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You can see all of the Big Five in Zimbabwe, but rarely in a single national park. Hwange, Mana Pools and Zambezi National Park have elephant, buffalo, lion and leopard, but no rhino on public view. For all five in one place, go to Gonarezhou or the private Save Valley Conservancy and Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve in the south-east lowveld. Matobo, near Bulawayo, is the best-known place to track rhino on foot. The best months for all five are the dry season, from about June to October. Written by Bryan Fawcett.
Last reviewed: 25 October 2026 against the ZimParks park pages, ZimParks’ National Elephant Management Plan, the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust, the Save Valley Conservancy, the International Rhino Foundation and the Lion Recovery Fund, plus the reviewed park guides on this site. Wildlife moves and sightings are never guaranteed. Ask your lodge or guide what has been seen recently.

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Big Five by park

This table shows which of the Big Five each park or reserve lists. “Yes” means the park’s managers list the species. It doesn’t mean you will see it on every visit.
ZimParks says Hwange and Zambezi National Park have four of the Big Five, Mana Pools has the “big four” (lion, elephant, buffalo and leopard), and Gonarezhou has all five. Matobo has no elephant or lion in its main tourist areas, which is why walking there is popular.

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Where and when to see each species

Months are a guide. Zimbabwe’s dry season runs from about May to October and the rains from November to April. See our best time for a safari guide for each park month by month.

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Elephant

Zimbabwe has Africa’s second-largest elephant population after Botswana. The 2014 national survey, used in ZimParks’ National Elephant Management Plan 2021–2025, estimated about 82,000 elephants.
  • Hwange: about 45,800 elephants in the 2014 survey, the largest population in the country. In the late dry season, herds queue at the pumped waterholes.
  • Gonarezhou: the name means “place of elephants”. The Gonarezhou Conservation Trust counts more than 11,500.
  • Mana Pools: known for bulls that stand on their hind legs to reach high branches.
  • Matusadona: elephants come down to the Lake Kariba shoreline in the dry season, so you can watch them from a boat.

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Buffalo

Buffalo live in all the big parks of the Zambezi Valley, the north-west and the south-east lowveld. In the dry season, herds come to permanent water: the Zambezi floodplain at Mana Pools, the shoreline grassland of Matusadona, the waterholes of Hwange and the rivers of Gonarezhou. Lone old bulls often stay close to camps. Give them space, because they can be dangerous on foot.

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Lion

  • Hwange: lions are seen around the waterholes, especially in the late dry season.
  • Mana Pools: ZimParks lists lion among the park’s “big four”. Walking with a licensed guide is one of the park’s draws.
  • Gonarezhou: the Lion Recovery Fund, run by the Wildlife Conservation Network, says Gonarezhou’s lions are rebounding after years of heavy decline.
  • Save Valley Conservancy: the conservancy describes “a rapidly growing population of African lions”.
Lions also live in Matusadona, Zambezi National Park, Malilangwe and the remote Chizarira, though sightings there take more patience.

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Leopard

Leopards live in almost every park in Zimbabwe, but they are shy and mostly active at night, so no park can promise one.
  • Matobo: ZimParks says the park has the world’s densest leopard population, living among the granite kopjes. Rock hyrax (dassies) make up about half of their diet.
  • Mana Pools and Hwange: both list leopard. Look in the riverine woodland at Mana Pools and around Hwange’s waterholes at dawn and dusk.
  • Private reserves and concessions: lodges in private concessions can usually offer night drives, which give you a better chance. The Save Valley Conservancy lists night drives among its lodges’ activities.

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Rhino

Zimbabwe is a rhino success story, and rhino are also the hardest of the Big Five to see. The International Rhino Foundation puts the national population at over 1,200, about 720 black and 500 white rhino, after a 2024 workshop with ZimParks and the Lowveld Rhino Trust. They live in 15 separate areas. Zimbabwe lost more than 300 rhino to poaching in the past decade, yet the population has still grown by close to 5% a year.

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Where you can see rhino

  • Matobo National Park: ZimParks says Matobo has black and white rhino, and is one of three Intensive Rhino Protection Zones in the parks estate. Guided rhino tracking on foot with a licensed guide or ranger is Matobo’s signature activity, and it’s an easy trip from Bulawayo.
  • Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve: 28 black and 15 white rhino were reintroduced in 1998. The Malilangwe Trust says its rhino population has grown about ten-fold since 1994. You stay at a private lodge, which runs the activities.
  • Save Valley Conservancy: the conservancy says it has one of Africa’s largest populations of black and white rhino. It lists rhino tracking on foot with licensed guides among its lodges’ activities.
  • Gonarezhou: 29 black rhino were moved into the park in 2021 from Bubye Valley, Malilangwe and Save Valley, after rhino had been poached out of it in the 1990s. Rhino viewing is not a published activity. Treat a sighting as a bonus.
  • Matusadona: a founder group of black rhino was flown in on 3 June 2026 and is being released into a 175 km² Intensive Protection Zone. Sightings are not guaranteed while the animals settle.

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Why rhino locations are kept vague

Rhino horn is still worth a lot of money to poachers. That is why parks and conservancies don’t publish exact rhino locations, why some translocations are announced without saying where the animals came from, and why your guide may not tell you exactly where you are. We follow the same rule on this site: we only name the parks and reserves that have said publicly that they hold rhino. When you see a rhino:
  • Turn off location tagging on your phone and camera before you post photos.
  • Don’t post in real time, and don’t name waterholes, roads or landmarks in captions.
  • Follow your guide’s instructions on how close to go and when to stay quiet.
Rhino tracking fees help pay for the rangers who protect the animals. See conservation efforts.

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Planning a Big Five trip

  • For all five in one stay: a private lodge in Save Valley or Malilangwe, or a trip to Gonarezhou. Combine the south-east with Great Zimbabwe.
  • For a classic route: Hwange for elephant, buffalo, lion and leopard, then Matobo for rhino on foot. Bulawayo links the two.
  • For the Zambezi Valley: Mana Pools and Matusadona cover four of the five, with walking, canoeing and boat safaris.
  • Ask about park fees. Lodges often include them. See park fees 2026.

Best time for a safari

Park by park and month by month.

Painted dogs

Where to see Zimbabwe’s African wild dogs.

National parks and reserves

Compare Zimbabwe’s parks by size, wildlife and access.

Safari planning

Choosing a park, a season and a safari style.

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Sources

Last modified on October 25, 2026