Humani – Turgwe River Lodge

Located at the junction of the Turgwe and Save' rivers in Zimbabwe’s south-east Lowveld, and encompassing 130 000 acres of pristine African wilderness, Humani is the very epicentre of the renowned Save' conservancy.

Striking in its vegetative diversity, Humani comprises dense riverine dominated by towering hardwood trees, vast mopani and fever tree forests, open plains (maparis) and broken hill country. These habitats are populated by abundant and equally diverse wildlife populations – the big five, an impressive array of plainsgame animals and little critters, and bountiful birdlife.

Founded in 1933 by James (Jimmy) Whittall, Humani was primarily a cattle ranch for the first 35 years of its existence. That status changed in the 1960s, when Roger Whittall (Jimmy's son) began advocating a transition to wildlife. That man’s dream for the Save' valley was finally realized in 1991, when neighboring cattle ranchers followed his example and tore down their cattle fences, focusing all their energies on wildlife and forming the Save' conservancy. Since then, game populations throughout the Save' valley have boomed, and the area’s successes – in black rhino and lion conservation particularly – are unrivaled. Today, the Save' conservancy is part of the colossal Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which includes Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou national park, the Kruger park in South Africa, and the Banhine/Zinave parks in Mozambique. It cannot be disputed that the Save' conservancy’s current standing as one of Africa’s foremost wildlife destinations came about as a result of the work that Roger and Anne Whittall initiated on Humani, half a century ago.