Highlights of travelling to Zimbabwe

AFUNDAMENTAL part of any safari trip is of course, what you see, and Zimbabwe delivers wildlife like nowhere else on earth. The Hwange National Park alone is home to some of the planet’s largest herds of elephant as well as huge herds of buffalo — a truly impressive sight as they make their way across the plains.

Lion sightings here are superb, while the vast open plains of the eastern part of the park are ideal hunting territory for cheetah.

Safari enthusiasts will delight at seeing strong numbers of rare roan and sable antelope here and the green season (December to March) birding is outstanding.

Moving from Hwange, the Matobos National Park is home to a thriving population of black and white rhino — sadly and increasingly rare sighting in Africa, but they are well-protected here.

Gonarezhou in the far south-east is great for elephant and wild dog, while a long hop up to Mana Pools, north of the country makes for a great spot to see lion, leopard and elephant — many of whom have adapted to stand on their hind legs to feed from the trees.

In short, Zimbabwe has it all in terms of wildlife and the sightings rival anywhere else in Africa, you just need to travel around a bit to see it all. Which leads me to ...

Variety of landscapes

I cannot think of any other safari destination that offers the sheer variety of landscapes that Zimbabwe offers.

From the cascading waters of Victoria Falls to the open plains and dense woodlands of the Hwange National Park, to the rounded granite kopjes and lush green valleys of the Matobos National Park, the scenery is ever-changing, even in relatively small areas. Throw in the vast Lake Kariba, whose shoreline is characterised by half-submerged leadwood trees and the Mana Pools National Park, all acacia groves and open plains with the not-insignificant Zambezi River as it’s boundary, you have amazing scenery in the North as well.

Less well-known are the beautiful Eastern Highlands that run along the Mozambique border in the east, with scenery reminiscent of the highlands of Scotland, although the weather is somewhat better.

In saving the best for last there is also the Gonarezhou National Park, a beautiful and undiscovered corner of the country where the red-rock Chilojo Cliffs are mesmerising at sunset and the Runde River sparkles in the African sunshine.

The guides

Superb wildlife and stunning scenery are all lovely to have, but if you don’t have the guides to pull things together then the whole experience falls down somewhat.

Perhaps Zimbabwe’s strongest suit is the quality of its guiding, with anyone aspiring to be a guide here made to go through by far the most rigorous and intense guide training programme in all of Africa.

The result is that you see very few “fresh-faced” young guides when in Zimbabwe — the guides here are grizzled veterans of guiding and deliver a truly incredible guiding experience.

During Zimbabwe’s fallow years many drifted away to guide where the visitors and money were, but these guys are drifting back and helping make Zimbabwe the premier destination for safari-goers who are “all about the guide”.

Campfire stories anywhere in Africa invariably drift to tales of great guides and wildlife encounters, almost always in Zimbabwe and with Zimbabwean guides.

Now is the time to take advantage of this with legendary figures such as Clive Stockhill, Stretch Ferreira, Spike Williamson, Dave Carson and Beks Ndlovu all available to hire for part or all of your safari.

The price

High quality safari trips tend to come with a high price point to match, especially in destinations such as Botswana and Zambia which have some of the most expensive lodges in all of Africa.

But if you are looking for a truly extraordinary wildlife experience in superb lodges, but without a huge price tag, then Zimbabwe should be top of your list.

There has been a phenomenal amount of investment in the country’s tourism infrastructure over the last few years, not least in the quality of lodges being built.

Zimbabwe is now the proud home to lodges that would not look out of place in some of the more “traditional” luxury safari destinations such as Botswana, South Africa and Tanzania, but at nowhere near the same cost.

Despite this, a conscious decision has been made to keep prices down at these lodges, in an attempt to attract visitors from high-end lodges back to Zimbabwe.

All-in-all this is working superbly well, attracting safari-goers from all over the world to enjoy outstanding lodges and a superb wildlife experience.

Destination transformed

For Zimbabweans and the (admittedly limited) regular visitors to the country during its fallow times, this is a destination that has been utterly transformed in recent years.

In additional to new lodges being built, old favourites such as Chikwenya in Mana Pools have been reopened and lodges are being built in new areas such as Jozibanini in southern Hwange and Great Mana expeditions in the Sapi Region on the east of Mana Pools.