Matusadona ranks as one of the top walking safari destinations in the region

An ideal combination with Mana Pools.

The lower Zambezi is regarded as one of the best areas for combining both land and water based safaris. Matusadona shoreline on Lake Kariba invites water based activities, usually from game viewing boats or pontoons. Mana Pools, whilst being well recognised as a walking safari area is renowned for canoe safaris on the Zambezi River. Kariba serves as an ideal hub into both Matusadona and Mana Pools .

An easy safari extension with Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is of course one of the primary safari hubs into Southern Africa and an adventurer's playground to boot. Victoria Falls offers simple access into the lower Zambezi region.

Matusadona National Park is one of several protected wildlife areas with shorelines on Lake Kariba.

Some 338 000 acres 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-high "Matuzviadonha" Hills from which it takes its name.

From the plateau the park falls abruptly to a flat, low-lying area covered mainly with Mopane scrub and woodland and with dense patches of Jesse bush. The entire northern boundary of the park is created by the lakeshore itself. This shoreline, which is subjected to irregular variations in water level caused by fluctuations in annual rainfall, is still in a state of rapid ecological change and development.

One of the Matusadona's most compelling features is its luxuriant birdlife; over 240 species have been recorded in the park. The fish eagle is common along the lakeshore where it makes use of the dead trees as nesting sites. Most parts of the lakeshore have conspicuous populations of grey herons, goliath herons, great white herons and saddlebill storks. Plovers, waders and geese are generally abundant and there are notable populations of osprey, woolly-necked storks, open-billed storks, white-winged plovers and red-winged pratincoles. There are several large colonies of darters and reed cormorants within the treelines, and at least one colony of white-breasted cormorants has appeared recently.