Zimbabwe: Gonarezhou National Park reopens at the end of February 2021!

update (26 February 2021): Gonarezhou National Park will be open from 01 March 2021!

Gonarezhou National Park in south-eastern Zimbabwe is closed since 10 January 2021 and is set to reopen the end of February 2021. During the temporary closure, the National Park's infrastructure team addresses maintenance issues in the camps. The short closure of Gonarezhou National Park to tourism also allows the roads a rest over traditionally the wettest months of the year in Zimbabwe.
The camps in Gonarezhou National Park (Mananga Camps, Chinguli and Chilojo Bushcamp) all closed at the end of November 2020 as usual and are scheduled to reopen again at the start of April 2021.
Gonarezhou National Park is located in the South-East Lowveld in the Masvingo Province, south of Chimanimani along the border with Mozambique. It covers an area of just more than 5 000 km² and is home to 400 species of birds, 89 species of mammals, 61 species of small mammals and insectivores as weel as to 50 species of fish. Zimbabwe's second largest National Park after Hwange National Park forms part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links it with Kruger National Park in South Africa and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

Mozambique: Peace Parks Foundation to develop Zinave National Park!

The Peace Parks Foundation and the Mozambican Minister of Land, Environmental  and Rural Development, Mr Celso Correia, have signed a co-management agreement in order to develop Zinave National Park in Mozambique over the next five years. Zinave National Park will be developed as an integral component of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA), the larger area surrounding the core transfrontier park.

The main developments in Zinave National Park will be:

• Establishing a project implementation unit
• Developing an extensive livelihood improvement strategy for the surrounding communities
• Appointing community liaison officers to oversee the development of the conservancies between the three National Parks (Limpopo National Park, Banhine National Park, Zinave National Park) in Mozambique
• Re-stocking the park with wildlife
• Employing and training additional field rangers, providing them with the necessary equipment, building additional ranger accommodation, purchasing vehicles to deploy staff and covering operational costs for rations, fuel and equipment
• Establishing an efficient anti-poaching unit
• Fencing and key infrastructure upgrades
• Preparing and implementing a biodiversity economy strategy for Zinave National Park and the community conservancies that will provide ecotourism and wildlife opportunities

Zinave National Park, situated in the district of Mambone near the Save river in Mozambique's province Inhambane, created by decree on 26 June 1973 and currently covers 4,000km². The Park has very diverse tree species, inlcuding the Acacia nigrescens-dominated plant community, as well as dry Terminalia woodland in a scenic landscape. It boasts massive trees and has a very high carrying capacity for wildlife.

Peace Parks Foundation: The Limpopo National Park communities (video)

The Peace Parks Foundation just released a video about their involvement in the developments taking place in and around the one million hectare Limpopo National Park in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. When the park was proclaimed in 2001, Mozambique requested Peace Parks Foundation's assistance in overseeing its development. Owing to human/wildlife conflict, a voluntary resettlement programme is relocating communities living in the centre of the park, while those in the park's support zone are being assisted with improving their livelihoods.



The Peace Parks Foundation was founded as a not-for-profit organisation on 01 Feb 1997 by Dr Anton Rupert, HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and former South African president Dr Nelson Mandela. The mission of the Peace Parks Foundation is to facilitate the establishment of transfrontier conservation areas (peace parks) and develope human resources, thereby supporting sustainable economic development, the conservation of biodiversity and regional peace and stability.