Safaris in Zimbabwe

In 1855 the explorer and Africa researcher David Livingstone reached Victoria Falls for the first time. Today Victoria Falls is the most visited attraction in Zimbabwe. No safari through Zimbabwe, Zambia or Botswana is complete without a visit to the falls. The spray rising at high water can be seen for kilometres, especially from March to May, and the plunging masses of water are an impressive sight.

Especially when visiting Victoria Falls during the months with little water (November to January), the Zimbabwean side is the better starting point.

Hwange National Park is a first-class example of how applied conservation can work. When the park was founded in 1928, many of the animals living here were threatened with extinction by hunting and drought. 90 years later, the elephant population, for example, has grown from fewer than 1,000 animals to a sizeable 20,000. On safari you can spot impalas, duikers, kudus, wildebeest, sable antelope, oryx, zebras and other antelope species. Alongside lions, leopards and cheetahs live here, and buffalo and rhinos are also native to Hwange National Park.

The Great Zimbabwe Ruins are something special in southern Africa. From the early 11th to the mid-15th century, the ancestors of today's Shona people lived here in a fortress and houses made of stone. Large parts of the settlement complex are still intact today and can be visited. It is truly impressive how the massive buildings of rock weighing tonnes were built by human hands and hold together without cement.

Matobo National Park (formerly known as Matopos National Park) is known above all for the black and white rhinos that live here. Big cats, giraffes, zebras and antelopes can also be observed here. The San rock paintings and the adjoining museum in the national park are also well worth seeing.

Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe is the counterpart to Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia. In the rainy season the Zambezi floodplains turn into a huge lake landscape, which dries out again in the dry season. You can go on safari on the river by boat or canoe and watch the animals that come to the bank to drink. Besides large numbers of elephants, buffalo, crocodiles and hippos, you can also spot lions, leopards and cheetahs on game drives.