Zinave sits in the Mozambican half of the Great Limpopo transfrontier conservation area, and after decades of war and uncontrolled poaching it is being put back together by ANAC and the Peace Parks Foundation. It is the least visited of Mozambique's parks and, for anyone who likes a road trip as much as the animals at the end of it, the most rewarding.
I drove up in April 2019 and wrote this on the way back. What follows is what I found.
Getting there is most of the trip
Leave the EN1 at Mapinhane, about 50 km south of Vilankulos. From there it is 210 km to the park gate, five hours if the road is behaving and a little more if you are sensible about it.
Fill up in Mapinhane. Fuel stations off the EN1 are scarce and unreliable, and you do not want to find that out at Mabote.
The first 120 km, to Mabote, are the easy part. The last 90 km are narrow and sandy, and a 4x4 is not optional. Nobody is coming to pull you out quickly.
When you reach the gate the staff come out to greet you, genuinely pleased, because visitors are still rare enough to be an event.
What is inside
The park is more than 400,000 hectares. Inside it there is a fenced sanctuary of a little over 20,000 hectares where animals brought in from elsewhere are settled before being released, gradually, into the wider park.
The sanctuary is large and well watered, and its northern edge runs along the Save River, which is the best of the scenery. When I was there it held close to 200 elephants, over 600 buffalo, plus hippo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, several antelope species and a great many birds. Restocking has continued every year since, so those numbers are a floor, not a total. We do not publish current figures we cannot verify; the park and Peace Parks do.
April is lush and green, and you see plenty. October and November are better for game viewing, for the usual reason: the water shrinks to a few pans and everything comes to them.
Sleeping there
There is one camp, modest and charming. Tents overlook the Save, and you can pitch your own. There are bathrooms and a hot shower. Bring your food and your drink, because there is nothing to buy.
Sleeping ten metres from hippos is the part you will describe when you get home.
Is it worth it
If you like wildlife, you like driving, and you have the days to spare, yes. If any of those three is missing, wait. The Mapinhane to Mabote road has been in and out of repair for years, so ask about its current state before you commit, and ask us if you want us to find out for you.
Fernando Mendes