WATERBURG SAFARIS                                                                       
Your Accountable Travel Partner in Africa
Living your Dream

 

AROUND ZIMBABWE TOUR
Embark on a 15 days around Zimbabwe journey in an air conditioned couch, starting from Harare to Victoria Falls. You will get to discover the beauty of the Zimbabwe’s powerful destinations that include Lake Kariba and Matusadona National Park, Great Zimbabwe Ruins, Matopos National Park and Bulawayo, Hwange National Park, Chobe National Park and your grand final is the mighty Victoria Falls.

Price US$3955pp, Single Supplement US$735

5 Clients plus US$3850pp

Minimum 4, Maximum 16

INCLUSIONS:
Park Conservation Fees
Touring with Professional Guide
Meals: Included on safari in restaurants and packed lunches.

 

Day 01 Airport to hotel transfer
On arrival at the Harare airport, you will be met by a Waterburg Safaris representative and transferred
to Rainbow Towers where an escort will assist with check in.

 

Rainbow Towers
Rainbow Towers is a luxurious five star hotel situated in Zimbabwe’s Capital City, 17km from the airport and 1km from the centre of town.  It is sited in a spectacular garden setting with free and fully secured parking. An executive floor catering exclusively for the business traveller.  A private lounge for check-in, complimentary evening cocktails.  Each room is fitted with a modern and private line for a fax machine, which is available on request.

 

Harare City Tour.
Harare is truly one of Africa’s really special cities. Wide lined streets, a near perfect climate and friendly atmosphere make it a lovely place to explore.  The tour includes historic buildings in the city, The Queen Victoria Museum, the National Archives, the Reserve Bank building and Mbare Craft market.
Overnight Rainbow Towers:dinner , bed and breakfast

 

Day 2

Pickup 0800hrs  Breakfast will be at the hotel. A transfer will follow to Kariba. The journey roughly takes about 4 hours.

1300hrs Arrive in Kariba and check in at Caribbea Bay Hotel.

 

Caribbea Bay

Caribbea Bay resort and casino is situated right on the shoreline of Lake Kariba. This Mediterranean style resort has facilities and entertainment for the whole family. Caribbea Bay offers guests a sun-filled holiday in relaxed comfort. Linger over sundowners on the pool deck, enjoy an informal dinner in the restaurant or play the tables at the intimate casino. This Sardinian-style hotel has 80 attractively furnished deluxe suites and casitas which are fully air-conditioned.

Dinner will be at the hotel.

Overnight Caribbea Bay Hotel – Full board.


Day 3
Pickup 0900hrs
Kariba Highlights Tour.
Drive up to Kariba Heights for a magnificent panorama of the lake at the Operation Noah memorial, and visit the church of Saint Barbara. Built in the coffer shape of the dam wall, the church is a memorial to the men who lost their lives during the construction of the massive dam wall. Proceed to the observation point for a bird’s eye-view of the mighty dam wall, then walk on the wall itself, 128 metres high, 579 metres long and holding back the world's largest lake at the time it was built. 
Clients are required to leave some form of identification (ID card, passport or driver's licence) at the border before going on to the wall.
After the tour, guests will be transferred back to the hotel for lunch.
After lunch, guests will be at leisure.
1600hrs Guests will have a sunset cruise in Lake Kariba.


Sunset Cruise
In the afternoon, take a Sundowner Cruise (cash bar) down the Lake Kariba.  There is no better way to end the day than to watch an African Sun slip down the horizon, while sipping drinks and enjoying light snacks.  Birds, elephants, hippos and crocodiles are abound in their natural habitat.
Overnight at Caribbea Bay Hotel – Full board.


Day 04
Pickup 0700hrs After breakfast, you will enjoy a full day exploration of Matusadona National Park.


Full Day Matusadona
Take a 45 minutes boat transfer across Lake Kariba to Matusadona National Park. Explore a 2 hour bush walk in the national park with a game ranger . After lunch you complete your experience of this beautiful park with 2 hour game drive. Get the chance to spot elephants and buffalos, spotted genet, slender mongoose, banded mongoose, spotted hyena, wild cat, lion, leopard, yellow spotted dassies, black rhinoceros, zebras, warthogs, common duikers, grysbok, klipspringers, waterbucks, bushbucks, scrub hares, porcupines, vervet monkeys, chacma baboons, side-striped jackals, hippopotamus, roan antelopes, kudus and bush squirrels and many more. Finally you relax on a return boat transfer back to the hotel.
Dinner will be at the hotel.
Overnight at Caribbea Bay Hotel – Dinner, bed and breakfast.


