Zimbabwe
Incredible Natural Beauty
The Only Safari by Steam Train
The National Parks of Zimbabwe are packed with wildlife, but not people. So every safari is a personal experience in a land of dramatic landscapes, the Zambezi river (the longest in Africa), Victoria Falls (the largest waterfall in Africa) and some of the world’s oldest known natural rock formations of the Matopo Hills.
The Zimbabwean people are famous for their warm and genuine hospitality. This will make your wildlife safari in Zimbabwe relaxing, easy going and you will make friends for life. To add to this comfort, Zimbabwe has arguably the best climate in Southern Africa to travel in: cool evenings but sunny days. With many parks located at altitude, you will enjoy cooler nights.
Hwange national park is the only park in Africa that offers an overnight sleeper train ride into the park on a historic, refurbished Rovos steam train. Zimbabwe is also one of only three African nations where aficionados of historic steam locomotives can view game from the carriage during an overnight train ride into the National Park or by booking a five-course dinner in the dining car as an evening treat.
A video showing Lions crossing the railway in Hwange National Park.
Western Zimbabwe Highlights
We offer a seven night Western Zimbabwe Highlight tour. You’ll start at Victoria Falls, check into your hotel and then cruise down the Zambezi river. The next day you’ll have a half-day game drive in Zambezi National Park with time to explore the old colonial town of Victoria Falls under your own steam or with a guide. Then you head out into Hwange National Park by road or rail (your choice) to one of the incredible Imvelo Lodges in Hwange National Park. You’ll stay three nights in Hwange, where you will have the choice of observing animals from an underground hide, going on mind-blowing guided bushwalks, or taking leisurely game drives in the morning and evening. All the lodges have outstanding food and drink. You also have the option to visit the local village or the elephant watering stations, both of which are part of this park’s success story. The Lodge can even arrange a safari on horseback (for competent riders). You end the safari back at Victoria Falls ready to head to the airport for your flight home or onward to another safari destination.
Don’t fancy going home just yet? Ask us how to add any of our regional locations such as; Namibia, Zambia or Cape Town to your itinerary.
Zimbabwe Private Luxury Safari
Itinerary
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Your flight from Johannesburg International Airport arrives at Victoria Falls. Make your way through immigration and find your safari guide outside the terminal and the vehicle will take you to the Gorges Lodge for your first overnight. The Gorges Lodges is ‘glued’ to the edge of the cliffs over the Zambezi River below. A drop of 400 metres down is right off your balcony, and this dramatic setting is the backdrop of your meals, drinks, dawn and sunset. This first evening after a long-haul flight to get here, we’ll take it easy and let you enjoy the sunset over these jungle-covered plummeting facades. The communal bar is on the flight path of the famous Black Eagles that nest near the chalets on the cliffs, and they come close enough to make out their individual markings. Drinks and dinner are an informal and communal affair and the home-cooked food is tasty and plentiful. Retire to your balcony with a nightcap and get ready for the next day’s activities.
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After a relaxed breakfast, a transfer will take you into Victoria Falls town. You are dropped off right at the entry of the Falls National Park, where you spend a few hours walking the various trails and tracks that give you all the angles of the falls and the boiling ravines below. Once you had your fill, exit the Park and meet your driver to cross the bridge to the Zambian side of the Falls. Here you have the option to have a rest and tea at a bar on the waterfront and by 2/3 PM, you enter the Mosi Oa Tunya National park. The smallest park in Africa, but with the largest creatures in it: you can visit the family of rhinos that lives here. And it is worth the effort to see these shy, vulnerable creatures, even if only for 15 minutes. After a drive through the lovely little Park, you are taken back across the bridge and have the chance for another stop at the iconic Victoria Falls Hotel. If you are interested in trains and history, then this is a must-do stop in your day. The breathtaking views of the bridge over the river are world-class.
Eventually return to the Gorges Lodge by car, in time for dinner and drinks with the eagles and another night in the bush.
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If brave enough, you can ask one of the Lodge guides to walk you down all the way to the river below. Beware – you must come up again as well. Especially in the hot season, it is best to do so in the morning. Relax around the lodge, have a cold dip and after lunch, you are taken into town again for a visit to the local art market. At 16:00 you are taken to the siding to board the Rovos steam train for a classic evening out. This train offers exclusive six-course meals while the train steams over the bridge and into Zimbabwe and all food, snacks, and drinks are included. The local expert on all things Zambia/Zimbabwe/Botswana, historian and author Dr Peter Jones will start the evening with an onboard lecture explaining the local geo-political history. And while you slowly chunter along over the tracks, a sumptuous dinner and matching wines are served. Around 21:00 you are back in the siding in Victoria Falls itself from where the transfer vehicle will take you back to the Gorges Lodge for a nightcap on the edges of the cliff. With the evening breeze coming up from the river deep below you cooling down your room above the escarpment it is a fitting end to a historic train ride in Africa.
