Traveling in Zimbabwe is ideally accomplished from National Park to National Park by private chartered light aircraft, as the myriad of bush landing strips & the already long proven record of on time & safety makes for this travel option being so simple. You could opt to rent a vehicle, however there are restrictions on where fuel is to be sourced & it is not readily available outside of the rental companies main depots. Equally, if you are staying 2 or 3 nights in one National Park then moving on, a rental vehicle will simply provide you point A to point B travel, but within the National Park & for game drives, you are required to join the safari operators & their especially designed 4 x 4 vehicles, as off-road driving in rental cars is prohibited.

Downstream from the famous & incomparable Victoria Falls & bordering the huge man made Lake Kariba, is Matusadona National Park. Here, guests can stay in luxury reserved normally for world class city hotels, that float in close proximity to a ’mother ship ’where all services, fine food & beverages are served in air-conditioned comfort, while listening to the unmistakable shrill cry of an African Fish Eagle who’s royal splendour rivals its cousin & symbol of freedom, the North American Bald Eagle.

Awake to gentle groups of elephant, sloshing & munching on river reed grasses all but alongside your private floating bedroom, or take an excursion to visit the heavily secured ‘black rhino protection project’ where young Black Rhino who have been orphaned are brought up on a secured 5000 hectare island & at five years of age liberated into parts of Zimbabwe where poaching has in the past quite literally reduced their population to meager dwindled numbers.

Mana Pools National Park is ‘the’ place to take a canoe safari – drift lazily down river, observing in silence elephants, hippo & yes, crocodile sunning themselves along the banks. Here too, for keen fishing enthusiasts, the ‘Tiger’ fish is to Africa as the Dorado is to South America or the Steel Head salmon is to Canada & Alaska. It is a fighting fish that is revered & highly prized, in this region & prime specimens are in great abundance.

Hwange National Park remains the jewel in the crown of Zimbabwe’s National Parks. Here, seasonal migrations have huge herds of elephants stretching for miles crossing the savannah while it too is prime Big 5 country, with lion, buffalo, leopard & rhino well represented. There are two exceptional Private Game Reserve Lodges, each on their own concession land within Hwange National Park & both highly recommended for service & more over, the game viewing experience.

A departure tax that currently is set at USD 30 is required paid on your leaving Zimbabwe & it is recommended you carry small denomination USD notes as they will allow you to bargain for art & craft items in the local markets with so much more freedom. Tee-shirts, good running shoes or sneakers & modern clothing items also make excellent bargaining items, so don’t be surprised if a local craft merchant suggests that the item you are looking at purchasing is worth a specific amount of money as well as your tee-shirt or sneakers thrown in for good measure !

Be very careful exchanging money at other than an official Bank or House of Exchange, as there are many unfortunate stories of visitors who have been ‘taken ‘ by local street wise persons offering much larger sums of local currency that is the official rates.