Plan your trip
GETTING THERE
The drive to Harare from Joburg is 1 100km (13 hours) – it’s best to break it up by sleeping over somewhere (see Stay Here). Vic Falls is 700km from Harare, via Bulawayo and Hwange. Mutare, the gateway to the Eastern Highlands, is 266km from Harare; Kariba Town, where most boats are moored, is 360km.
NEED TO KNOW
Most ‘highways’ have good, smooth surfaces and very little traffic. A 4x4 is handy if you’re going off-piste and in Harare (which has more menacing potholes than street signs). In general, our middle-aged entrylevel C-class sedan handled the roads just fine. Always drive in the daytime where possible – some roads are void of verges and cat’s eyes, and towns often lack street lights, painted lines and functioning traffic lights.
STAY HERE
For campsites and chalets in the national parks – Hwange, Matopos, Gonarezhou and the very wild Mana Pools are all highly rated – see zimparks.org
Lion & Elephant Motel is the classic stopover an hour north of the Beitbridge border, so you don’t have to drive in the dark. It’s basic but adequate, in lovely grounds, with standard fare and a good bar (this is Zim, after all!) R505 pp sharing. +263-773-284637, lionandelephant.co.zw Armadale Lodge is a boutique hotel in buzzing Borrowdale, Harare, with well-appointed rooms, great hospitality and upscale meals. From R1 082 pp sharing B&B. +263-772-275-716, armadalelodge.com
Banff Lodge Hotel is in Hillside, an attractive and quiet suburb of Bulawayo, with a pool, busy bar and restaurant. From R721 pp sharing. +263-772-301-774, banfflodgehotel.com
Ganda Lodge bordering Hwange is a budget lodge with great views of a busy waterhole. It has simple rooms and meals, friendly staff plus offers good game drives both outside and inside Hwange. From R1 010 pp sharing B&B. +263-29-276-009
Shearwater Explorers’ Lodge is the new place to stay in Vic Falls. It’s both stylish and fun, with a pool, great bar and restaurant in ‘town’. Dome tents with beds are R360 pp sharing, chalets R865 pp B&B. +263-213284-4471, explorersvillage.com Leopard Rock is a colonial-style hotel in the misty mountains of the Eastern Highlands, with its own game reserve and an incredible golf course (take lots of balls). From R1 082 pp sharing DBB. +263-772-100-790, leopardrockhotel.com
Kariba houseboats cost less than a Med cruise and are far nicer with all the wildlife! Robyn Whaley is an excellent agent for most boats and can organise all catering and other supplies. From R570 to over R2 000 pp sharing, depending on the boat (excludes fuel, park fees, food and drink). +263-77-802-574, offthetrack.co.zw
DO THIS
Visit a medieval city. The ruins of Great Zimbabwe, the centre of a 13th-century empire and now a World Heritage Site, lie 27km south of Masvingo (worth a detour en route to Harare). Entry and museum R215 each. Escape to Domboshava. It’s 40 minutes’ drive north of Harare to this village, where a magical assembly of granite boulders are precariously poised, as if their sole purpose is to offer a stage for sundowners. Check out the 6 000-year-old rock paintings on the way up. Open 6am to 6pm, entry R144. Walk with rhinos in Matobo National Park. There are tour operators in Bulawayo offering this, at high prices. Rather pay the park entry fee (R170) and speak to a ranger in the office to organise a walk.
Learn to love wild dogs at the Painted Dog Conservation Centre near Hwange Airport. Brilliantly run, it’s easy to spend hours here learning about these fascinating beasts. Open daily until 5pm (free). painteddog.org Ride a jetboat at Vic Falls. Launching this month, a highspeed joyride in the Boiling Pot at the bottom of the falls, operated by Shearwater. shearwatervictoriafalls.com
The Vic Falls Festival over New Year adds music acts from around the world to all the adrenaline. vicfallscarnival.com