A Zimbabwean safari is the type of well-known vacation spot that also manages to be underestimated. The primary time I visited Zimbabwe, I believed I knew what to anticipate. However I left with my expectations nicely and really exceeded. So if you happen to’re asking, “Is a Zimbabwe safari price it?” or “Why journey to Zimbabwe?”, right here’s my trustworthy reply: it units a brand new benchmark for what a safari can really feel like. And you do not have to take my phrase for it. I in contrast notes with a number of of our Journey Specialists who’ve been there too – and right here’s why Zimbabwe has all of us utterly hooked.
Zimbabwe’s setting makes for an unforgettable safari, Picture Credit score: Changa Safari Lodge
1. Victoria Falls Is Solely Certainly one of Many Highlights
Let’s handle the plain: seeing Victoria Falls is, after all, an outrageously particular expertise – mist in your pores and skin, thunder in your chest, and that bizarre little snicker you do when your mind can’t file what it’s seeing. However Zimbabwe isn’t merely “the waterfall vacation spot” with a safari tacked on. It’s a full safari nation with actual vary.
Zimbabwe performs like a movie that refuses to stay to 1 style, and that is a fantastic factor. One chapter is broad skies, mud, and waterholes that flip the bush right into a theatre. One other is river-light and shut encounters the place the road between “you” and “wild” feels pleasantly skinny. Then it shifts once more with granite hills and a few of Africa’s most historical rock artwork.
My recommendation? Do the bush first. Let the wild silence sink in, then arrive on the Falls for the grandest finale. However do not take simply my phrase for it. Rhino Africa Journey Skilled Samantha Myburgh has many fantastic phrases on her expertise and why she loves recommending it to purchasers, too.
“Each time I have been to Zimbabwe, whatever the resort, camp, or vacation spot I stayed at, it has all the time delivered one thing superb.” – Sam Myburgh.
Why It Surprises
Folks come to see the well-known Victoria Falls and find yourself discovering one in all Africa’s biggest safari experiences (with much more selection than they anticipated).
Get pleasure from a drink at The Lookout Café as you admire the views, Picture Credit score: Previous Drift Lodge
2. Zimbabwe Is Elephant Nation
In the event you’ve mentally assigned “elephant nation” to elsewhere, Zimbabwe has a well mannered however agency correction for you. In locations like Hwange Nationwide Park, elephants are the primary solid. They transfer by way of camps, collect at waterholes, and switch even probably the most mundane moments right into a mystical reminiscence.
Working example: one of the crucial memorable Hwange elephant sightings I’ve heard got here from our Sam – and it didn’t occur on a sport drive. It occurred at Somalisa Camp, whereas Sam was within the pool.
“The elephants would come day-after-day simply to drink out of the swimming pool. Younger, outdated, massive, small, all of the ellies would drink out of this pool. There have been like six of us simply sitting there watching, taking photographs, listening to the slurping. It was insane, completely insane.” – Sam Myburgh.
And it wasn’t a once-off. Thirsty elephants grew to become such common guests to Somalisa’s outside pool {that a} second pool needed to be constructed – reserved solely for people. That’s Zimbabwe in a nutshell: elephants simply wander straight into the center of your day and steal the scene.
Why It Surprises
Most visitors affiliate “elephant nation” with a few headline locations, so Zimbabwe usually will get underestimated till you’re there and see the abundance with your personal eyes.
Watch herds of elephants move by as you sit enjoyable on the deck at Somalisa Camp, Picture Credit score: Janine Gous
3. The Bush Will get Bizarre (In The Greatest Method)
Zimbabwe is the place you begin seeing the bizarre stuff. Elephants are majestic, sure. However in Mana Swimming pools, they’re additionally unexpectedly acrobatic, rising onto their hind legs to achieve excessive branches. They do it for a easy cause: meals. Within the dry months, when the decrease browse is picked clear, they raise themselves as much as attain contemporary leaves and seed pods within the bushes, steadying their weight with their trunks as they feed.
After which there are the elusive creatures – those safari-goers quietly dream about and infrequently count on to see correctly. Like African wild canines. Sam had a type of once-in-a-lifetime encounters in Mana Swimming pools, and it wasn’t from a car surrounded by engines and digital camera shutters. It was on foot, in whole silence.
“We have been doing a safari stroll, and we occurred to see some African wild canines. We crouched down, sat there, and watched them for nearly an hour, simply interacting. And since they have been so shut (they have been actually on the opposite aspect of a dry riverbed), we didn’t hassle them, they usually didn’t hassle us. There was nobody round us. No automobiles, no noise, no something, simply us on foot and these animals, and it was probably the most unbelievable sighting.” – Sam Myburgh.
