Safari Stories

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Charles Chare ]

Zimbabwe is a tea pot shaped country and offers a special kind in uniqueness.

Close to Beit Bridge, on the banks of the Limpopo River, is the Nottingham Estate which in my opinion is a wonder.

Come to Chiredzi, and the Gonarezhou National Park, which means ‘the place of elephants’. You can explore it from south to north and see the Chilojo cliffs and the Chipinda pools, to name just a few places.

We have the Save Valley Conservancy and the Malilangwe Trust Conservancy, and the Chirinda Forest in Chipinge, where you can see the Big Tree, Zimbabwe’s tallest indigenous tree, a red mahogany that has been declared a National Monument.

Chimanimani is a paradise on its own with the Bridal Veil Falls and Tessa’s Pool, walk the Mbira Trail in the wilds of Chimanimani and see the bubbling pool and the squeaker frog, endemic to Chimanimani and once presumed to be enxict but recently discovered in the clear waters in the Chimanimani Mountains.

At the Nyanga National Park you can hike to the top point in Zimbabwe, the Inyangani Mountain, explore the Mtarazi Falls and Nyangombe Falls, the pit structures and experience the zip line.

I end with some photos of my recent trip to Hwange - sunset at the Dete Vlei between Sable Sands and Hwange Safari lodge, at Ngweshla with Humba as he rest.

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Lee-Anne Russell ]

Right before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, we were lucky enough to squeeze a trip into Hwange National Park. This is not our normal time of year to travel to the parks but we went anyway.

Our sightings included 27 lions over the four days and not one but two leopards. This beautiful young female was absolute pure chance. We had gone into the park in the morning as normal and drove around for a while, I remember feeling not so great and saying to my husband, “let’s go out already.” It was 8:30am, virtually unheard of for me to leave the park willingly let alone early.

We were driving towards the main boom gate when I spotted this leopard (proud moment as I usually suck at spotting anything myself). I spluttered out who knows what to get my husband to stop the car and slowly back track towards the cat. She was barely 15 meters from us, climbing higher into the branches. She chose a fairly high out of normal sight branch and proceeded to have a nap. She stayed there till just after 11 in the morning. When she came down from the tree she disappeared into the bush.

I was shocked at the level of camouflage and then realised why spotting them is so rare.

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Michelle Berry ]

In July 2021 we decided to visit parks that we hadn’t seen before.

We set off to Chinhoyi Caves, which is an absolute must see for those who haven’t been. We spent one night there and the following day set off on the long drive to Matusadona National Park.

The road to Matusadona was busy being repaired and although it took us most of the day it was mostly a pleasant drive. We camped at Tashinga which is absolutely lovely! The African parks officials were very friendly and helpful and we thoroughly enjoyed our first trip to this beautiful park. We spent one day in camp and we were lucky enough to see a raptor trying to use our car as camouflage and catch a guinea fowl. We also had an elephant spend most of the day with us and take leaves off our car roof. It was a great stay.

We decided to try another route on our way out and spent one night at Chizarira National Park, a gorgeous park which definitely deserves more exploring on our part!

On our way home we stopped at Hwange for one night to break up the journey. This is probably still my favourite part of Zimbabwe. Maybe because it is so close. But also because the sightings are magnificent. They had a special on so we splurged and spent the night in a chalet at main camp.

Zimbabwe has absolutely amazing parks and we as locals should explore more!

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Suzanne Elliott Smith ]

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Lee-Anne Russell ]

This shot was taken from our most recent trip to Mana Pools.

In the early hours of the morning we heard a lion calling nearby. We bolted upright and jumped out of bed. It was half past four in the morning but we really didn’t care, we’d be ready to move at first light. Longest hour and a half in my life. We listened for ages as he moved a bit further away. We headed towards the sounds of his calls expecting to find at least four tour guide vehicles already on site.

There was no one. Not a single soul, the scene before us was this male lion charging towards a heard of buffalo and making them scatter followed closely by the pushing of him and his pride back into the bush. The light was too weak to take photos but the memories are crystal in my mind. When the herd finally moved off, we sat for a while watching the pride (two females, this big male and three cubs) lay about relaxing. As the females and cubs started to move off this beautiful male lion, as if prompted by my inner hopes, lay down right under the perfect arch with the perfect golden lighting behind him. I was amazed, he sat for a minute and then up and walked off with his family.

Mana Pools National Park is an absolute must for the bush lover at least once in their lives. We have been four times now and every time has a new experience that just blows your mind.

