True Zimbabwe with Khami Ruins

Overview

The whole country in ten nights, ending where the story started rather than where the game is. Two nights at Batonka to ease in, with the Falls, the rainforest walk and the Zambezi's long evenings. Three nights at Hwange Bush Camp next, in the elephant heartland, with drives morning and evening and walking where the guiding allows. Then Mana Pools, and three nights at Vundu, which is as wild as Zimbabwe gets. Walking among elephant in the winterthorn forest, canoeing the channels when the level suits, and very few other vehicles. The granite closes it, and this is the part that makes the trip. Two nights at Matobo Hills Lodge, ours, tracking white rhino on foot, reading San rock art with a guide who grew up here, and a private morning at the UNESCO-listed Khami Ruins outside Bulawayo, usually with nobody else on the site. Most itineraries finish at the Falls. This one finishes with something older. Private throughout, maximum eight guests. When to go: April to early November, while the Mana Pools camps are open.