Grand Zimbabwe: The Complete Safari Journey

This morning you visit Victoria Falls itself, entering the rainforest on the Zimbabwe side, the bank with the most expansive, front-on views. With your guide you follow the path from viewpoint to viewpoint, looking directly across the gorge at vast curtains of water thundering into the abyss, feeling the ground tremble and, in high water, being drenched by drifting spray while rainbows arc through the mist. Your guide explains the geology, history and ecology of this extraordinary place, and there is time to linger, photograph and absorb the sheer scale of the largest sheet of falling water on earth. The afternoon is free to explore the town, browse craft markets, or relax at your hotel, perhaps ending the day watching the sun set over the gorge. This evening, enjoy dinner in the lively town. Rest well after a day before a world wonder.

Today is yours to enjoy the many pleasures of Victoria Falls at your own pace. You might take an optional adventure, a Flight of Angels by helicopter over the mile-wide falls, white-water rafting through the Batoka Gorge, a bungee jump or zipline from the historic bridge, or a guided walk into the gorge. Alternatively, relax with a visit to a local village or community project, browse the markets, or unwind by the pool. In the late afternoon, the highlight is a sunset cruise on the broad upper Zambezi, gliding past hippos, crocodiles and drinking elephants as the sky blazes orange and the river turns to molten gold, drink in hand. It is a magical, quintessentially African evening and a fine farewell to the falls. This evening, perhaps enjoy a boma feast with drumming. Rest well, for tomorrow you fly into the wild at Hwange.

After breakfast you take a light-aircraft flight south to Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe's largest wilderness, landing at a bush airstrip deep in the teak forest and grassland. The change is immediate: the bustle of the falls gives way to the deep silence and wide horizons of the bush. You are welcomed at your safari camp, settle in, and enjoy lunch and a briefing. In the cool of the late afternoon you head out on your first game drive, the golden light picking out giraffe, zebra, kudu and, very likely, your first great herds of elephant ambling to a waterhole. As dusk falls, you pause for sundowners in the bush before returning to camp for dinner beneath a canopy of stars, the calls of the African night all around. Rest well, deep in wild Zimbabwe, ready to explore Hwange fully tomorrow.

Today you immerse yourself in Hwange, with game drives in the cool morning and golden afternoon and a leisurely rest through the heat of the day. Hwange is famous above all for its elephants, and in the dry season the waterholes become stages for extraordinary gatherings, family after family emerging from the woodland to drink, bathe and jostle, calves splashing at their mothers' feet, so close from a hide you can hear them breathe. Between the pans, huge herds of buffalo, zebra, giraffe and antelope move across the grasslands, watched by lion and other predators. Your expert guide reads the bush and finds the action, tracking the park's big cats and, with luck, a pack of endangered painted dogs. Return to camp for dinner and the sounds of the African night. Rest well amid the great herds of wild Zimbabwe.

Another full day in Hwange lets you go deeper into its wildlife. Morning and afternoon game drives focus on the park's predators: prides of lion resting near the pans, leopard draped in a tree at dawn, and, if you are fortunate, a pack of endangered painted dogs on the hunt, for Hwange is one of their last strongholds. Your guide tracks fresh spoor, listens for alarm calls and reads the behaviour of the plains game to find them. In private concessions you may enjoy a night drive, sweeping the darkness with a spotlight to reveal nocturnal creatures, or a guided bush walk to learn to read tracks on foot. The dry-season concentrations mean there is always something extraordinary to see. As the sun sets on your last Hwange evening, gather for sundowners and dinner under the stars. Rest well, for tomorrow you travel to the mystical Matobo Hills.

This morning you bid farewell to Hwange and travel to the mystical Matobo Hills, one of Africa's most spellbinding landscapes, by light aircraft via Bulawayo and a short drive. Arriving in the Matobo, a vast, ancient jumble of smooth granite whalebacks and impossibly balanced boulders glowing gold in the light, you settle into your lodge amid the hills. In the afternoon you begin to explore this UNESCO World Heritage landscape, drinking in its powerful, mystical atmosphere and sweeping views. You might visit World's View, the high, wind-swept kopje where the colonial figure Cecil Rhodes is buried, his grave set into the living rock amid a natural amphitheatre of boulders, as your guide explains the complex, contested history of this place. As the granite glows orange at sunset, savour the beauty. This evening, enjoy dinner at your lodge. Rest well in the sacred hills, ready to track rhino tomorrow.

