Zimbabwe

Experience the wildlife and culture of Ngamo Plains

Jul 8-11

After a leisurely breakfast, you will depart Victoria Falls on a 2.5-hour road transfer to Dete Railway Station on the boundary of Hwange National Park. Enjoy lunch on the Elephant Express before departing on your one-of-a-kind game drive by antique rail car.   

After arriving at Ngamo in the early evening, you'll disembark the Elephant Express and climb aboard 4x4 safari vehicles for the short ride to camp. You can settle in before returning to the main lodge for a pre-dinner drink at the bar or around the campfire. A delectable 3-course dinner will be served under the Milky Way and the Southern Cross followed by coffee or a nightcap around the campfire.

Over the next two days you will have the opportunity to explore and discover the wonders of Bomani Concession and Southeast Hwange National Park. After early wake-up calls, join your guide at dawn for a cup of coffee and slice of toast before heading out to explore and interpret what happened in the wilderness the previous night. You will depart early when the big cats are still active. Your professional guide will point out tracks and signs, and perhaps approach an animal on foot to snatch a memorable photograph. Game-viewing is flexible to take advantage of happenings on the ground.

You will explore Hwange in search of game before making a stop for a bush lunch next to a specially built underground game-viewing “look-up blind” named such because it’s located at the water level, so you'll be looking up at the elephants! After lunch, you’ll enjoy some time in the blind with snout-level viewing of thirsty elephants just feet away! The blind is furnished with comfortable seating and has running water for flush toilets and hand basins.

In the late afternoons, you’ll continue to explore the Ngamo Plains on foot and by vehicle. After sundowners, you’ll drive back to camp on the Bomani concession looking for nocturnal species that prowl the plains after twilight.

On your third morning, only a minute drive from the lodge, you have the opportunity to enjoy an unorchestrated look at village life in rural Matabeleland. After breakfast, you can join the children on their morning walk to school or ride with younger kids in our safari vehicles! Once at the school, meet the headmaster and enjoy traditional songs sung by the students, followed by a short classroom interaction. This activity gives the school children a wonderful opportunity to meet and interact with people from all over the world who have come to see the wildlife bordering their community.

After the school visit, head to a nearby village for an authentic visit to a local homestead, including a meeting with the headman of the village. You will be able to see some of Imvelo's community initiatives firsthand and gain insight into the day-to-day life of a rural Zimbabwean, including learning about thatching roofs, tilling fields, milling maize, and weaving baskets. 

In the afternoon, you head to the Imvelo Ngamo Rhino Sanctuary, where you'll meet the resident white rhinos, Thuza and Kusasa, as well as the Cobra Rangers guarding them 24/7. Start with a behind-the-scenes look at the Cobra’s basecamp, where you'll learn more about their work along with Imvelo's many other community and conservation programs. Hear a short talk on the origins and ideas behind the formation of the Cobras unit and how they protect the rhinos, as well as the plans for the ground-breaking Community Rhino Conservation Initiative. Then, head off on foot or by vehicle with the Cobras to meet Thuza and Kusasa! There will be plenty of photo opportunities and quality time to watch and enjoy the rhinos in their natural environment.

Onward to Jozibanini

Jul 12 – 13

Enjoy an early morning tea or coffee on your veranda before a hot breakfast in the main lodge. Afterwards, you'll depart Bomani on a full-day safari or "pump run" deep into the southern part of Hwange.

Hwange National Park has no major rivers, and for the past 70 years, during Hwange’s dry seasons, wildlife has subsisted here on water originally pumped by windmills, later replaced by diesel engines, and now solar power. In the southern sector of the park, Imvelo Safari Lodges shoulders the responsibility for 20+ pumped waterholes. This means Imvelo is looking after approximately 20 to 25% of the waterholes that sustain Hwange’s wildlife, including upwards of 10,000 elephants in the dry season – a huge commitment! 

Imvelo’s trademark "pump runs" combine game viewing in remote areas of the park with practical hands-on conservation, helping to maintain the waterholes and pumps that the wildlife rely on for water during the dry season. Many of these pumps have been converted to solar-hybrid pumps in recent years. You'll learn about the challenges of maintaining this system in conversations and hands-on activities with your guide and the pump attendants who spend the dry season living at the waterholes to keep the pumps running.

You will also make a stop at the Makona Ranger Station near Jozibanini Camp and meet some of the national park rangers who patrol in this remote corner of the park. Imvelo funded and installed a state-of-the-art solar-powered water pump at Makona, which provides water for the rangers, their organic vegetable garden, and wildlife at the nearby Makona pan. In addition, the solar array provides power for lights and radios at the station.

Arrive at Jozi for dinner and then gaze upon the Milky Way, four hours from any other camp. After a night’s rest, enjoy an early morning game drive or a guided game walk through the area around camp, once more, experiencing Hwange’s magnificent elephants on ground level. Track the different species to be found in this part of the park, such as lion, wild dog, and buffalo.  After returning to camp, relax and experience a fabulous brunch out in the open at the Jozi pan, enjoying the solitude of being in a completely untouched and isolated spot within the pristine African bush.

