Under canvas
Camping in Gonarezhou National Park
Camping is not a budget fallback in Gonarezhou, it is the main event. The Gonarezhou Conservation Trust runs 43 bookable spots across five categories, from riverside pitches with hot showers to a bare firepit that is yours alone for a hundred square kilometres of silence.
If you only want the answer
You can camp at three developed camps with ablutions and running water (Chipinda Pools, Chinguli, Mabalauta), at 11 wilderness and 7 exclusive bush sites with a firepit and long-drop only, at 3 transit sites, or on a raised starbed platform. Rates run from $50 to $180 per person per night on the Trust's 2026 rate card. Booking is one email to reservations@gonarezhou.org with your dates, party, vehicles and preferred sites; there is no online portal and wild camping outside your booked site is prohibited.
The five ways to camp
The Trust's rate card (2026, read September 2026) prices camping per person per night on a minimum-charge basis in three tiers: Zimbabwean, SADC and international. Every category is exclusively booked, meaning the site is yours alone once confirmed, and the Trust allocates specific sites when you book.
| Category | Sites | Rate pppn (Local / SADC / Intl) | What is actually there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developed campsites | 19 pitches at 3 camps | $55 / $66 / $104 | Thatched rondavel, braai area, shared ablution block, running water |
| Starbed platforms | 3 platforms | $60 / $80 / $120 | 3 by 6 m raised deck, firepit, long-drop loo |
| Wilderness campsites | 11 sites | $63 / $80 / $120 | Firepit and long-drop loo, nothing else |
| Exclusive campsites | 7 sites | $95 / $120 / $180 | Firepit and long-drop loo in the park's prime corners |
| Transit campsites | 3 sites | $50 / $60 / $100 | Firepit and long-drop loo, maximum two nights |
Group and vehicle limits from the Trust's camping page, September 2026: developed sites and platforms take up to 6 adults and 2 vehicles, wilderness sites 4 to 12 adults and 4 vehicles, exclusive sites 6 to 12 adults and 4 vehicles, transit sites 3 to 12 adults and 5 vehicles. It is not published whether the camping minimum charge includes the daily conservation fee, so confirm the total when you book.
How to book, step by step
There is no booking website, no calendar and no pay button, and there is not going to be one. Everything runs through the Trust's reservations office, and it works fine once you know the steps.
- 1. Pick your category from the table above and two or three preferred sites from the lists below, in order. The Trust allocates specific sites, so preferences help.
- 2. Email reservations@gonarezhou.org, or phone or WhatsApp +263 779 788 811. For the serviced Chilojo and Mahove bush camps, email gbc@gonarezhou.org instead. Copy the template below.
- 3. The office replies with availability, your allocated site and the total, including whether the daily conservation fee is inside that total or on top. Ask that question explicitly; it is the one thing their paperwork does not standardise.
- 4. Confirm, and follow their payment instructions. Nothing about gate payment methods is published anywhere, so carry the full amount in US dollars cash, small notes, even if you have paid a deposit.
- 5. Bring the confirmation email, printed or saved offline. Signal dies before the gate, and the gate wants to see it.
Book months ahead for April to October, especially the exclusive sites; for the green months you can decide late. Day visits need no booking at all.
The email, ready to copy
This is everything the reservations office needs in one message, which saves you a round-trip of questions:
“Hello, I would like to book camping in Gonarezhou. Dates: [arrival] to [departure], [x] nights. Party: [x] adults, [x] children with ages. Vehicles: [x], [type, e.g. Hilux with rooftop tent]. Preferred sites, in order: [1st], [2nd], [3rd]. Nationality/residency for the rate tier: [Zimbabwean / SADC / international]. Please confirm the total including the daily conservation fee, and how you would like it paid.”
Two useful additions if they apply to you: whether you want firewood reserved at the gate, and which routes you plan to drive, so they can flag a crossing that is not passable for your dates.
The developed camps: Chipinda Pools, Chinguli, Mabalauta
These are the comfortable end of Gonarezhou camping and where most first visits should start. Chipinda Pools has nine pitches on the Runde River ten minutes inside the main northern gate, Chinguli has five further along the Runde, and Mabalauta has five on the Mwenezi in the quiet far south, with good tree shade. Each pitch has a thatched rondavel and braai area, and the camps share ablution blocks with running water.
