Zimbabwe - 12 night / 13 days

A twelve day safari through three of Zimbabwe’s best known game reserves, Hwange, Matusadona and Mana Pools. Game viewing on foot accompanied by licenced professional guides, who are allowed to carry their own big game rifle for safety reasons, is a safari activity Zimbabwe is well known for. Game viewing by vehicle, from a boat on Lake Kariba and by canoe on the Zambezi River are also safari activity options.

DAYS ONE – FOUR
Hwange National Park
Arrive Harare or Victoria Falls, charter flight into Hwange.

Hwange National Park, 14,600 square kilometers in area, is the largest National Park in Zimbabwe, the third largest in Africa and famous for it’s elephant.

This is the only Park in which gemsbok and brown hyaena occur within Zimbabwe. Nine of the ten protected mammals of Zimbabwe also occur – the pangolin, wild dog, white rhino, black rhino, brown hyaena, aardwolf, cheetah, roan and gemsbok. You will probably also see giraffe, blue wildebeest and tsessebe, which do not occur in the Zambezi Valley.

Activities include game viewing on foot and by vehicle. There are also some great game viewing hides situated throughout the path some of which can be used overnight.

Accommodation is in permanent camps and lodges are permanent which are open all year round.

DAYS FIVE – SEVEN
Matusadona National Park

42 years ago the Zambezi River was dammed to form one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the world - the 290 kilometre long Lake Kariba. Kariba is unique and a place of outstanding beauty, a great inland sea, nestled in mountains, guarded by enormous reserves of game, and made beautiful and savage by sun and storm, earth and water and by life and death. Along the southern shore of this inland sea lies the 1400 square kilometre Matusadona Game Reserve. Comprising part of the Upper Zambezi Valley, the Matusadona is as diverse as it is beautiful. The Zambezi Escarpment separates the lower valley and extensive shoreline from the undulating lightly wooded uplands. Clear streams and steep valleys bisect these uplands, cutting down the face of the escarpment forming thick green forested folds.

When the lake filled the tops of the many trees remained above the water. The Mopane and Leadwood trees lost their foliage and died, but did not rot immediately. Without their leaves, and because of the hardiness of their wood, they appear to have fossilized. Today these stark sentinels are home for an increasingly rich bird population and also form an amazing silhouette as the molten sun slips behind the horizon.

The unrivaled attraction of the Matusadona National Park is the Black Rhinoceros Intensive Care Protection Zone. Many of these rhino were reared in other parts of the country for release into this area so that a viable population could be rebuilt. Tracking Rhino is a real highlight! elephant and buffalo graze the lush shoreline while lion are often found hunting in this area. Herds of zebra, impala and other antelope are also found in the Matusadona. John Stevens was the game warden in charge of this park in the early 80’s.

Game viewing in Matusadona is on foot, by vehicle and on foot. A back packing safari can also be organized to walk the length of the escarpment.

Accommodation is in permanent lodges open throughout the year.

DAYS EIGHT – ELEVEN
Mana Pools National Park

Declared a World Heritage Site in 1988 Mana Pools National Park is certainly one of the most beautiful game reserves in Africa. Situated on part of Zimbabwe’s northern border with Zambia and with the mighty Zambezi River forming a natural boundary between the two countries. Mana Pools is a special paradise of game.
The area has a park-like appearance. Massive acacia albida trees tower over what appears to be, from a distance al least, a carefully manicured lawn. Further away a border of mopane trees and combretum scrub begins and there is a visible line, like some extraordinary tidemark, a browse line that exactly demarcates the height to which browsing animals of the area can reach
Under the forest and on the open plains moves a pageant of elephant, buffalo, eland, waterbuck and a prolific variety of smaller antelope and lesser game. You may be lucky to see lion, wild dog or even leopard.
Canoeing on the Zambezi River is a particularly popular safari activity. Every kind of wild animal and bird is viewed at close hand as the canoe glides silently past. More restful game viewing is possible from the safety of a safari vehicle, but for sheer excitement everyone should experience the nerve-tingling tension of stalking game on foot.
Accommodation is in mobile or permanent tented camps or lodges all of which are open seasonally March – November.

DAY TWELVE
Depart Mana Pools by charter for Victoria Falls

DAY THIRTEEN
Transfer to Victoria Falls Airport
Depart Victoria Falls

Safari Cost for 2007 as per sample outlined above:

Privately guided - Group of 6 - US$5200 per person (sharing)
- Group of 4 US$5400 per person (sharing)

Traveling independently Group of 6 - US$4685 per person (sharing)
- Group of 4 US$4495 per person (sharing)

Costs approximate and subject to minimal change. Charters and park fees are quoted on current costs and subject to any fuel or government hike.

Cost includes full board accommodation Hwange, Matusadona and Mana Pools; bed and breakfast accommodation Victoria Falls; local wines, spirits, bottled water and cool drinks; laundry; private air charters and transfers as outlined; daily game viewing activities; park fees.

Cost excludes international air fares; park fees Hwange National Park, lunch and dinner Victoria Falls, departure taxes, visas, imported wines and spirits; cancellation, baggage or medical insurance (including air evacuation)