DAY ONE – VICTORIA FALS – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
Approximate flight time 1 hour
Arrive at Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Airport and clear customs, after which you’ll be met by a representative who will help you transfer to the domestic air terminal for your scenic 1hr flight to Jozibanini Camp in Hwange National Park. The flight will land at Libuti airstrip where you will be transported to camp by road in a 4 x 4 vehicle ( 15 minutes).
After settling into your tent and having some time to unpack, relax and freshen up, depart on a game drive to explore this unique untamed wilderness, returning to camp for dinner round the camp fire.
Overnight at Jozibanini Camp (Fully Inclusive)
DAY TWO – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
After breakfast over the campfire, today you have the opportunity to head off on a guided mountain bike ride through the elephant paths along the inter-dune troughs around Jozibanini. The ecosystem here is semi-desert akin to the Kalahari in neighbouring Botswana. Ancient windblown fossil sand dunes are separated by shallow valleys where elephant paths have compacted the terrain, providing this area with the opportunity for a unique experience of game viewing by mountain bike. These rides can be from 30 minutes around camp to a full day exploring deep into southern Hwange, depending on your energy, fitness and adventure level!
Enjoy a delicious lunch back at camp or for the adventurous cyclists, a picnic lunch under a shady tree where you can have a siesta before the bike ride (or vehicle if you prefer!) back to camp in the afternoon.
Sundowners at the Jozibanini Look-up blind
In the late afternoon, you’ll head into the underground “Look-up” blind for spectacular photographic opportunities of the wildlife, just feet away, at the Jozi waterhole. Enjoy a cool sundowner inside or atop the Look-up blind and once the sun has set, head back to camp for a tasty dinner out under the glorious night sky.
Jozi star beds – sleeping under a blanket of stars
If you’re feeling adventurous or in need of more star gazing, the beds can be rolled onto the deck of the tents for an extraordinary star-bed experience gazing skyward at millions of stars in the dark Hwange sky. As one guest put it, “Jozi isn’t a 5 star camp, it’s a five million star camp!”
Overnight at Jozibanini Camp (Fully Inclusive)
DAY THREE – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
Enjoy an early morning game drive or a guided game walk through the area around camp once more experiencing Hwange’s magnificent elephant on ground level and go tracking for the different species to be found in this part of the park such as lion, wild dog and buffalo.
Return to camp for brunch and some down time, enjoying the solitude of being in a completely untouched and isolated spot within the pristine African bush.
In the early afternoon, head off again on by foot, bike or game drive vehicle to explore another part of the far remote southwestern corner of Hwange National Park. You may also opt to visit the nearby Makona park ranger station and meet some of the park rangers who help protect and patrol the deep south of Hwange.
Optional visit St. Joseph’s School and Gibi Xegu village
Today you may also wish to include a visit to St Joseph’s School located in the village of Gibi Xegu village on the border of Hwange. This is a 1.5hr game drive from camp. This village and school is supported by Imvelo Safari Lodges but given its very remote location, it receives few visitors and less support from tourism currently. Over the past few years, Imvelo has solarised the school water pump, installed a tank for water storage, provided daily lunch for all 160 pupils during the dry season and provided textbooks and teacher training through the Hwange School Projects. Guests are warmly welcomed by the students and teachers, with the occasional chicken being offered as a thank you gift for the visit!
Enjoy another dinner under the stars before retiring to your tent for the night.
Overnight at Jozibanini Camp (Fully Inclusive)
DAY FOUR – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
Today depart Jozibanini Camp for your full day safari or “pump run” across the southern border of Hwange!
Hwange National Park has no major rivers and for the past 70 years during Hwange’s dry seasons, wildlife has subsisted here on water originally pumped by windmills, later replaced by diesel engines and now solar power. In the southern sector of the Park, Imvelo Safari Lodges shoulders the responsibility for 16+ pumped waterholes. This means Imvelo is looking after approximately 20- 25% of the waterholes that sustain Hwange’s wildlife.
Imvelo’s trademark “pump runs” combine game viewing in remote areas of the park with practical hands-on conservation helping to maintain these waterholes and pumps which the wildlife rely on for water during the dry season. Many of these pumps have been converted to solar-hybrid pumps in recent years. You’ll learn about the challenges of maintaining this system in conversations and hand-on activities with your guide and the pump attendants who spend the dry season living at the waterholes to keep the pumps running.
