Similar to the best red wine and cheese, Hwange has only gotten better with age. Designated a national park in 1928, it’s one of the oldest on the continent and the largest in Zim at 14,650 square kilometres, most of which is deep Kalahari sand dotted with patches of mopane woodland. Doesn’t sound particularly safari-like? Well it wouldn’t be were it not for the network of watery pans, artificially pumped in the dry season, and the life source for over 100 mammal species. Elephants are the stars of the show here however, and the enormous pachyderms plod majestically over the plains and through the pretty camps to get to their drinking holes (and sometimes the camp swimming pool!)