Located less than 10 kilometres from the boundary of Hwange National Park, Mtshayeli Clinic is a small rural healthcare facility serving an isolated and under-resourced community in one of Zimbabwe’s most remote areas.
Originally commissioned in 1988 as a council clinic, Mtshayeli operates in a challenging environment where communities rely largely on subsistence farming and livestock for their livelihoods. Human-wildlife conflict is a regular reality, and the community remains geographically and socially isolated from larger centres and essential services.
Today, the clinic provides vital healthcare to almost 3,000 people across five surrounding villages:
Following a visit to Mtshayeli in May 2026, Adam Atkin, Founder of Prestige Safaris, saw firsthand the extraordinary challenges faced by the clinic, its nurses and the wider community.
The visit left a lasting impression, and Prestige Safaris felt a strong commitment to supporting Mtshayeli Clinic and helping provide the resources needed to improve healthcare for this remote community.
Prestige Safaris is currently the clinic’s first and only sponsor.
Our first contribution focused on something fundamental: water.
The clinic had been operating without a reliable water supply, making even basic healthcare incredibly difficult. Prestige Safaris supported repairs to the clinic’s water infrastructure, including fixing damaged piping and replacing the inverter connected to the existing solar-powered water pump.
The significance of this project extends far beyond the clinic itself. The borehole supplying Mtshayeli Clinic also provides water to the surrounding community.
Restoring the water supply was therefore a major win not only for the clinic, but for the entire Mtshayeli community.
Mtshayeli Clinic is supported annually by Imvelo Safari Lodges’ mobile dental and eye-care clinics, which provide treatment to more than 600 people in the surrounding area each year.
Despite this valuable support, access to healthcare remains extremely limited, and the clinic continues to operate with significant resource constraints.
The clinic’s current priorities include improving access to:
The clinic is led by Sister Silibaleng Makhurane, supported by:
Together, this small team provides an essential healthcare lifeline to thousands of people across the surrounding villages.
Mtshayeli Clinic provides a broad range of essential healthcare services, including:
The importance of Mtshayeli extends beyond healthcare.
The village has both a primary and secondary school, serving children from the surrounding communities. Imvelo Safari Lodges is supporting the schools through ongoing infrastructure development, including new classroom blocks, teacher accommodation, toilets and showers at the secondary school.
Mtshayeli village itself is home to approximately 50 households, with an average of six to twelve people per household.
For these families, the clinic is far more than a medical facility. It is a critical source of healthcare, support and hope for a community living in an exceptionally remote environment.
At Prestige Safaris, we believe that responsible tourism should create meaningful benefits for the communities living alongside the extraordinary wildlife destinations we promote.
Our commitment to Mtshayeli Clinic is about more than a single donation. It is about building a long-term relationship with the clinic, its healthcare workers and the community they serve.
We are proud to support Mtshayeli Clinic and its incredible team, and we look forward to continuing our journey alongside this remarkable community.
Prestige Safaris — supporting people, protecting places and creating a positive impact beyond the safari experience.