I was very lucky to be exposed to the bush from a very young age, and it started off a love affair that will never end…and I always hoped that my kids would feel the same way about it as I do. I can very happily say that they do…so much so that they are often the ones that request we jump in the car and go for a game drive whenever we have some free time (and living in Vic Falls again, after years in Dar- s Salaam, it is now easy to do).

And that is why I chose this photo for my story – two things that make my heart incredibly happy…my kids (in this case just the one of them) and wildlife.

Taken at Nantwich, Hwange National Park in October 2020, my daughter had just sat down to watch the sunset. As the air started changing and the blue gave way to the oranges and pinks that arrive with the setting sun, a big cloud of dust appeared on the horizon… and moments later this huge herd of buffalo started making its way down the waterhole to drink and graze. She sat down calmly and quite serenely taking in the hundreds of buffalo that were walking towards her. They seemed to glow. Just as did she.

This whole trip was magic. The buffalo came in their hundreds every night, as did the elephants (one evening both arrived at the same time and the noise that ensued was quite deafening). But this moment is one that will long remain in my memory, as well as hers.

I think it is so important to get kids to love it out there – it makes the future look brighter.

[ WRITER: Lynda Kozacek Barkhuizen ] Whilst at the Victoria Falls recently some friends of ours invited us to Chamabonda Vlei (turnoff just before Victoria Falls) which I did not know existed. We jumped on the back of a Land Cruiser and off we went. Well, what a wonderful experience. We must have seen about 300 elephants and a herd of about 100 Buffalo.

We also came upon a family of hyena which were getting ready for their nightly “outing.”

What a treat it was to see the babies popping their heads out of their den. We also passed some platforms which, I believe, can be hired from National Parks for an overnight stay.

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Leigh Anne Williams ]

Hwange National Park holds my heart just as Matopos does.

The particular photo was taken from a recent trip to Hwange in August last year and taken from Nyamandlovu viewing platform (one of the ‘must go to’ when in Hwange). A lone bull wandered in to bathe, drink and play in the water. The naughty baboons were creating a scene and misbehaving, and his highness here had quite enough of their nonsense and chased them, spraying them with water and putting on quite a show with his trumpeting and carrying on. This seemed to please the baboons greatly who only turned up the volume on their bad behavior and eventually his royal highness took his leave looking rather annoyed at his defeat in discipline. [ WRITER / PHOTO: Suzanne Elliott Smith ]

One rainy and overcast day in February last year I decided to take my girls for a drive in the Zambezi National Park.

It was the wrong time of the day and not the most ideal weather so we didn’t think we would see much in the way of wildlife, but the bird life is always fabulous. So, we thought we would just go and see some birds.

Gosh were we wrong! There seemed to be something to see around just about every corner. Elephants, zebra, wildebeest, impala, warthogs, kudu, giraffes… big and small, male and female… dodging the rain, they were all out making the most of their Sunday.

Heading home, all was very quiet, until we had to stop for a while for an oncoming elephant – it was happily strolling down the middle of the road straight towards us. We sat, just waiting a while to see what it was going to do – to see if we needed to turn around or if we would be able to go forward again. Then after a few lifts of the trunk to smell the air it moved off into the bush. We moved forward cautiously – just to make sure it wasn’t going to pop out right in front of us again… and then we realised what it must been smelling. Just the cherry on the top of a day of fabulous (and much unexpected) game viewing… a leopard! First time the girls have seen one in the wild. I grabbed the camera as it was moving down the tree and didn’t even have time to focus properly – and still we got it – even the water coming off it’s back. It moved into the grass – turned to give us a last look – and headed off again into thick bush – just as the elephant popped out again.

The girls’ excitement was just so special to experience too - Zimbabwe parks definitely have a way of giving you unexpected surprises.

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Lee-Anne Russell ]

The day started off very quietly with the usual sunrise shots, a jackal and some plains game.

At 12 when we went into the campsite, we heard that a small pride of lion were on a buffalo kill. We had lunch quickly and went to find them. We were disappointed to find the lions way off from the kill and hiding from the midday heat under some shady trees, and at this point I would have killed a buffalo for a shady tree, it was sweltering. We waited around for ages and finally some vultures came in, at least there was some movement for photos. As the vultures closed in, the male lion that we had not even previously noticed charged out of the bush to protect his meal.

