ZIMBABWE | COOL AT THE POOL
Cool at the Pool WRITER: ASTRID STEINBRECHER-RAITMAYR PHOTOGRAPHY: ASTRID STEINBRECHER-RAITMAYR
here is nothing like a beautiful sunset! But sitting at a waterhole, with a G&T in hand, watching approximately 100 elephants approaching from all directions makes you believe you are the luckiest person alive. Hwange National Park, covering an area of 14,651 square kilometres, is home to over 100 species of mammals—including the ‘Big Five’ and wild dogs—and over 400 species of birds. The park, situated in the western part of the country, is the largest protected area of Zimbabwe and borders the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. This park is especially known as a paradise for pachyderms—up to 50,000 elephants inhabit the area during the dry winter months. For this reason, my daughter
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TRAVEL & LEISURE | ISSUE 17 | NOVEMBER 2020–APRIL 2021
Constanze and I flew to Victoria Falls because we wanted to see these incredible creatures. A driver picks us up from the airport and drops us off at an intersection in the middle of the bush where a safari vehicle from Machaba Safaris is waiting for us. Makhosi ‘Mak’ Ncube, camp manager at Deteema Springs Camp and also our