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Leonard Ncube at Gonarezhou National Park
AUTHORITIES at Gonarezhou National Park in Chiredzi are excited about having to exhibit at the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo for the third time in a row.
The national park’s tourism officer Ms Prudence Ndabani said the park, which is jointly administered through a conservation Trust by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and Frankfurt Zoological Society started exhibiting at the annual expo in 2022.
The park was established before independence and the conservation partnership came into being in 2017.
Ms Ndabani said local tourists make up 52 percent of arrivals as they visit the park for educational trips and game viewing, followed by visitors from SADC and the rest of the world.
Entrance fees are US$15 person for locals, US$25 for tourists from the SADC region and US$30 for those from outside the continent.
The park is home to more than 11 000 elephants, scores of animals species, the big cats and 450 bird species.
“We have started exhibiting at trade shows and we are going to the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo. We expect to meet buyers from various countries. Since we started in 2022, we have been getting positive responses,” said Ms Ndabani.
She said arrivals at the park are seasonal. March marks the start of a busy period while July and August are the peak period.
Arrivals are low in December. The park then closes for annual maintenance in January and February.
–@ncubeleon
Online Reporter