Imvelo Safari Lodges

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Imvelo Safari Lodges

Connecting people and nature through unique experiences in Hwange 🐘🇿🇼. If you’ve never been to Zimbabwe before, you’re in for a treat.

Bomani Tented Lodge | Camelthorn Lodge | Nehimba Lodge | Jozibanini Camp | Tum Tum Treehouse Lodge After all, it’s one of the most beautiful, enigmatic, diverse and friendly countries in Africa. At Imvelo, we aren’t just about luxury lodges and there’s more to us than spectacular photographic safaris - we believe in enriching the lives of those who live around us as well as our guests. We are dete

rmined to ensure that it’s the local people and wildlife that directly benefit from our visitors. We offer our guests an honest eco tourism experience. Many of our lodges are built on land that belongs to local village communities. This enables us to develop from the grassroots up and employ from the surrounding areas. We now employ over 100 local people on a permanent or semi-regular basis. We work closely with village leaders, distributing resources to where they are needed most. We encourage them to link benefits from tourism to wildlife conservation. Our aim is to empower indigenous populations and teach them self-sustaining methods of survival. Our lodges are part of Zimbabwe’s CAMPFIRE initiative. This natural resource management project looks at local community involvement in tourism and wildlife conservation. CAMPFIRE is the acronym for Communal Area Management Program for Indigenous Resources. The philosophy underlying the project is quite a simple one: the people living within the natural resources are best placed to manage them. And for doing so, they should benefit directly. To learn more about our Hwange properties and our experiential safari circuit or our extensive conservation and community initiatives visit our website www.imvelosafarilodges.com or www.imvelosafarilodges.com/hwange-needs-you.html

22/03/2026

Happy World Water Day!

Whilst this past rainy season has been much more intense than usual, the Hwange bush looking as green and lush as ever, water is still top of our agenda. As with every year, the rains come to an end and the dry season progresses and seasonal pans created by the rainy season dry out. Given the area's limited surface water, these dry months can be very difficult for both people and wildlife.

We pump water...
• For domestic use
• For livestock
• For irrigation
• For wildlife

Providing improved water access allows more time for other activities, including attending school (for younger girls who help their mothers fetch water) and growing food.

Despite having drilled over 90 wells in villages and repairing over 60 existing wells annually, ...and despite pumping over 800 million of litres of water for wildlife across 26 wildlife pumps every year...water remains a priority.

Thank you to all of you who support our pumping water efforts - here's to celebrating water and the life it brings.

See how our work pumping water is linked to the Community Rhino Initiative here: https://www.hwangecommunityrhino.com/waterforpeople

Visit Hwange during the green season, to see how rainfall transforms the area. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1524863755223250

14/03/2026

“For those contemplating a Green Season safari, rest assured that the sightings will still be incredible. We recently spent two weeks in Hwange with and had a brilliant time. Elephant, giraffe, hippo, zebra, wildebeest, roan, sable, kudu, impala, steenbok, duiker, warthog, lion, jackal, and an exceptionally rare sighting of Gemsbok! Plus over 150 bird species.”

16/02/2026

Dwarf Bittern paradise!

Hwange is receiving record rainfall this green season. The water has flooded large portions of the grasslands of southern Hwange with shallow sheets of water, which in turn has created an eruption of amphibians breeding frantically to take advantage of conditions ideal for them. Literally, millions of tadpoles. For the intra-African migrants that follow these weather events, they have a food windfall.

Meet our littlest heron - the Dwarf Bittern (25–30 cm). Currently visiting us in large numbers, paired off and nesting in thorny, dense young leadwoods surrounded by water, their nests protected from predators and surrounded by a bounty of young amphibians. They often target drying puddles, where tadpoles become concentrated. But are also perfectly at home stalking the flooded grasslands for tadpoles and small frogs, and also opportunistically take on arthropods like dragon flies .

06/02/2026

Tuso has always had a deep love for nature and he spends much of his free time reading nature books to expand his knowledge of plants and animal behaviour. His favourite animals are elephants — especially the playful baby ones! He also loves the annual Smile and See safari and is an integral part of our optometry team, along with some of Imvelo's other guides. When he’s not out in the bush, he enjoys listening to music by artists like Alan Walker, a Norwegian singer, and watching comedy movies. He can also hold a conversation in six different languages!