Day 5
0630hrs Today we need to leave early as this is our longest drive of the tour. Breakfast will be at the hotel and depart to Antelope Park in Gweru. We will carry packed lunches. Optional activities are available at Antelope Park that includes the elephant ride; lion encounter walks, boat cruise and the exciting carriage ride.

Overnight at Antelope Park: Dinner, bed and breakfast


Day 06   Transfer from Antelope Park in Gweru to Masvingo (Approximately 2hours)

Overnight Lodge At The Ancient City – All-inclusive.

 

Lodge At The Ancient City

Become a king for the day at the spectacular Lodge at the Ancient City, where the architecture captures the essence of the ruined city itself. The Lodge has been built around a granite outcrop with views across a valley of Msasa trees towards the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe. The Lodge integrates the natural trees and boulders of the site with dry stonewalling and soaring thatch structures. 

Accommodation for 48 guests is in lodges with en suite bathrooms and furnishings that evoke the royal dwellings of African legend. Soft mbira music at dusk, firelight and warm hospitality recreates an ambience where time stands still. The stone and thatch lounge and bar is set high upon a granite outcrop with huge boulders forming an integral part of the overall architecture.  The building offers views of the Great Enclosure. Meals are enjoyed in a thatched dining hall or open-air summerhouse depending on the weather.
Expert historical guides take guests on tours of the ancient capital. The origins, architecture, trading routes, social and religious practices and the ultimate mysterious decline of the city are all discussed.

 

Day 07 Great Zimbabwe monument tour
Visit and explore the ruins of Great Zimbabwe with an expert guide. The ruined city of Great Zimbabwe is the largest and most significant ancient Monument south of the Sahara.  The guided tour takes you through the Acropolis situated on a hill, Great Enclosure that is about 250 metres in diameter, with double walls up to 11 metres high and, the Conical Tower, and some smaller towers and many lesser enclosures linked by sunken passageways and walls.  You will be amazed at the construction, built entirely without mortar, of a million stones, each balancing upon the next in a feat of skill that is hard to imagine today. You will also enjoy the scenic drives, walks and boat cruise on lake Mutirikwi.

Overnight Lodge At The Ancient City – All-inclusive.

 

Day 08 Transfer from Masvingo to Bulawayo (Approximately 4 hours)

Overnight Matobo Lodge: All inclusive

Matobo Hills Lodge
Matobo Hills Lodge is situated in a private game Reserve bordering on Matopos National Park,
50km from Bulawayo. Cecil Rhodes was laid to rest on the crest of the 'Hill of Benevolent Spirits'.landscaped into the rocks on a granite ridge, Matobo Hills Lodge offers views across the wild Maleme Valley and Mount Ififim, raised always,shady gardens and a swimming pool built into a natural cleft in the rock providing a picturesque setting. There are seventeen lodges, all of which have en suite bathrooms. Meals are taken in a thatched dining room or open-air gazebo depending on the weather. Wide ranges of activities are available, designed to introduce guests to many facets of the Matobo Hills. Drives to areas of scenic and historical interest include visits to many of the famous painted caves and to the sites where the Matabele armies and the white settlers clashed during the uprising of 1896. A popular choice is a visit to the communal areas where the local Ndebele and Kalanga people continue to live their traditional life, mixing past beliefs and lifestyles with modern ideas and attitude.

 

Day 09   Game activities
Delicate Stone Age paintings adorn the walls of silent caves, whilst the rhinoceros, giraffe and zebra wander the ancient valleys. Game drives into Matobo National  Park in search of zebra, giraffe, leopard, white rhino and antelope are done in open vehicles by trained guides.
Overnight Matobo Hills Lodge – All-inclusive

 

Day 10 Transfer from Matobo to Hwange (Approximately 4 hours)

Overnight Sikumi Tree Lodge

Sikumi Tree Lodge : Hwange
Sikumi Tree Lodge is situated just outside of Hwange National Park overlooking a waterpan. Accommodation is in thatched tree houses in a grove of Acacia and Mangwe Trees.

