambush point.
In the dry winter months, elephants arrive in their hundreds to drink and bathe. Through the day buffalo, zebra and plains game move steadily across the plain. Lions use the surrounding scrub as an ambush point. Many guests give the midday hours to the veranda instead of heading out, content to watch the herds come and go while the camp’s rhythm carries on quietly around them.
Ted Davison was made the first warden of what was then Wankie Game Reserve in 1928. He was twenty-two. He gave more than three decades to the park, and pioneered the borehole system that still delivers water across a landscape with no permanent rivers. The camp carries his name as a mark of that history, not a claim of ownership, and the same pumped boreholes still run across the concession.
Sable and roan antelope share the open ground with eland.
The Linkwasha Concession holds a high density of wildlife across varied country: lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena and African wild dog are all seen here. Sable and roan antelope share the open ground with eland. Giraffe and wildebeest cross it too, and more than 400 bird species have been recorded, from dry-country Kalahari specialists to the birds of the teak woodland.
Off-road driving and night drives, both prohibited in the wider national park, are permitted inside the concession. That freedom opens the whole plain to a vehicle and lets guides follow predators across country instead of tracing the roads. A sighting can be followed for as long as it lasts. Morning and afternoon drives leave in open 4x4s, out over the concession’s plains, around its pans and into the teak woodland, tracking the elephant herds and the buffalo, and the antelope whose movements in turn draw the lions.
After dark, spotlit drives turn up the animals daytime visitors miss. Lesser bushbaby and springhare show in the beam, along with caracal, porcupine and honey badger, and there is always the chance of a leopard on the move. By day the detail comes smaller: guided walks, led by armed and licensed Zimbabwean guides, work the tracks in the sand and follow the birdlife through the scrub. Near camp, a log-pile hide is set low at a mud wallow, putting guests at eye level with drinking wildlife through the quiet hours of the afternoon.
Elephants rumble and slosh at the pan, and buffalo call low across the grass.
The canvas tents stand on timber platforms, and the main areas are open-sided beneath timber and thatch, with a swimming pool and an upper viewing deck looking out over the plain. The styling stays soft and earth-toned, a matter of cane, rattan and hand-woven baskets more than overt luxury. Meals bring together Zimbabwean flavours and familiar classics, taken in the main tent, out at the boma fire, or on the deck above the waterhole, where the herds tend to decide how long dinner lasts.
At night the plain does not go quiet. Elephants rumble and slosh at the pan, and buffalo call low across the grass. The fire pit becomes the place where the day’s stories are told under the stars. The water that draws them is kept flowing by solar and hybrid boreholes, and the concession boundaries are patrolled by the Scorpion Anti-Poaching Unit, lifting snares alongside Zimbabwe’s parks authority. The pull of the camp is that constant, close presence of animals, and the sense of sitting inside a working piece of Hwange, watched over by guides who know its plains and pans by name.
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accommodation
Nine canvas tents on timber platforms sleep up to twenty, each with a private veranda facing the waterhole and the plain. Eight are standard tents; the ninth is a two-bedroom family unit. Bathrooms are en-suite, with flush toilets and hot showers, and ceiling fans move the air through the long, still middle of the day.
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activities
Morning and afternoon game drives in open 4x4s, plus night drives and off-road access permitted in the private Linkwasha Concession but not the wider park. Guided walks with armed Zimbabwean guides, a log-pile hide at a mud wallow, birdwatching, and visits to nearby Ngamo village and its school.
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conservation
The camp supports the Scorpion Anti-Poaching Unit, working with Zimbabwe's parks authority to patrol boundaries and remove snares. Solar and hybrid boreholes maintain water for wildlife across the concession. Children in the Wilderness runs a school feeding programme at schools bordering Hwange National Park, and the camp participates in Pack for a Purpose.
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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Fly into Victoria Falls, then take a light aircraft of about an hour to the airstrip serving the Linkwasha area, where the camp collects you for a game-drive transfer across the concession. The shared charters fix their exact departure the day before, once the airline sets its routing, and bags need to be soft-sided at around twenty kilograms per person.
If you would rather not wait on the shared schedule, we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, straight from Victoria Falls. The road alternative takes around five hours, with the last stretch running through the park itself, so most guests choose to fly one way at least.
It is, and worth planning for rather than worrying about. Hwange sits below 1,200 metres, the altitude under which the UK's official travel health advice rates Zimbabwe's malaria risk as high from November to June, when antimalarial tablets are usually recommended. Through the dry months from July to October the risk drops, but the CDC recommends tablets for travel anywhere in Zimbabwe in any month, so plenty of visitors take them year round.
Check the current advice with a travel clinic or your doctor before you fly, and be sensible about bites in the evening: repellent on, sleeves down.
Layers, above all. Winter mornings from June to August can hover near freezing on the open plain, so the first game drive of the day wants a warm jacket, a beanie and gloves, all of which come off as the sun climbs. September and October swing the other way, hot and dry with the animals pressed close to the water, and the green season from November to March brings warm days broken by afternoon storms.
Neutral-coloured clothing, a hat, sunglasses and good sunscreen cover the daylight hours, and a swimming costume earns its place for the midday heat. Everything should go in a soft bag for the light aircraft.
Yes, with the right ages. The camp takes children from six years old, and children up to sixteen share a tent with their parents, with the family unit built for exactly that. Younger children do well here because so much of the wildlife comes to the camp itself, so the slow midday hours still have elephants in them.
The guided walks are reserved for older children and teenagers, and if your children are under twelve we will talk you through whether a private vehicle makes sense for the drives. Tell us the ages when you enquire and we will be straight about what will work.
The rate is close to fully inclusive: accommodation, every meal, two guided activities a day, park fees, laundry and local drinks all sit inside it, with premium imported brands and champagne the only drinks charged on top. That keeps the days simple, with nothing to sign for between breakfast and the fire.
What sits outside the rate is the getting there, the light aircraft or road transfers, and we price those into your quote from the beginning so there are no surprises later.
There is wifi in camp, though in this remote corner of the park it is best treated as enough for messages rather than for work, and mobile signal is patchy at best. Devices charge easily enough, so cameras and phones stay full even when the connection is thin.
Most guests settle into the rhythm of the waterhole and stop checking within a day. If being reachable matters for a real reason, tell us before you travel and we will tell you exactly what to expect.
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our approach
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Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