After enjoying a picnic lunch, continue onward to Bomani Tented Lodge, arriving in the early evening after a sundowner stop on the Ngamo Plains.
Freshen up and enjoy refreshments at the campfire before enjoying a 3-course dinner under the stars.
Overnight at Bomani Tented Lodge (Fully Inclusive)
DAY FIVE – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
After an early wake-up call, head out to explore the wilderness as the sun is rising and with the possibility of seeing the big cats when they are still active. Return back to the lodge for brunch and spend the afternoon at leisure within the lodge, either relaxing on the viewing deck overlooking the lodge waterhole or perhaps cooling off in the splash pool.
All activities are flexible and the above program can be varied, for example with a departure after a full breakfast at the lodge, or with a picnic brunch in the bush.
In the late afternoon, head out again to explore the Ngamo Plains. Your guide will reveal the options available and make recommendations based on your own preferences and what has been sited during the day – game drives, walks, full-day excursions, bird watching and waterhole watches are all alternatives.
Return back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Overnight at Bomani Tented Lodge (Fully Inclusive)
DAY SIX – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
Today you have the opportunity to visit the Imvelo Ngamo Rhino Sanctuary where you’ll meet Thuza and Kusasa, as well as the Cobra Rangers guarding them 24/7. Start with a behind-the-scenes look at the Cobras basecamp and learn more about their work along with Imvelo’s many other community and conservation programs. Hear a short talk on the origins and ideas behind the formation of the Cobras unit and how they protect the rhino, as well as the future plans for their ground-breaking Community Rhino Conservation Initiative.
Head off on foot or by vehicle with the Cobras to meet Thuza and Kusasa! There will be lots of photo opportunities and quality time to watch and enjoy the rhinos in their natural environment on the Ngamo plains; how close you will be able to get to the rhino will be subject to conditions on the ground.
Each guest at Bomani Tented Lodge pays a rhino conservation and community levy; these funds all go into the rhino sanctuary along with community projects in the nearby villages.
Vehicles must stay on the roads in the Southern Hwange Park so often a game drive is combined with a spontaneous walking safari to explore more terrain off the roads. Stop at a water hole to enjoy a refreshing sundowner whilst you watch the sun sink beneath the horizon before heading back to the lodge to freshen up for dinner under the brilliant stars.
Overnight at Bomani Tented Lodge (Fully Inclusive)
DAY SEVEN – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK
Today guests have the opportunity to enjoy an actual and un-orchestrated look at village life in rural Matabeleland.
This morning sees an early start with breakfast in the dining room before heading to nearby Ngunyana Village where guests can join the children on their morning walk to school or join the younger kids for a ride in our safari vehicles! Once at the school, guests meet the Headmaster and are welcomed with traditional songs sung by the students, followed by a short classroom interaction. This activity gives the school children a wonderful opportunity to meet and interact with people from all over the world who have come to see the wildlife amongst which they live.
After the school visit, head to a nearby village for an un-choreographed visit of a local homestead, including a meeting with the headman of the village. Guests will be able to see some of Imvelo’s community initiatives firsthand and gain insight into the day to day life of a rural Zimbabwean including learning about thatching roofs, tilling fields, milling maize and weaving baskets.
In the afternoon, head back into Hwange in search of wildlife before making a stop for a bush lunch next to the specially built underground game-viewing blind at Stoffie’s Pan aka the “Look-up” blind, named such because its located at the water level so you’ll be looking up at the elephants! After lunch, enjoy some time in the blind with snout-level viewing of thirsty elephants just feet way! The blind is furnished with comfortable seating and has running water for flush loos and hand basins.
In the late afternoon, continue to explore the Ngamo plains on foot and by vehicle. After sundowners, we’ll night drive back to camp, exploring the Bomani concession, looking for nocturnal species that prowl the plains after twilight.
Overnight at Bomani Tented Lodge (Fully Inclusive)
DAY EIGHT – HWANGE NATIONAL PARK – VICTORIA FALLS
Approximate flight time 1 hour
After a final breakfast and morning game drive (time permitting), climb aboard your 1hr hour scenic air charter from the Bomani airstrip to Victoria Falls International Airport for your onward travel.
