Zimbabwe Hidden Gems & Ancient Hills

Overview

Five landscapes in thirteen nights, and the two most operators leave out are the reason to book it. It opens at Victoria Falls, two nights at Bayete, long enough to see the Falls properly before the safari starts. Then three nights at Camp Hwange in the elephant heartland, where the walking guiding is as good as the driving. The middle of this trip is the part nobody else sells. Two nights at Matobo Hills Lodge, ours, in the granite: white rhino tracked on foot, San paintings read off a cave wall, and a private morning at the UNESCO-listed Khami Ruins outside Bulawayo on the way through, usually with nobody else on the site. Then north to the wild end of the country. Three nights at John's Camp in Mana Pools, walking among elephant in the winterthorn forest, and three at Fothergill on Lake Kariba to finish on the water with the drowned forest and the long sunsets. Private throughout, maximum eight guests, and every departure tailor-made: we move the lodges up or down and change the pacing around you. When to go: May to October. The Mana Pools camps close for the rains, and July to October is the strongest window for game.