Chewore Safari Area

Chewore is a safari area  located in North-Western Zimbabwe near Mana Pools National Park. The landscape is covered with Miombo woodland and the rugged Zambezi escapement. Chewore is managed by the Zimbabwe Parks Authority, ZimParks.

 Chewore wild animals

It is a highly regarded safari as the region has large numbers of wild animals including crocodile, buffalo, elephant and leopard. These animals are seen in large numbers in the flood plains where they get a lot of water and food. The most common animals are African antelope and big 5(excluding rhino). There is a good number of hunters in the form of hyenas. Poaching is a big problem in the Zambezi area and it was poaching that caused the rhino to disappear from this area. In 1986 Chewore had about 550 black rhinos. By 1995 only 10 remained.

Birdlife in chewore and nearby areas is prolific. There are over 300 recorded species. They include Nyasa love bird and flycatchers. Fish is in super abundance as the place has plenty of Tiger Fish, Bream, Chessa, Cornish Jack and Vundu among many others.

Mupata Gorge

It is remarkable that natural barriers formed by the Zambezi river downstream and the steep escapement upstream have protected chewore from environmental and human destruction. The Mupata Gorge stands out as a wonderful landmark in the area. Here the Zambezi river is narrow and very deep. The gorge is about 35 km long. ‘Mupata’ means valley in the local Shona language. After Mupata, the Zambezi is wide and sandy as it goes through many channels and small islands.

Chewore, Sapi and Mana Pools are closely linked. The Major difference is that the Zimbabwe Parks Authority offers controlled hunting quotas in Sapi and Chewore safari areas. Fishing and Photo safaris is allowed in the 3 areas. You can use power boats in Sapi and Chewore. They only allow canoes at Mana Pools National Park.