It became a Game Reserve in 1963, and in 1975, in terms of the Parks & Wildlife Act, it became a National Park. The Park comprises some 1 400 square kilometers of diverse flora and fauna. Before the lake was built, Matusadona was a vast, rugged wilderness with limited access.

With the lake came ecological changes. One in particular, the lakeshore contributed greatly to the increase of large mammal populations in the area, especially elephant and buffalo. The grass found on the shoreline is Panicum repens and is a rejuvenative grass – needing only fluctuating lake levels to replenish its nutrients. With this ready food source, buffalo, waterbuck, zebra, and even impala have thrived and with them the predators. Matusadona is an Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ).

The park hosts a good population of all large predators such as lions and leopard, making the sighting of these large predators a regular and exciting experience.

Resident in the park are good elephant populations always present on the lake shore. Also numbers of other large animals such as hippo, buffalo, crocodile, impala, kudu, waterbuck, zebra and baboon occur. Linked with these are a host of smaller animals and over 400 bird species.