His guiding for Imvelo Safari Lodges started at Nehimba Lodge, in the north-central region of Hwange National Park, where he was based for three years. Subsequently, he moved southwards to guide at Bomani Tented Lodge on the Ngamo plains. For Tuso, the best part of his job is meeting new people and spending his days immersed in the wild.

conservation

27/01/2026

Can’t stop, won’t stop 💪🦏

📸 Insta360 X5

3d

took this video at Imvelo's Camelthorn Lodge , deep in Hwange National Park 🇿🇼. When you think your camera’s safe… and then Thuza the rhino shows up 🦏😂

Set up my nice and steady — seconds later: tripod down, camera still rolling, and Thuza giving it the ultimate taste test.

Verdict: officially 💪😄
Thanks for sharing Insta360!

26/01/2026

Following on from our Green Season post earlier this week, we wanted to share with you the splendour of a particular bird species, the Southern carmine bee-eater. This gorgeous avian gem floods to the feeding grounds on the Ngamo Plains in Hwange in December/January each year. The flocks usually have a high percentage of juveniles, and we surmise that this is because they have dispersed from nesting grounds along the mighty Zambezi River to the north.

This species typically nests in burrows they dig in sandy vertical riverbanks along rivers such as the Zambezi, Kavango and Luangwa. However, in certain areas such as the Okavango they have been recorded as nesting on sandy flats by digging burrows at an angle downwards. Though digging by them has been seen on the Ngamo plains of Hwange, we've always hoped we might find our birds actually nesting here one day! Fingers crossed for 2026.

(Please enjoy these photos taken recently by us of this dazzling bee-eater!")

21/01/2026

Our year has started in the most wonderful manner, lots and lots of rain.

We wish all the very best for our conservation and tourism colleagues in Kruger who have been devastated by floods, thankfully in Hwange we have been fortunate, lots of rain but not too much.

When asked about our favorite place and time of year our answer is always the Ngamo plains in the green season. Of course, people ask why. Try and picture just a few of these scenes … Green season is baby season. Picture baby wildebeest learning to use their new legs gambolling across green plains dotted with yellow, and then Zebra foals and gawky Giraffe babies.

And Green season is the season of plenty. Picture our Rhino and other grazers enjoying huge lakes of rain water splashing through to the sweeter greener grass on the other side. And Green season is prolific. The nights are filled with the chorus of frogs and then the explosion of amphibians their spawn and tadpoles creates a feeding bonanza that drives even the carrion eating Marabous to tadpoles and frogs legs.

And of course, Green season is a time of great abundance. Imagine Hwange’s countless termite colonies erupting winged alates in the evenings and then add in birds from all over Asia and Africa descending onto the plains to gorge. Picture the great beauty of an image with flocks of gorgeous Carmines feasting alongside our Black backed Jackals.

And oh my gosh the sunsets. In the dry season a cherry red orb sinking across a golden sky. But in the green add in clouds and a spectrum of hues and then scatter a huge flock of storks across that sky. Every photo you take is a screen saver.

But don’t just take our word for it plan a green season safari with Imvelo you’ll not be disappointed.

Photo credits - Mark Butcher, Charlene and Mia Honiball.

30/12/2025

Recruits become scouts!

On 4 December 2025, 21 male recruits officially became Cobra scouts while 3 women became Cheetah scouts! Their "pass out" (or graduation) was celebrated in front of the Ward Councillors, members of the local Zimbabwe Republic Police, traditional chiefs and elders as well as friends and family from the local communities...and even our Smile and See volunteer team was there as spectators! The recruits did a drill display, received their certificates and five of them were recognised for their extra efforts and dedication. The audience got to enjoy a show from our canine team before a local football match took over the field.

These pass outs are very important events, marking the transition from recruit to scout, and the responsibility that comes with this. It's an opportunity for our scouts to share what they do and why, and develop a sense of pride in their work and what they represent, in front of their communities and peers. The Cobras and Cheetahs are the backbone of the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative - their physical and emotional commitment to the Initiative is what allows us to be ambitious and keep expanding our reach and impact.

Amhlope to our new scouts! We look forward to seeing how they grow as scouts.

24/12/2025

SMILE AND SEE AND THE CENTENARIANS
Every year after our Smile and See, we reflect on the experiences that rolled out over a very busy ten days. This year was no different. Hundreds of them. But one sticks, with me anyway.