Today you experience the two great treasures of the Matobo: its rhino and its ancient art. In the cool of the morning you set out on foot with an expert guide and armed scout to track endangered rhino, learning to read tracks and signs and following them quietly through the boulder-strewn bush until you come upon these magnificent, ancient-looking creatures, approaching at a respectful distance to watch them in near silence, hearts pounding. Your guide explains the fight against poaching and the conservation your visit supports. Later you visit some of Africa's finest San rock art, in caves such as Nswatugi or Bambata, gazing at delicate ochre paintings of animals and figures thousands of years old while your guide interprets their meaning. Between these, you drink in the beauty of the hills and their abundant wildlife and birds. This evening, enjoy dinner at your lodge. Rest well after a profound day in the Matobo.

This morning you bid farewell to the Matobo Hills and fly northeast to Mana Pools National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage wilderness on the banks of the Zambezi and one of Africa's most beautiful, pristine places. Landing at a bush strip, you are transferred to your camp beneath the towering albida trees, with the great river and blue escarpment beyond. After lunch and a briefing, you set out for your first experience of this magical place, perhaps a game drive or a gentle guided walk through the cathedral-like forest, where the dappled golden light and the concentrations of elephant, buffalo and antelope along the river are extraordinary. You may even watch the park's legendary elephants rise onto their hind legs to reach the acacia pods. As the sun sets over the Zambezi, pause for sundowners on the bank. This evening, enjoy dinner under the stars. Rest well in one of Africa's wildest, most beautiful corners.

Today you experience the signature of Mana Pools, exploring this pristine wilderness on foot and by water. With an expert armed guide you walk through the golden floodplain forest, tracking elephant, buffalo and, with luck, lion, learning to read the smallest signs of the bush and approaching game on foot with skill, feeling the profound thrill of sharing the wild at ground level. By canoe you glide silently down the mighty Zambezi past pods of grunting hippos, basking crocodiles and elephants crossing between islands, with a wealth of birds all around, pausing on a sandbank for a picnic. You may again witness the legendary standing elephants reaching into the trees. The intimacy and beauty of Mana Pools are extraordinary. As the sun sets on your last wilderness evening, enjoy a farewell dinner under the stars. Rest well in beautiful Mana Pools, ready for the tranquil waters of Lake Kariba tomorrow.

After a final morning activity or a relaxed breakfast, you take a light-aircraft flight to Lake Kariba, one of the world's largest man-made lakes, a vast inland sea created by damming the Zambezi. On arrival you board your comfortable houseboat or transfer to a lakeshore lodge, and the pace slows for the final, relaxing chapter of your grand journey. As you drift out onto the shimmering expanse of the lake, the scale is breathtaking, water stretching to the horizon, wild shores in the distance, and the eerie, beautiful skeletons of petrified trees rising from the shallows. The afternoon is pure relaxation, watching the shoreline, wildlife and birds and the ever-changing sky, perhaps taking a tender-boat game-viewing trip along the Matusadona shore. As the famous Kariba sunset blazes across the water behind the petrified forests, savour the beauty. This evening, enjoy dinner on the water. Rest well, lulled by the lapping lake.

Today you savour Lake Kariba and the wildlife-rich shores of Matusadona National Park at a wonderfully relaxed pace. In the cool of the morning and afternoon, you head out on tender-boat trips along the shoreline for closer game viewing, watching elephant come down to drink and bathe, buffalo grazing the shore, waterbuck, impala and hippos in the shallows, and, with luck, lion at the water's edge, with a serene, intimate perspective from the water. The birdlife, from fish eagles to herons and bee-eaters, is superb, and keen anglers can try for the legendary tigerfish. Between activities, relax on deck, swim and soak up the vast, tranquil beauty. As the sun sets on your final evening in Zimbabwe, the sky flares one last time in extraordinary colour, reflected across the still water behind the petrified trees. Enjoy a farewell dinner under the brilliant stars. Rest well on beautiful Lake Kariba.

After a final relaxed breakfast, watching the wildlife and drinking in the beauty of the lake one last time, you are transferred by light aircraft towards Harare or Victoria Falls for your onward international departure. You leave having experienced the complete Zimbabwe, every great wild and cultural place in one grand journey: the thunder and expansive views of Victoria Falls, the great herds and predators of Hwange, the mystical granite, rhino and ancient art of the Matobo Hills, the pristine floodplain beauty of Mana Pools explored on foot and by canoe, and the serene, wildlife-rich waters of Lake Kariba beneath its spectacular sunsets. The images stay vivid long after you land, the falling water and rainbows, the elephants at the waterholes and reaching into the trees, the granite glowing at dusk, the rhino among the boulders, and the blazing skies over the lake. Zimbabwe has given you the whole of its extraordinary self, and you depart already dreaming of a return.