Mananga Camps (Masasani & Mathuli)
Self-catering camps built with local techniques · Masasani near the Chipinda Pools gate; Mathuli on the Mwenezi River · Gonarezhou Conservation Trust
Mid-range
Inside the park
Park-run (Gonarezhou Conservation Trust)
The Trust's mid-tier answer for groups: a whole four-bedroom camp with a campfire, an attendant to keep things running, and a proper kitchen you cater yourself. Masasani puts you near the northern gate, Mathuli deep in the quieter Mwenezi south.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Built with local materials and techniques
- Hot bush showers and a 210-litre fridge and freezer
- Whole four-bedroom camp booked exclusively for your group
- Each bedroom sleeps up to two adults and two children
- One camp near the northern gate, one on the quiet Mwenezi
Cons
- Minimum four people, so solo travellers pay for unused beds
- No published open or closed season; confirm dates when booking
- Untreated borehole water and only central-area charging, no fans
- Mathuli needs a long road transfer from Buffalo Range
What's here
- Campsite
- Self-catering
Read from Mananga Camps (Masasani & Mathuli)'s own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Gonarezhou National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entryThe rate for guests staying in a park camp.
- $15per person, per day
- VehicleRoughly $5 to $10 a day depending on the vehicle.
- $8per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $114 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
Sleeping inside the boundary is what keeps that low. $15 if you sleep in a park camp, against $25 a day for anyone driving in from outside.
The full fee schedule for Gonarezhou National ParkRates at Mananga Camps (Masasani & Mathuli)
From $220 per camp (Local). Local $220, SADC $260, International $300 per night for the whole camp, covering four people; extra guests pay a per-person supplement. Each camp has four en-suite bedrooms around a central kitchen, dining area and boma.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates are the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust's own published figures and operators' rate cards, gathered July 2026, quoted Local / SADC / International where the Trust publishes all three tiers. Accommodation rates generally exclude the daily conservation fee; confirm the total with the Trust when you book. Two names you may still find elsewhere, Mahenye Lodge and Senuko, could not be verified as currently operating: their websites no longer resolve and neither appears on any current operator list.
Questions about Mananga Camps (Masasani & Mathuli)
Is Mananga good for families?
Yes, each of the four en-suite bedroom units sleeps up to two adults and two children, and the Trust charges children on a stretcher bed per person. We found no published minimum age on the self-catering page, so confirm ages and any activity limits when you book the whole camp.
What does the rate at Mananga Camps include?
The nightly rate of $220 to $300, Local to International, is a minimum charge for the whole four-bedroom camp and covers four people. It includes cutlery, crockery, linen, towels, a central kitchen and boma, and a camp attendant. You cook your own food; it is self-catering, not full board.
Can you self-drive to Mananga Camps?
Masasani sits near the Chipinda Pools gate, so it works as a self-drive base reached from the park's northern entrance; its airstrip is also Chipinda Pools. Mathuli, the southern camp on the Mwenezi, is reached by road transfer from Buffalo Range. Confirm which camp and route with reservations@gonarezhou.org.
When are Mananga Camps open?
The Gonarezhou Conservation Trust does not publish fixed open months for Masasani or Mathuli, so confirm dates directly when you book. The wider park closes to visitors from 10 January to 1 March, which is a reasonable guide to when self-catering camps are also unavailable.
How do you book Mananga Camps?
Book with the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust at reservations@gonarezhou.org. The whole camp, Masasani or Mathuli, is let as one unit for a minimum of four people, with up to four vehicles, so groups smaller than four still pay the four-person minimum charge.