Painted Dog Conservation Centre

Painted Dog Conservation runs a visitor centre a short drive from Hwange National Park's main gate, built around a circular exhibition hall modelled on the architecture of Great Zimbabwe. Guided tours cover the organisation's rehabilitation, anti-poaching and research work protecting Zimbabwe's roughly 700 remaining painted dogs, including a look at the on-site laboratory used in the schools education programme. It is a day-visit facility, with guests staying at nearby lodges rather than on site.

The centre exists to fund and explain a conservation programme rather than to entertain, and guides are drawn from the local community and trained in the organisation's own methods. Visitors leave with a clear picture of the threats painted dogs face from snaring and habitat loss, and of the anti-poaching and rehabilitation work the entry fee supports. It pairs naturally with a stay at one of Hwange's surrounding safari lodges.