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After a relaxed breakfast, the transfer vehicle will drive you and your party to the Dete railway station in a two-hour drive over a smooth road. Here, the Stimela train will wait for you to board. The Stimela train is a privately restored steam train with classic cabins, a bar and a restaurant with viewing windows onboard and the guides will keep you entertained while the chef prepares a full-course dinner on board. This is a sumptuous classic dinner experience at its best. The train heads into Hwange National Park, one of the very few game drives in the world you can do by train. While enjoying the views and sights of the bush slowly moving past your window, sip a glass of pristine wine as you enter deeper into the Park. After dinner, you are accommodated in the sleeper cabins and the train carries on, winding its way into the bush.
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On arrival at the National Park train station (3 AM), the Stimela train stays stationary so you can sleep until dawn on the train. You will be woken up with breakfast and a view of the bush surrounding you on all sides. Here, you meet the lodge vehicles to take you onwards to the camp inside the national park. Head out in the game viewing vehicles and enjoy an early morning game drive en route to a camp of your choice. This early and this deep in the park, guaranteed sightings of elephants, giraffes, gazelles and maybe even big cats are a fact. Midmorning you arrive at Jozibanini Tented Camp, right in the heart of the savannah plains of Hwange National Park. Check in to your tented room, rest and relax after lunch and in the late afternoon head out again to explore the park once more with the rangers and game vehicles of the camp.
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Today you have a full day inside Hwange National Park. Depending on the season, the recent sightings and your own wishes, a plan for the day is made with you and the guides. You may be keen to cover some more ground and see the various landscapes the park has to offer, with its different animals making their living in these habitats. Perhaps you are more into bird spotting and would like to stay put in a sheltered spot to see what feathered gems come by. Maybe all you want to do is watch elephant families drink and play around the water pans. Anything you like to do is taken into account and the day is yours. Lunch can either be a packed picnic in the park or a return to the lodge for a shady patio lunch and a rest during the hot hours. An afternoon game drive or village visit is always on offer.
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One more day to enjoy the variety of game options in Hwange National Park. A fantastic and unique way to see the wildlife from a very different angle is to plan a visit to the Underground Hide: a container has been sunk into the ground near a watering hole and in all safety, you can sit and watch the animals come to drink. The animals know there is a structure, but as you are inside, and hidden from their view this is one of the most natural settings to watch them come to drink. Another option for a more adventurous exploration of the bush is to go out on foot with the camp’s guides and learn about tracks, spotting smaller animals like birds, insects and rodents. See the different prints and scat left behind by visitors of the bush and feel the heat, dust and sand while walking through this landscape. Bushwalking is always done in single file, guided by 2 armed rangers and only when they deem the situation safe.
If you are an experienced horseback rider, this is also a way to see the bush up close and away from the usual open cars. Lastly, dirt bikes are an option in the dry season to cover some ground: again this will be guided by expert rangers and only when safe. Whatever you do: your lunch can again be either a picnic in the park or enjoyed in the shade of the camp while you rest during the heat of midday. -
Today you have time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast in the shade of the camps’ bush premises or even make the most of your last hours here in the African wild and go for an early morning walk in the vicinity of the camp with a guide. Mid-morning you are taken to the small gravel airstrip nearby the camp to board a 45-minute flight back to Victoria Falls airport where you will connect with your flight back to Johannesburg.
What about something a little more… you?
Just like all our safaris we are able to offer private luxury in Zimbabwe too. This itinerary would take you from Johannesburg Airport into Hwange National Park directly with a small local charter flight from Victoria Falls. You will be staying in the incredible Camelthorn Lodge with its rooftop plunge baths inside Hwange National Park. You’ll experience guided game activities close to dense animal life in a remote private concession, you spend these days with your private guide. This is all about wildlife, you decide daily what to aim for on your game drives or walks. As you get to know your guide these days, there is a personal touch to your days here and with the myriad of expert options to see the wildlife, this will be a safari to remember.
Your next location is at the Gorges Lodge, just 11 miles outside Victoria Falls. This lodge has her cabins perched on the edges of the Gorges cliffs, with a drop of 400 meters right below your balcony. Watch the Black Eagles soar past your room around cliffs every afternoon. Dinner, drinks and breakfast are all served against this dramatic backdrop. With a transfer to town, you can go and visit the main Victoria Falls and the river Zambezi and depending on the season.
The final day of your luxury safari in Zimbabwe is spent with a visit to the Zambian side of the Falls, a short game drive to see the rhino living in the Zambian bush in Mosi Oa Tuna National Park and a fine dining experience on the historic steam train that will take you over the infamous bridge on the Falls.
Zimbabwe - Price Guide:
Price on application
