Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge

Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge sits above the Save River where the property meets Gonarezhou National Park — Zimbabwe's second largest national park, covering more than five thousand square kilometres of red sandstone cliffs, mopane, and baobab along the border with Mozambique. From the main lodge's viewing deck you can watch elephant, hippo, and crocodile in the river below. Ten thatched lodges make up the property, each with a private balcony and individually carved jacaranda headboards; a shaded pool and indigenous gardens sit between the buildings and the riverbank.

Gonarezhou is one of the least visited parks in southern Africa. It holds lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, buffalo, wild dog, and nyala, and more than four hundred and fifty bird species have been recorded here — among them the rare Pel's Fishing Owl and the African Skimmer, which gathers on the sandbanks of the Save and Runde rivers. Guides tailor game drives to pace and interest; morning and afternoon walking safaris cover the Runde River floodplains on foot. A full-day excursion reaches the red sandstone Chilojo Cliffs with a picnic lunch and a sundowner drive back. A three-kilometre trail leads from the lodge to Chivilia Falls.

The lodge was founded by Clive Stockil, who brokered the relationship between the Shangaan community of Mahenye and Gonarezhou after the park's creation displaced local families. Zimbabwe's first CAMPFIRE programme — Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources — began here, and community visits to Mahenye Village remain part of the stay. A daily conservation levy goes directly to community and conservation work.

Fly-in access runs from Johannesburg to Buffalo Range airport, with a lodge transfer of one hour and forty-five minutes, or by private charter from Harare to Mahenye Airstrip, ten minutes from the lodge.