Zimbabwe safaris,falls to Mana Pools

The long face of the falls sits on the Zimbabwean bank, which is why the photograph everyone has seen was taken from this side. The path runs through rainforest kept permanently wet by the spray, and the viewpoints look straight across the gorge at the main curtain rather than standing over it. You get the width of the thing here. You get the edge of it in Zambia.

Most Zimbabwe trips start at the falls and then leave them, because the parks are the better half of the country.

Hwange is the largest, and it works on water: through the dry months the pumped waterholes decide where the elephants stand, and the camps are built to look at them. Mana Pools is the one the guides talk about, a floodplain of enormous albida trees along the Zambezi, where you are allowed to walk, and where elephants have learned to stand on their back legs to reach the pods.

Then the older country. The Matobo Hills are granite balanced on granite, with rhino tracked on foot and San paintings in the shelters. Great Zimbabwe, in the south, is the stone city the country took its name from: mortarless walls, and the one stop on a safari itinerary that is properly about people.

Guiding is the other reason people come back. The professional qualification here has a reputation across the region, and it shows in the vehicle.

Where you’ll go

Victoria Falls. The rainforest path, the viewpoints along the main curtain, the bridge, and the Zambezi above the drop at sunset.

Hwange National Park. Waterhole camps, elephants through the dry season, and the private concessions on the edges.

Mana Pools. Walking, canoeing the Zambezi channels, and the albida forest the place is known for.

The Matobo Hills. Rhino on foot, rock art in the caves, and the granite at World’s View.

Great Zimbabwe. The stone enclosures near Masvingo, usually added on the way south or east.

Practical notes

Draft: awaiting owner verification. Indicative only; confirmed in writing with your quote.

• The US dollar does most of the work in the tourist economy. Carry small notes. Change is the problem, not the price.
• Walking in Mana Pools is guided, and minimum ages vary by camp. We confirm before quoting for a family.
• Falls flow changes across the year: high water for volume, low water for the rock face. We tell you which you are booking into.
• Zimbabwe and Zambia are separate entries even when the two sides of the falls are a day apart. We confirm both for your passport.