Matusadona National Park
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Matusadona is a game reserve park in western Zimbabwe, one of the lesser-known wilderness areas in Africa. It boasts a unique combination of pristine and rugged wilderness with the water frontage of Lake Kariba. It is one of the last remaining sanctuaries of the endangered Black Rhinoceros. It is commonly recognized as having the second largest concentration of wild lions in Africa after Ngorongoro Crater. Its relatively poor accessibility by road and extremely harsh internal network of roads keeps the crowds and traffic out.
Matusadona National Park is one of several protected wildlife areas with shorelines on Lake Kariba. Some 338,000 acres (1370 km²) in area, it is bounded on the west by the Ume river and on the east by the Sanyati River. Two-thirds of it lies south of the Zambezi Escarpment formed by the 1968 foot (600 m) high Matusviadonha Hills from which it takes its name.
Many of the animals rescued during Operation Noah when Lake Kariba was filling (following the construction of Kariba Dam) were released into Matusadona, which now holds strong populations of most mammals occurring in the Zambezi Valley. Buffalo are especially prominent and herds of up to 1,000-strong often congregate along the shoreline in the dry season.