Be precise about the water: the taps run on unfiltered borehole or river supply, so it is washing water, not drinking water. The Trust's May 2026 park map notes treated water at Mabalauta (and at Swimuwini rest camp nearby), and borehole water at Chipinda Pools; everywhere else, carry in every litre you plan to drink. All three camps are unfenced, elephants and hyenas move through at night, and food left out becomes a baboon problem the rules explicitly warn about.
The bush sites, by name
The Trust's May 2026 official map names every bush site, which no aggregator we checked bothers to do. The seven exclusive sites cluster around the Runde and the Chilojo Cliffs: Directors, Hlaro, Chilojo 1, Chilojo 2, Chitove, Machaniwa and Chamuluvati. The eleven wilderness sites split between the northern Runde circuit, Chivilila, Runde Gorge, Fishans, Bopomela, Lisoda, Pokwe and Gayiseni, and the southern Mwenezi section, Gorwe, Nyavasikana, Malilangani and Rossi Pools. The three transit sites, Mutamagwenzi, Tondo and Guluweni, sit on the through-routes for crossing this very large park, capped at two nights each.
All of them offer the same honest inventory: a firepit and a long-drop loo. No water, no power, no attendant. You carry everything in, including drinking water and firewood, and the strict carry-in, carry-out policy means everything except ash leaves with you. Access to several sites is true 4x4 country, so tell the Trust what vehicle you drive when you book and ask which causeways are currently crossable, as their own pre-departure checklist instructs.
Starbed platforms: the one-night special
The platforms are 3 by 6 metre raised wooden decks above water, with a firepit and long-drop below, where you sleep in the open while the pan underneath does its nocturnal business. Bhenji Weir is thatched, and Malugwe is uncovered, built three metres up an ancient leadwood tree. Rates are $60, $80 or $120 per person per night on the 2026 card.
One discrepancy worth knowing before you book: the Trust's camping page lists Gorwe as a third platform, while the Trust's own May 2026 map lists Gorwe among the wilderness campsites and publishes platform coordinates only for Bhenji Weir and Malugwe. Ask reservations which product you are actually getting at Gorwe, a deck or a ground site.
The rules that catch people
Breaches are treated as offences under the Parks and Wildlife Act, and the Trust's rules document states plainly that ignorance of the rules is not a mitigating factor. Speed limits are 40 km/h on primary roads and 30 km/h on secondary roads, which is also roughly what the surfaces allow.
- No wild camping. You may not enter, let alone camp at, any site you have not booked; camping happens at your allocated site and nowhere else.
- Gate hours are seasonal: 06:30 to 17:30 from April to October, 06:00 to 18:30 from November to March (official map, May 2026). Arrive with daylight to spare.
- A camp curfew applies on top of gate hours: be in camp from 18:30 to 06:00 in October to April, and 18:00 to 06:00 in May to September. No night driving, ever.
- Do not collect firewood, not even dead wood; dry logs are protected as seed traps and habitat. Firewood is sold at the entrance gates, so stock up as you enter.
- No off-road driving under any circumstances. The published penalty is impoundment of your vehicle plus a release fee.
- Carry in, carry out: all rubbish leaves the park with you.
- Walking is prohibited outside the bounds of your campsite, picnic sites and viewpoints.
- No spotlights for night wildlife viewing, no drones anywhere, and fishing only under permit at your own overnight campsite.
- Lock all food away, out of sight; the Trust names baboons as a serious problem at some camps.
Which site suits you
First time in the park, or first time camping in big-game country: take a developed pitch at Chipinda Pools. You get ablutions, running water, a rondavel for shade, other campers within shouting distance and the main gate ten minutes away, with Chiredzi's shops and fuel about an hour beyond that. Chinguli is the step up in solitude on the same river; Mabalauta suits a second visit or anyone drawn to the quieter south.
Fully equipped and self-sufficient, with a real 4x4, recovery gear, water for the whole trip and a two-day reserve: the wilderness sites are the reason to come, and Fishans and Runde Gorge put you in the classic Runde scenery. A group of six or more that wants the cliffs to itself should look at the exclusive cluster around Chilojo. Use the transit sites for what they are, honest overnight stops on the long crossing between north and south. And whatever your setup, one night on a starbed platform is the cheap upgrade that people remember longest.