An afternoon option is to head off on a guided mountain bike ride through the elephant paths along the inter-dune troughs around Jozibanini. The ecosystem here is semi-desert, akin to the Kalahari in neighboring Botswana. Ancient windblown fossil sand dunes are separated by shallow valleys where elephant paths have compacted the terrain, providing the opportunity for a unique experience of game viewing by mountain bike. These rides can be from 30 minutes around camp to a full day exploring deep into southern Hwange, depending on your energy, fitness, and adventure level.

In the late afternoon, you’ll head into an underground “look-up” blind for spectacular photographic opportunities of the wildlife, just feet away, at the Jozi waterhole. You’ll enjoy sundowners inside or atop the look-up blind, and once the sun has set, take a quick drive back to camp for a tasty dinner out under the glorious night sky.

Jozibanini has an interesting story, which reinforces the importance of your visit here. A ranger station named Jozibanini was abandoned in the early 2000s due to a lack of park funds, leaving the southern and western parts of the park largely unpatrolled by rangers and never visited by tourists. As a result, elephant poaching raised its ugly head in this area in 2013. After these poaching incidents, Imvelo Safari Lodges decided to establish an outpost at Jozibanini, which staff and a privileged few tourists could use as a base for both management of water resources and a safari experience unlike any other. Presence in the area would also deter poachers, and who better to employ to protect the new project than ex-poachers who have turned over a new leaf? By introducing tourism, the Jozi project has helped protect and conserve hundreds of kilometers of remote park, and regular traffic on the route has translated into reliable support for both the park's pump attendants and roughly 25% of Hwange’s thirsty wildlife in the dry season

Scenic flight to Nehimba

Jul 14 – 16

Following breakfast, take a scenic flight over Hwange National Park, giving the opportunity to view the herds from the air. You will land at Shumba and transfer to camp by road in a 4x4 vehicle (about 20 minutes). Your arrival will likely be met with elephants in camp drinking from the lodge waterhole.

During the afternoon, you'll begin your explorations from Nehimba Lodge. The northern region of Hwange is distinctly different from the southern region, both in topography as well as habitats and species of wildlife. Nehimba is situated right on the edge of the mopane woodlands of Northern Hwange and the Kalahari sandveld of the West and offers the full spectrum and diversity of Hwange’s fauna.

The area is famous for its large elephant herds and prides of lion, so you will probably head out to the Nehimba Seeps in search of these and other species of wildlife. You will also enjoy a bush sundowner in the evening before returning to the lodge to toast another magnificent day in Hwange as the herds of elephants and other game arrive for their own sundowner drink. A 3-course dinner under the stars follows, while elephants drink from the pool nearby.

Over the next two days, after breakfast, you’ll depart for your morning exploration of the Nehimba concession and the beautiful northern part of Hwange National Park. The elephant-hunting lions of this area are famous. The area is well watered, so it is host to large numbers of animals throughout the year, but particularly during the dry season. You’ll return to the lodge for a leisurely lunch and then afternoon siesta or perhaps relax by the lodge swimming pool, frequented by Hwange's thirsty herds during the dry season.

Sundowners at the famed Nehimba Seeps is a must-do activity while staying at Nehimba in the dry season. The Nehimba Seeps are in a specially designated conservation area and one of the few year-round, naturally occurring water sources in the massive Hwange National Park. The seeps are an ancient water resource that was once used by the San huntsmen. Today, the area is frequented by elephants, which dig for minerals and water; this sacred spot will leave you with special memories and photographs. Back at the lodge, enjoy drinks and then dinner while watching the elephants slurp from the nearby waterhole

Victoria Falls

Jul 17 – 18

After a final breakfast and morning game drive (time permitting) at Nehimba, climb aboard your flight covering the scenic territory between Shumba Airstrip and Victoria Falls Airport. Upon arrival, you'll be transferred to the Palm River Hotel, situated on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River. The rest of the afternoon will be at leisure until meeting up with the group for cocktails and dinner.

Start the next day with a tasty early morning breakfast then head to the town of Victoria Falls for a guided tour of Zimbabwe's foremost attraction – the Victoria Falls! Also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya in the local language, “The Smoke that Thunders” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At 360ft (108m) high and 5,306ft (1,708m) wide, it remains one of the most spectacular natural wonders in the world. While not the widest or highest waterfall, Victoria Falls is considered to be the largest curtain of falling water in the world thanks to its incredible volume of water.

In the evening, there is simply no better way to enjoy the dazzling African sunset than from the comfort of a Ra-Ikane boat on the Zambezi River. The ever-popular sunset cruise offers a unique way to explore the channels of the river and to get an up-close view of the pristine wilderness and African game along its banks. Enjoy an array of canapés, a full bar, and a charming crew who can impart a bit of interesting Victoria Falls history with you on board the Ra-Ikane.

Depart for home

Jul 19

Arrive home

July 20