Ten canvas tents at Verney’s Camp face a permanent pan, set in open plain and ringed by teak forest on a 10,000-hectare private concession within Hwange National Park. In the dry months the elephants arrive in numbers, drinking and splashing metres from the tents while guests watch from their decks. This is Zimbabwe’s classic tented safari, done quietly and well.
Sightings are shared only with the camp’s own vehicles
Because the concession is held privately, night drives and guided walks run alongside the standard morning and afternoon game drives, none of which are permitted across much of the park’s public areas. Sightings are shared only with the camp’s own vehicles. The plains ahead are yours, and the sense of space is real, elephants moving unhurried across an unbroken horizon.
Alistair Rankin, Murray Collins and the late Chris Hatshe founded Machaba Safaris in Botswana, later partnering with Zimbabwean operator Blessing Munyenyiwa to bring the brand into Hwange. The concession they took on had fallen into disuse, its waterholes dry and its wildlife thinned. Reopening the pans and putting them under active management drew the elephants back, and then the lions, and the surrounding teak woodland began working as habitat again. Verney’s Camp opened to guests in 2018.
The concession they took on had fallen into disuse
Days here move between two speeds. Mornings and evenings bring game drives across the concession in open vehicles, while walking safaris, led by armed guides, slow the pace to tracks and the smaller life of the bush. Then there is the pan itself, close enough that a full afternoon can pass on the deck without a vehicle, the elephants coming and going through the heat.
Hwange holds one of Africa’s substantial elephant populations, and in the dry season, from roughly May through October, the herds converge on permanent water as the seasonal pans fail elsewhere in the park. Verney’s Pan is one of the reliable sources, which is why the animals gather in front of camp in such numbers. Alongside them come lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyena, buffalo, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest across the plains. Night drives add the species daylight rarely shows: porcupine, aardvark, and, occasionally, pangolin.
This is dry, sandy country, and the camp is built to sit lightly on it. Ten tents rest on low wooden decks at ground level, tucked under the teak canopy and linked to the main areas by sandy paths rather than raised walkways. The style is traditional safari, all canvas and timber, with mosquito nets over the beds and en-suite bathrooms of double basins and hot showers. Two open-sided mess tents hold the lounge and dining areas, a swimming pool is set into the deck, and a fire pit waits for the evenings. The camp runs on solar power, with an on-site system treating waste water before it returns to the ground.
What lingers is the sound: the deep rumble of elephants at the water, hyena at night
The African wild dog gives the concession a second story. The region is a stronghold for the endangered animals, and a half-day excursion visits the nearby Painted Dog Conservation Centre, where guest visits support the ongoing study of the species. The same outing usually takes in Mabale village and a local primary school. Birdlife across the park runs to over 400 species, strongest through the wet summer months, when the migrants arrive and the bush turns green.
Dining tracks the day’s rhythm. Coffee and biscuits come to the tent before the morning drive, then a cooked brunch on return, tea before the evening game drive, and dinner around the fire under the stars. The food is fresh and unfussy, cooked in camp with Zimbabwean ingredients. Two family tents, each with two bedrooms and two bathrooms around a shared lounge, make the camp workable for families, while walking safaris carry a minimum age of sixteen. What lingers is the sound: the deep rumble of elephants at the water, hyena at night, teak crackling in the fire.
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accommodation
Ten canvas tents on low wooden decks at ground level, including eight double or twin tents and two family tents with two bedrooms and two bathrooms around a shared lounge. Each has mosquito-netted beds, an en-suite bathroom with double basins and hot shower, a writing desk, armchairs and a private deck facing the pan.
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activities
Morning and afternoon game drives in open 4x4 vehicles across the private concession, plus night drives and guided walking safaris with armed guides, both possible because the land is held privately within Hwange National Park. Birdwatching, full-day drives with picnic lunches, and half-day visits to a local village, school and the Painted Dog Conservation Centre.
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conservation
Reopening the concession's pans brought elephants and lions back to a previously disused part of the park. The camp supports the Painted Dog Conservation Centre through funded guest visits, and supports a local primary school. The camp runs on solar power with on-site waste-water treatment.
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 from Victoria Falls to Manga airstrip, about forty minutes in a light aircraft, and the camp's vehicle brings you in from there, a game drive of forty-five minutes to an hour across the concession. Hwange has no scheduled airline services, so the flight is a charter we build into the trip, shared or private; for private we typically use a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12. The vehicle transfer between airstrip and camp is included in the stay.
By road, allow three to three and a half hours from Victoria Falls to Hwange Main Camp, then a further transfer through the park. Light aircraft take soft bags only, around twenty kilograms per person including hand luggage.
Usually, yes. Hwange sits below 1,200 metres, and below that line the UK's official travel health advice rates Zimbabwe's malaria risk as high from November to June, with antimalarial tablets normally recommended. From July to October the risk drops and bite avoidance becomes the baseline advice, though the CDC recommends tablets for the whole of Zimbabwe in every season, so plenty of travellers take them regardless.
A travel clinic or your doctor will confirm what suits you and your dates. Whatever you decide, cover up after dark and use repellent; the simple habits do a lot of the work.
Yes. The camp takes children of all ages, which is not a given in Hwange. Under-sixes stay free of charge but need a private vehicle for the game drives, which we arrange when we book, and a reduced child rate applies from six to eleven, when children join the shared activities.
Tell us the ages when we start planning and we will set up the right tents and, where needed, the private vehicle from the outset, and be straight with you about which activities suit each child now and which are worth saving for a return trip.
Almost everything. The rate covers accommodation, all meals, drinks apart from imported and premium labels, laundry, the lodge activities, Hwange park fees, and the vehicle transfers between Manga airstrip or Main Camp and the concession. A conservation and community levy is charged per person per night on top, and we build it into your quote from the start.
The charter flights sit outside the rate, so we price the flying and the stay together as one figure before you commit.
Yes, wifi is provided free of charge. Bear in mind this is a remote corner of a very large park, so treat the connection as a courtesy for messages and photographs rather than an office link.
If being dependably reachable matters while you are away, tell us before you travel and we will advise on what is realistic on your dates.
Two seasons, and they ask for different bags. In the dry winter, roughly May to October, the days are clear and warm but dawn on an open vehicle can sit near freezing from June to August, so bring a warm jacket, a beanie and gloves. October turns fiercely hot, and the green season from November to April brings heat, afternoon storms and a softer, emptier park.
Neutral colours, a wide-brimmed hat and strong sun protection serve year round, with closed shoes for the walking. Pack it all in a soft bag of around twenty kilograms if you are flying in.
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