Zimbabwe

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You'll find our Zimbabwe page below frozen in time. Tragically, tourism in this wonderful country has virtually collapsed, and some of its best guides are off elsewhere. Please do contact us at mail@safarinzuri.com if you have any special interest in visiting Zimbabwe.

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Zimbabwe has an estimated 30,000 elephant. Here, a great bull, coated in the distinctive brown wallow of Matusadona National Park, grazes on torpedo grass in Lake Kariba.

With a relatively smooth infrastructure, and a series of large game parks especially rich in elephant, Zimbabwe today rivals Kenya as even a first-time safari destination. Most safaris center on Hwange, Mana Pools and Matusadona national parks, though the wild parks of the country's eastern frontier are getting more attention. In most of the large parks (except parts of Hwange), walking is allowed. For the latest State Department information on Zimbabwe, click here.

Safari Season

The season here is from May to October. This is the cool, dry Zimbabwean winter. Summers here (November to April) are rainy and horribly hot.

Drawbacks

The scenery here is less varied than East Africa, though the river valleys are quite picturesque. The Zimbabwean side of Victoria Falls is a noisy tourist place--we stay on the Zambian side. Unless care is taken in your safari arrangements, you will feel the crowds that, in places, make Zimbabwe seem a bit Kenya-like.

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To assure our clients a natural, uncrowded and rewarding Zimbabwean safari, we rely on arguably the country's most renowned guide--Mr. John Stevens--as well as two members of the prestigious "Classic Safari Camps" of Africa, Musango Safari Camp, and The Hide. Between them, Safari Nzuri can offer both private tented safaris in Mana Pools and Matusadona national parks, and small, exclusive permanent camps in Matusadona and Hwange.

Musango and Maronga (Matusadona and Mana Pools Nat'l. Parks)

Musango Safari Camp is a 12- bed permanent camp situated on its own island, just off the shoreline of Matusadona National Park. Offering an abundance of wildlife from buffalo and elephant to the rare black rhino, Musango Safari Camp is also an ornithologist's paradise with a myriad of birds to be seen frequenting the bird baths in front of the lodge and rooms. A special destination of its own, it also serves as a gateway to the even-more remote Maronga Tented Camp, a six-bed tented camp deep in the riverine wilderness of Matusadona, and managed by senior Zimbabwe guide Chris Worden.

Musango's rates for both Musango and Maronga are $260/person/day ($60 single supplement).

Musango has teamed up with Classic Africa Safaris to offer a canoeing/walking/driving safari that includes both Matusadona National Park and Mana Pools National Park. The Classic Africa Safaris canoeing expeditions in Mana Pools Nat'l. Park are called Mukuyu Canoe Trails, and they offer the classic Zambezi River canoeing experience, and will take a maximum of nine participants per trip. Classic Africa Safaris has also now established an 8-bed tented camp on the Zambezi in Mana Pools. An 11-day expedition that includes Musango, Maronga, Mukuyu Trails and the Mana Pools tented camp runs $2515, and the itinerary can be reviewed by clicking here. Only two are needed for this classic safari, and there is no single supplement.

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Mr. John Stevens is the most acclaimed guide in Zimbabwe. His signature safari is a three-part safari involving Mana Pools and Matusadona national parks, and his private camp among the Tonga Tribe in the Matusadona mountains. His camp on Matusadona's Jenje River is our favorite--no other travelers in sight; great herds of Cape buffalo; ubiquitous elephant in stunning lake shore settings; and a last refuge of the black rhino. While an itinerary with Mr. Stevens is prepared on a custom basis, meeting the client's individual expectations, a somewhat typical itinerary can be found by clicking here. Mr. Steven's private rates are $530/person/day, and he is often booked a full year in advance. This is Safari Nzuri's most expensive Zimbabwaen option, but for the price one receives not only superbly located and isolated Hemingway-style camps, but the full attention and tutelage of an extraordinary naturalist.

For travelers seeking a Mana Pools/Zambezi River canoeing expedition at a group rate, Mr. Stevens' associated company, Bushlife Zimbabwe, offers Ruwesi Canoe Trails--4 day canoeing Mana Pools canoeing expeditions using the same private tented camps that Mr. Stevens employs on his private safaris. The expeditions are led by highly experienced professional river guides. The price is $1095/person, and the groups are strictly limited to 7.

The Hide, named Zimbabwe's Best Safari Camp in 1995, is situated directly on a very active waterhole in an isolated area of Hwange, and its 14 guests often forego the game drives because of the constant activity at room side. In 1997, for example, the lodge experienced two male lion fighting over a pride just behind camp, and a pack of wild hunting dogs has been virtually living in camp for just about a year now. Early one morning, the dogs chased a kudu right up to the camp bird bath. The elephant are moving back to the camp in increasing numbers, and both lion, lioness, lion cub, and cheetah, are habitual residents of the near-camp area. Rates are $316/person/night.

We should hasten to add that there are other exceptional small, permanent camps in Hwange, similarly situated around water holes or prime game areas but with few walking restrictions. We note this only because the Hide is often full well in advance of peak season dates. Safari Nzuri will work with each of its clients to assure a proper game and wilderness adventure in Hwange.

Amelinda Camp is a 12-bed luxury camp carved into a bushman's cave in Cecil Rhodes Matopos Nat'l. Park--a stunning landscape of balancing rocks that provides a haven for both white and black rhino. Rates are $240/person/night.

In Mana Pools, we use both Rukomechi and Chikwenya camps. These 16-bed, 8-hut affairs are both nicely situated directly on the Zambezi, and share a reputation for superb food and service, quality resident guiding, and diverse wildlife virtually in camp (indeed, the elephant are frequently in camp). Rates for these camps are $350/person/night.

Conservation Corporation Africa, which plows parts of its earnings from its impeccable Southern African properties back into the local population through revenue-sharing programs such as the Rural Investment Fund in South Africa, offers a number of very unique Zimbabwean properties. Matetsi Water Lodge is actually a collection of three exclusive river camps along the Zambezi, each hosting no more than 12 guests. Each isolated camp offers its own spectacular view of the Zambezi. For its part, the 12-suite Matetsi Safari Camp is a luxury air-conditioned tented camp situated on the edge of an open grassland, overlooking a vast waterhole where large herds of wildlife come to drink. Both the safari camp and the water lodge are located in wildlife-rich northwestern Zimbabwe, along the Zambezi River about 40 km. above Victoria Falls. The lodges consolidate a number of prior hunting concessions that feature the wildlife common in Zambezi National Park, but with the freedom of isolation, and the walking safaris (game drives, of course, are also available, but we do love walking in Zimbabwe), that are possible in privately-controlled areas. The double accommodation rates here are $350/person/night, and the Corporation is throwing in a wide array of complimentary canoe trips (including canoeing to Victoria Falls), tiger fishing expeditions and other day trips to encourage visitors to these new properties. Additionally, the Corporation offers Nduna Safari Lodge bordering Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe--a park that is commandeering considerable attention from sophisticated travelers because of its isolation and distance from the normal Zimbabwe tourist circuit. This six stone-and-thatch cottage lodge is located on the 40,000 hectare Lonestar Reserve, which is part of the Malilangwe Conservation Trust, and one of the last havens of the black rhino. Rates here are on request.

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