 

Day 11   Game Activities- include a walking safari and game drive
Hwange, Zimbabwe’s largest National Park, is 14,600 square kilometers of unspoiled wilderness. Affectionately referred to by many as a “wildlife wonderland“. Hwange National Park is home to 107 species of animals and over 400 species of birds. It supports a large number of rhino, antelope, buffalo, zebra and giraffe, some of which are a veritable feast for the big cats and scavengers who roam the area in a ceaseless search for prey. It is also one of the world’s largest elephant sanctuaries – elephant can be seen in herds of one hundred or more, following the ancient migration routes from one waterhole to the next.
During the morning and afternoon game drives into the reserve you might see the lion, leopard, kudu, and wildebeest amongst a huge variety of wildlife.

 

 Day 12  Transfer from Hwange to Victoria Falls

Sunset Cruise
In the afternoon, take a Sundowner Cruise up the Zambezi River.  There is no better way to end the day than to watch an African Sun slip down the horizon, while sipping drinks and enjoying light snacks.  Birds, hippos and crocodiles are abound in their natural habitat.
Overnight Hotel Mercure Azambezi: Dinner, Bed and breakfast.

 

Hotel Mercure Azambezi.
Built under traditional grass thatch, nestling on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River, the Hotel Mercure A’ Zambezi affords the guests the perfect retreat to relax and unwind whilst enjoying the tranquil ambience and renowned services. The hotel also invites you to experience the Amulonga restaurant  - an authentic African open-air thatched roof restaurant on the edge of the Zambezi river.


Day 13 Chobe day trip (Botswana)

Breakfast will be at the hotel and afterwards guests will have the Chobe Day Trip.

 

Chobe Day Trip

The Caprivi Strip, just 70kms west of Victoria Falls is a very interesting area.  Not only does the Zambezi River form the borders of 4 countries here (Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia), but this is also the location of one of Africa’s finest natural game reserve the Chobe National Park.  The added presence of the equally intriguing Chobe River (in one season the water flows downstream and in the other it flows upstream) brings a myriad of game and rare bird species to this natural wilderness. The river teems with hippos and crocodiles which can be viewed both from boats and safari vehicles.  It is to this “animal paradise” that participants will be taken after an early breakfast at the Hotel.  After an hour’s drive through the Zambezi National Park, quick border formalities are carried out into Botswana before proceeding to Mowana Safari Lodge.  Participants will explore the National Park in 4 x 4 jeeps.
In the early afternoon, lunch will be served at the Mowana Safari Lodge by the swimming pool overlooking the Chobe River. After lunch, it will be time to go on a river cruise.

At the end of the excursions, participants will be transferred back to Victoria Falls.

 

Overnight Hotel Mercure Azambezi Dinner, Bed and Breakfast.

 

Day 14   Morning Guided Falls Tour
The first stop is at the “Big Tree”,an ancient Baobab some 16 meters in girth, kicks off the tour with an explanation of the geology of the Victoria Falls. From the Livingstone View to the Devil’s Cataract, on to the Main Falls, past the Rainbow Falls and to the Danger Point, participants walk the full length of the Falls through the Rainforest, where they may catch a glimpse of bushbuck and other wildlife.
Afternoon – at leisure or Optional tours.

Boma Dinner

Partially open to the African skies and sheltered by the indigenous Gusu forest lies the award winning Boma restaurant. This offers a unique African experience that bombards the senses with the tastes, sights, sounds and smells of Africa - together with the warmth and hospitality of Zimbabwe and its people. Specialising in a superb selection of traditional Zimbabwean dishes, fish, a variety of game meat and potjiekos (hunter’s stew) - as well as vegetarian meals - diners are invited to sample such ethnic delicacies as deep fried kapenta and groundnuts.
Traditional customs, such as local beer tasting and pre-dinner hand washing, are observed while the sights and Ndebele performers who captivate diners with their vibrant and energetic songs and dance accentuate sounds of the evening.
Steeped in mystery, a witchdoctor adds a touch of drama and after dinner guests are invited to wile away the evening with the restaurant’s Sangoma - a traditional storyteller - to learn more about the country’s folklore, culture and heritage.

Overnight Hotel Mercure Azambezi:  Bed and breakfast.

 

Day 15   Transfer from Azambezi River lodge to Victoria Falls airport.

 

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AROUND ZIMBABWE ][ TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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