Arrive in Victoria Falls and transfer to the Old Drift Lodge located on the river’s edge in the Zambezi National Park. Head out on a river cruise exploring the banks of the Zambezi. Drift past grunting hippos, basking crocodiles, and wading elephants as malachite kingfishers and carmine bee-eaters paint the riverbanks with colour. 

Rise early for a game drive through the national park, reading “the bush newspaper”. You may well see buffalo, giraffe, zebra, kudu, impala, and wildebeest. The park has a resident lion pride as well as  leopard, hyena, cheetah, and African wild dog.

Witness the spectacular curtain of falling water for which the town is named. Your guide will escort you around some of the local markets in town. You may opt for a flight over the falls or a guided tour of the historic Victoria Falls Bridge by steam train or simply relax and watch the river’s endless theatre from your private deck at the lodge.

After breakfast, transfer by light aircraft to Hwange National Park, a 30-minute flight. Here, you’ll settle into one of seven luxury tents at the beautiful Somalisa Camp., each room exquisitely furnished and complete with a freestanding bath and indoor and outdoor showers.

Rise early each day for dawn game drives or walking safaris when predators are still active. You may well spot a leopard returning from a night hunt or encounter a pack of endangered African wild dogs. Return to camp for leisurely breakfasts and spend your late mornings cooling in the pool gazing across to the camp’s waterhole – ‘the elephant pool’.  

Afternoon drives focus on predator activity – watch lion prides lazing in the cool of the shade and search for skittish cheetahs in the grasslands, or simply position at a waterhole as the evening parade begins.

Hwange is elephant country with herds over 100 strong converging on the pans during the dry season. At night, after dinner, sit back around the camp fire and fill your soul with the sounds of the night.

Your flight north to Mana Pools National Park takes just less than two hours. You’ll watch the landscape beneath you change dramatically. Transfer to Nyamatusi Camp, positioned on the river’s edge, with one of the finest views in Mana. 

After lunch, take a game drive along the river and through albida groves. The seed pods of these thorn trees are candy for elephants and you may well get to watch as impatient bulls rise with stupefying dexterity onto their hind legs to strip the trees’ upper branches.

While here you’ll experience what Mana does best: the walking safari. Set off at dawn with your professional guide to spend precious unhurried hours tracking wildlife and decoding the language of the bush. Being on foot transforms every encounter, making you a part of the ecosystem rather than separate from it. 

You’ll get another change of perspective as you explore the Zambezi channels by canoe, paddling past basking crocodiles and bathing elephants, with fish eagles calling overhead. The game viewing from Nyamatusi’s deck can be as rewarding as heading out with the river delivering endless drama.