Wow, no one had anticipated that! I didn’t get any shots, but that definitely perked up our attention. As the sun drifted across the sky, we watched the pride come in one at a time, every now and again, to inspect their dinner only to walk off again into the shade. The vultures were now edging closer and the largest lioness was getting very edgy. I noticed her starting to stalk a vulture from below the ridge,I focused in on her and hoped everyone else had seen what she was up to. Within seconds she was in a full charge at the vulture, who naturally took off rather hastily. Where we had parked had provided the absolute best vantage point for her face, when she charged. Looking at the images now it almost feels like she is staring right at me over her kill.

Remember to always keep a healthy distance at a kill, lions are very possessive of their meals.

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Michelle Berry ]

So, for my last story… which park to write about was an incredibly hard choice! I love them all. Matopos is very close to my heart, but as I live in Matopos I decided it probably didn’t count as a park I’d visited.

So I will talk about our trip in December 2020, which was filled with more firsts for us. Our first stop was Gonarezhou National Park, where we camped at Rossi pools for a few nights. We can’t wait to come back to this gorgeous campsite, what an amazing view!!!! We thoroughly enjoyed seeing this park for the first time. Unfortunately the river was flowing so we couldn’t cross over to Chilojo cliffs but we look forward to getting there soon.

We then went past Lake Mutriwiki National Park and spent one night there. This park totally surprised us with the amount of game and how beautiful the scenery is! We plan to go back there this year for a longer stay.

We spent our last morning at Great Zimbabwe exploring the ruins, before heading home. Another fantastic trip exploring the beautiful parks this amazing country has to offer…all done in a Landrover and not one breakdown. [ WRITER / PHOTO: Suzanne Elliott Smith ]

A LITTLE KNOWN GEM

[ WRITER / PHOTO: Trevor Lowein ]

A bit of an old story but one that unfolded over four hours. A pack of painted dogs had made a kill on the edge of Guvalala Pan in Hwangwe and remained there after consuming their prey.

I arrived around eight in the morning and found a lone kudu bull in the water with the whole pack of dogs spread around the perimeter. The waiting game was on, very cunning and clever are these dogs. At times the whole pack would lie down facing away from the kudu to show that they had lost interest. Only one dog would be watching, seemingly out of the corner of its eye. To cut a long story short, this kudu left the pan on three occasions with the whole pack in pursuit. On each of these runs the kudu made a U-turn about 500 metres from the pan and returned to the safety of the water. On his final exit from the water at around one o’clock, only two of the dogs trailed him and he made good his freedom.

We are incredibly lucky here in Zimbabwe with so many National Parks and game reserves… Hwange, Mana Pools, Gonarezhou etc. but we don’t always have the time, or the finances to visit these places. Some of us, however, are so incredibly lucky to live close to places that might not be nearly as large as the more well-known places, but hold just as much punch in the magic and memory stakes. An absolute favourite of ours is one such place…the absolute gem that is Chamabonda National Park. Part of Zambezi National Park but not very well known, this park that runs along the Kazungula road is absolutely fantastic.

I tried to pick one story and one photo to go with it. It was completely impossible. I have literally, thousands of pictures taken there, and that is just from the last two- and a-bit years. We have done game drives there early morning, we have gone in the afternoon, spent full days, just popped in briefly, and we have camped (just the most basic of camps set up on one of the hides). Many a time – sometimes as a family, sometimes with friends (I have even gone alone with just my two kids).

We have been kept awake by the whooping of hyena, and by the roaring of lions, and the squealing and chattering sounds of jackal, and the trumpeting and drinking of huge herds of elephant.

We have had lions mating right next to the car, wild dogs lazing right by the 3rd platform and thinking about taking on a passing giraffe and zebra, jackals nipping at the butts of hyena as they try to drink, super herds of buffalo filling the Chamabonda Vlei, huge herds of elephants appearing out of nowhere to come for a drink, journeys of giraffe walking out in the open, prides of lions with incredibly handsome big maned males spending hours at a waterhole, majestic sables and very large eland with their clicking feet. Seen a huge variety of birds (my best being the slightly crazy secretary bird just seen in the long grass, or the many kori bustards you see along the way) and so much more.

We have seen new life in baby hyena and baby bush pigs and lapwing chicks diving for cover. We have seen death in the old limping buffalo, in the kill near the road, the vultures cleaning up a carcass, and in the bones lying around the place. We have seen and learnt so much from this place. And most of the time we have been seemingly alone in the park – other than the birds and the wildlife.

We have driven up and down that Vlei a lot – we go as often as we possibly can and it never disappoints. So here is just the smallest snippet of one of our most favourite places. Happy travels!