Over the 49,000+ patients treated in previous years, I only remember one centenarian. In 2021 W***y Bafana came in for both teeth and eyes and he got pair of new shoes for Christmas as well as I recollect, he was 104. The scarcity is probably a testament to the hard living in our rural villages but that’s what makes anybody who does prevail and survives for over a hundred years so very special, it’s hard to imagine their courage, their resilience, their character. But clearly exceptional individuals.

That is why the three (yes three) centenarians who came into our mobile tented multi department hospitals this year had us not only in awe, but feeling awfully proud and privileged for the opportunity to treat these incredible humans, to heal them and make their lives easier.

The first to arrive was Samuel Nyoni at a round 100 years old, sporting a baseball cap advertising a local bread outlet, square jaw thrust forward, emanating determination and the kind of character it takes to stay in there for 100 years. Watery eyes he told us he was in great pain from teeth, Ezio diagnosed 5 teeth needing extraction. Immediately a combined Cobra Cheetah Es**rt Ndegs and Nodumo helped him carefully and respectfully from Department to Department. Anaesthesia, Surgical, Pharmacy, Optometry, Reason’s Restaurant and then back onto his bus. Happy days.

But whilst he was being treated another radio call from Carlotta “ … Come to Diagnosis another patient over 100 years old … “. And there we met her, Rosimer Ncube 105 years old. Sprightly, bright eyed and proudly walking purposefully with her stick, I would have guessed her 20 years younger. Maria on anaesthetics and then Alberto on dental care and then off to optometry for spectacles. I couldn’t help reflecting on the spelling of her name, back in 1920 her parents would have registered her birth and I’m guessing Rosemary was a big spelling leap for the registry clerk in the District Commissioners office.

And then 2 days later that radio call again …. Sakhi Ndhlovu 104 years old from Gombalume village escorted by one of her middle-aged granddaughters. Her face wore every one of those 104 years, I wished I’d been more forceful in getting a portrait. Only 2 extractions, carefully and caringly done by Tuki and then off for spectacles.

Every one of us hopes fervently that they can now eat easier and see a little better and that we see them again next year well and flourishing.

You know what, I don’t need another Christmas present, the opportunity to provide care for those three was mine. Best wishes from Imvelo to Samuel, Rosimer and Sakhi!

23/12/2025

SMILE AND SEE AND THE CHEETAH

Our annual Smile and See medical outreach brings together a large team of both local and overseas medical practitioners in support of our Ministry of Health to treats thousands of villagers in the remote areas around Hwange NP. In return Imvelo Safari Lodges accommodates them in our lodges and on their afternoons off we try and spoil them as our way of saying thank you.

And what better way to say thank you than to conduct them on game drives across the Ngamo plains. For years Smile and See participants have enjoyed the Cheetahs of Ngamo, the dynasty of Queenie the original matriarch.

Partly its due to timing. We run the Smile and See safari at our year end, that coincides with the start of the rains … oh and by the way, that’s also the start of the impala lambing season.

This year was no different. Our Spanish and Italian doctors arrived Bomani airstrip courtesy of Mackair mid afternoon and by sunset on day 1 our two male cheetah coalition, the ones we call the Chiz Boys, were putting on a welcome show for our just arrived heroes that made us all proud.

Prowling and posing elegantly, grooming each other, marking their postbox trees and even climbing them too! What a great way to start!

16/12/2025

Dental hygiene for children

A key return on investment for Smile and See is partnering with schools in proximity to our mobile clinics to provide Flourination treatments for children. Teachers are instrumental in securing parental permission and escorting their classrooms to clinic. During treatment the children are lectured on the importance of dental hygiene and each is issued a toothbrush. Did you know that rural children who do not have access to toothbrushes often use the branch from what is commonly known as a toothbrush tree for brushing? The Cobras and Cheetahs, part of the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative, are truly the stars when it comes to capturing the attention of the kids. Once the hygiene lesson ends, they share stories of anti-poaching and wildlife protection initiatives to a very excited young audience. If a Cobra or a Cheetah tells you to brush your teeth, you brush your teeth! Our dental professionals have been able to track a noticeable improvement in the teeth of children in communities where Smile and See has provided this Flourination programme.

Address

68 Townsend Road, Suburbs
Bulawayo

Telephone

+263292232331

Website

http://www.imvelosafarilodges.com/

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