Why It Surprises
Zimbabwe delivers the type of sightings that really feel, and actually are, uncooked and unscripted: uncommon behaviour, intimate moments, and wildlife most individuals assume they’ll solely ever see on Nationwide Geographic.
Count on the sudden when on a Zimbabwean safari, Picture Credit score: Wilderness Ruckomechi
4. The Guiding Is Ridiculously Good
I may inform throughout the first day in Zimbabwe that the guiding is correctly skilled. A part of the reason being structural, as many Zimbabwean guides undergo a notoriously rigorous, multi-year qualification route, constructed round robust principle exams and lengthy, hands-on apprenticeships.
What that appears like in the actual world is that your information builds the sighting. They’ll learn a timeline within the sand and observe with objective – typically beginning at a waterhole and following indicators till you’ve uncovered the crux of the coded narrative. That is additionally why Zimbabwe shines for strolling safaris. Guides are skilled to interpret terrain, chicken calls, and wildlife behaviour with a peaceful confidence that makes heading out on foot each thrilling and protected.
And since many wilderness areas nonetheless really feel refreshingly uncrowded, you get loads of time for the information to clarify the story behind the scene and let the second unfold.
“You will get out of the car, do some correct strolling, and stand up near nature” – Sam Myburgh.
Why It Surprises
Many visitors assume guiding is broadly comparable throughout Africa. Zimbabwe is the place you realise it’s a craft that makes all of the distinction to your safari expertise.
A rustic famend for its knowledgeable guiding and strolling safaris, Picture Credit score: Wilderness Ruckomechi
5. The Uncommon Luxurious of Area
I’ve executed the safari visitors jam. Sitting behind a convoy of sport drive automobiles, cameras snapping furiously, faces stacked, everybody craning for a similar angle. It takes the pure out of nature, and you’re feeling such as you’re in a predetermined setting as a substitute of a wild one.
Zimbabwe is the place that script fell aside. I keep in mind driving a rugged, empty highway with no different automobiles in sight – simply us and the sensation that something may occur. After we stopped, it wasn’t as a result of a line had fashioned. It was as a result of the bush gave us a cause to.
“You do not are inclined to combat for sightings with different visitors. You possibly can go an entire sport drive with out seeing one other car.” – Sam Myburgh.
That’s the luxurious right here: area. Sightings really feel unfiltered and unhurried, so you may really watch the scene breathe – animals settling, and the story revealing itself in actual time.
Why It Surprises
Folks affiliate prime safari international locations with crowds and depth. Zimbabwe counters this with a peaceful setting.
Soak within the fantastic luxurious of area, Picture Credit score: Changa Safari Lodge
6. Tradition And Historical past Add Critical Depth
The most important shock for me was that, regardless of it being my first time in Zimbabwe, it someway felt like a homecoming. And this was totally due to the individuals. There’s an ease to the heat right here that doesn’t really feel performative, however one which reveals up naturally and stays with you.
Then there’s the historical past, operating quietly beneath the safari. In Matobo, the granite hills really feel historical, and the rock artwork shifts your sense of time; a reminder that this panorama has been witnessed, lived in, and revered for much longer than any trendy itinerary.
That’s what makes Zimbabwe greater than a vacation. The safari lands in another way as a result of it’s held by one thing deeper – the sensation that you simply’ve stepped into a spot with actual that means, leaving you with greater than pictures.
“It is not inauthentic, it isn’t overhyped – it is actual. It is calming, and it speaks to you.” – Sam Myburgh.
Why It Surprises
You would possibly assume Zimbabwe is only a nature vacation spot. It’s not – it’s a rustic with a narrative, and you’re feeling it in all places.
Magic is palpable at each flip, Picture Credit score Wilderness Ruckomechi
A Easy Method To Select Your Zimbabwe Safari
In the event you’re attempting to form the journey, right here’s the best strategy (and the one we use once we’re constructing itineraries):
Basic big-game really feel and waterhole motion: begin with Hwange Nationwide ParkRiver immersion and iconic elephant behaviour: add Mana Swimming pools Nationwide ParkLandscapes, heritage, and rhino monitoring power: weave in Matobo Nationwide Park A show-stopping finale: end at Victoria Falls
When you’ve obtained a number of Zimbabwe journey necessities beneath your belt, you may chill out into the enjoyable half, and the nation actually shines.
Expertise Zimbabwe on wheels, on foot, or on water, Picture Credit score: Wilderness Ruckomechi
Let Zimbabwe Steal Your Coronary heart
If Zimbabwe is competing with a extra “in style” safari nation in your thoughts, I get it – I had that very same psychological shortlist. Then I went. And now Zimbabwe is likely one of the first locations I like to recommend when somebody says “safari”.
Eager to expertise it your self? There’s no time like the current. Get in contact with us, and we’ll map out a Zimbabwe safari tailor-made to your timing, price range, and journey fashion.
