Cleveland Dam Recreational Park

Cleveland Dam Recreational Park is a recreational area east of Harare's Central Business District. It offers canoeing, fishing, game drives, horse riding and other family activities.

See Wildlife, Zimbabwe.

Fees

One has to pay an entrance fee to get into Cleveland Dam Recreational Park.

People can also hire a canoe (2-3 people) and row the length of the lake.

Cleveland Dam

Cleveland Dam is a reservoir located about 12.5 km from Harare CBD under the municipal urban district of Greendale, Zimbabwe. The Dam is leased to Haka Camp who manages it in collaboration with the City of Harare.

The dam was constructed in 1913 for Harare's water supply. Cleveland Dam covers an area of 2500 hectares and is one of the countries seven Ramsar sites.

Cleveland Dam has a water capacity of 910 million litres. Mabvuku, Manresa and Chikurubi rivers drain into the dam. The catchment area is a public amenity and vital water source as the water from the Cleveland Dam ultimately flows into Lake Chivero and is distributed to people in Harare, Chitungwiza, Ruwa, and Norton Municipal towns.

Haka Camp Game Park

More than 30 mammal species have been recorded in the Haka Camp Game Park within the Cleveland catchment area.

Species that have been recorded include; tsessebe, zebra, impala, giraffe, wildebeest, eland and notably on the Zimbabwean red list the python, pangolin and porcupine.

The permanent status of this wetland provides an important stopover and breeding and feeding site for large numbers of migrating water birds along the north/south migration route in the eastern part of southern Africa. The following birds and water birds have been recorded in the area: Pygmy Goose (rare), African Jacana, the African Fish Eagle, pelicans, cormorants, ibises, storks, egrets, spoonbills, herons and ducks.

The site acts an important refuge for breeding stocks of fish, which re-colonise the floodplain by migrating upstream during flooding events.^[1]