BOMANI TENTED LODGE – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK

Bomani Tented Lodge is located in the Ngamo forest Area within a 5000 acre private reserve and just a 5 minute drive from a private gate into Hwange National Park. The lodge has a good choice of rooms from tents raised on teak platforms overlooking the vlei to ground level tents in front of the lodge waterhole and a thatched bungalow.

The main lodge overlooks Bomani Pan and has an open dining room, bar area and lounge, built on a spectacular viewing platform. You can enjoy your breakfast whilst watching zebra and wildebeest quietly graze or sip a sun downer as giraffe and elephant soak up the day’s final rays.

Activities include safaris walks or drives in the park where you will see a huge amount of different wildlife in a truly wild and remote region of the park.

LOCATION

Bomani Tented Lodge is located in the south eastern corner of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Access is via a 1 hour light aircraft flight or 4 hour road transfer from Victoria Falls or Bulawayo. You can also do a 2 hour road transfer from Victoria Falls to Dete and then a 2.5 hour rail car transfer from Dete Station.

CAMP

The lodge has 11 tents and one thatched bungalow:

There are 5 Saddlebill Tents with views across the Ngamo Plain to Bomani Pan, raised teak deck, twin double beds, standing fan, ensuite shower, toilet and basin and 4 Spurwing Tents overlooking the lodge watering hole, with comfortable beds, overhead fans, ensuite shower, toilet, basin, lounge and a veranda ideal for private dining.

The Sable Family Suite is built amongst a grove of Camelthorn trees and slightly away from the rest of the lodge to give it some privacy. The family suite has splendid views across the Ngamo Plains with regular wildlife sightings as animals move in to drink from the nearby Bomani Pan. The suite has 2 large bedrooms both with ensuite bathrooms which have luxurious baths and delightful outdoor showers. The suite has a large open plan lounge and dining room to enjoy optional private dining.

The Thatched Bungalow is a brick under thatch chalet which is elegantly furnished and luxurious with a private ensuite bathroom, hot running water and electricity by generator. The private veranda provides close-up view of the water hole and this lodge is the closest of all the lodgings to the main lodge area.

The main lodge is an open fronted thatch building with teak viewing deck overlooking the lodge waterhole. There is a lounge, dining room and bar with overhead fans and free WIFI and cell phone reception in the main area. A splash pool is set in raised wooden decking overlooking the lodge waterhole.

ACTIVITIES AND WILDLIFE

Hwange National Park is the largest National Park in Zimbabwe and was granted Game Reserve status in 1928 and proclaimed a National Park in 1961.

Hwange has an incredible diversity of wildlife and boasts more varieties of mammal and bird species than any other Zimbabwean National Park. There are over 100 species of mammals, including 19 large herbivores such as buffalo, eland, sable and wildebeest and over 400 bird species. The area is particularly famous for its population of elephant – some 44,000 strong based on the latest aerial survey – and combined with the elephants of northern Botswana this is the world’s largest contiguous elephant population.

The southern two thirds of the park are ecologically defined by deep Kalahari sands which support impressive forests of Zambezi teak and other hardwoods. Scattered within these woodlands are ancient fossil lakebeds and drainage lines which are now large savannah grasslands fringed with acacia and leadwood trees.

Bomani and Camelthorn are located close to Ngamo – this mix of open grasslands and woodlands provides the perfect mosaic of habitats for the full spectrum of both grazing and browsing herbivores resident in Hwange and the carnivores that prey on them – lion, leopard, painted dog and both species of hyena – spotted and the seldom seen brown. This abundance of wildlife set in both woodlands and open grasslands provides some of the best year-round game viewing to be found anywhere in Zimbabwe.

During the wet season months from December through March the ancient lake systems still fill with water and the open grasslands are flooded, attracting migratory birds from all over Eurasia and Africa. Over 300 species have been recorded in the Bomani and Camelthorn area, both migrants and residents.

In the far south of the Park is the Dzivanini wilderness area with only one concession, where Jozibanini Camp is located. Remote and very wild, Jozi is for the more adventurous who wish to see the wildlife there and explore the fossil sand dunes and ancient elephant trails between them.

Northern Hwange is distinctly different from the south, drained by the Lukosi and Deka Sand Rivers and dominated by mopane woodlands, hills and kopjes. Set firmly astride the southern and western Kalahari Sand and northern mopane woodlands ecotone is Nehimba Lodge. A fascinating feature of the north west are the natural seeps such as Nehimba and Shakwanki where elephant and other animals still dig for water.

The grasslands of the Shumba area add further diversity and the dams such as Masumo and Mandavu make for wonderful day trips and picnic lunches. Another fascinating all day game drive trip in northern Hwange is to visit some of the interesting ancient archaeological sites at places such as Bumbuzi and the Mtoa Ruins, important to the history of Chief Hwange and the Nambya people resident north of the Park.