Make your way to Pretoria to meet at Rovos Rail Private Station where the Pride of Africa departs on its 1600 KM journey thru diverse African Scenery.
13:00 Depart Rovos Rail Station, Pretoria. Guests may freshen up in their suites before joining fellow travellers in the lounge car or observation car at the rear of the train. Please ensure the Train Manager or Administration Deputy is in possession of your passport. Lunch is served in the dining cars.
Travel through Warmbaths (Bela-Bela) – so named for its mineral waters – and Nylstroom, christened by the Voortrekkers as the source of the Nile River as the town’s river happened to be north flowing. Pass the edge of the escarpment where the Highveld drops precipitously.
16:00 Tea is served in the lounge and observation cars. The train crosses the Tropic of Capricorn.
19:30 Dinner is served in the dining cars. The train crosses the Limpopo River to Beitbridge. Dress: Formal In Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, the ‘Elephant’s Child’ departs his family for the “great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, to find out what the Crocodile has for dinner.”
Day 2:
Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00. The train travels baobab country.
This afternoon Lunch is served in the dining cars as you travel towards Bulawayo: second city of Zimbabwe, capital of Matabeleland and industrial capital of the country.
Enjoy afternoon tea served in the lounge and observation cars.
Enroute to Mpopoma Dinner is served in the dining cars. Dress: Formal
Breakfast is served in the dining cars until 10:00.
Enjoy Lunch as the train travels between Gwaai and Dete along one of the world’s longest stretches of straight railway line – 114 kilometres – and along the eastern edge of Hwange Park.
This afternoon enjoy a game drive at The Hide in Hwange National Park.
later this evening, Dinner is served in the dining cars en route to Thompsons Junction for overnight. Dress: Formal
This morning have your bags ready and enjoy breakfast before disembarking from the train at the Victoria Falls Station. You will be met for transfer to Mpala Jena for the next two nights.
This intimate Safari Camp is positioned along the beautiful tree-laden banks of the Mighty Zambezi River. ‘Mpala Jena’ means “White Impala”. According to the local National Park rangers, in 1979, albino impala sightings were reported when the Zambezi National Park was separated from the Victoria Falls National Park and declared a National Park.
Over the next two days, Mpala Jena Camp offers professionally guided wildlife viewing in open game drive vehicles, walks and morning or afternoon boat cruises (water level dependent / seasonally). The camp has custom-built Land cruisers, and the vehicles are fully stocked with reference books, drinks and snacks. In addition, guests should take the opportunity to enjoy an excursion into Victoria Falls town, including a visit to the thunderous and impressive mass of falling water of the actual Victoria Falls during their stay. A guided tour of the Falls can be arranged for guests.
Additional cost activities are available for those who wish to participate in the varied adrenalin and more relaxing activities that this tourist hub has become renowned for. A range of activities exists, including navigating one of the world’s most intense white-water rafting, partaking in the numerous high-wire activities located at the Gorge / Lookout Cafe, conducting a cultural village tour, a historical guided high tea tour, or simply enjoying wandering the streets of this bustling tourist town.
The Zambezi National Park is located upstream from Victoria Falls, on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe, separated from the Victoria Falls National Park in 1979 and is 56,000 hectares in its entirety. Most of the Park is within the eco-region of Zambezian and Mopani woodlands, whilst a small portion in the south is within the Zambezian Baikiaea Woodlands. The Park essentially has two main habitats – riverine and Chamabonda vlei.
Transfer to the Victoria Falls Airport for your lite aircraft flight to Mana Pools and the Sapi Reserve.
“For those travelers seeking a luxury Zimbabwe safari, Tembo Plains Camp, located in the private Sapi Reserve, welcomes you. “Tembo” means Elephant. The camp honours these animals found on these Zimbabwean plains alongside the Zambezi River. We draw on the elephant’s pace and essence for the camp’s atmosphere. Tembo Plains Camp reflects more than just a place,” explains Great Plains Conservation CEO and National Geographic Explorer Dereck Joubert. “It also speaks to the long and unique relationships we have with elephants.”
The camp is tucked away into a thick riverine forest on the edge of the Zambezi River, in the private 128,000-hectare Sapi Private Reserve, east of Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park.
Painted dogs (wild dogs), lions and leopards are common around Tembo Plains, whilst buffalo are regularly seen up and down, and sometimes swimming the Zambezi River itself, as are elephants.
The private Sapi Reserve, a previous hunting area, was established in 2016 by Great Plains Conservation as a beautiful private photographic reserve safe for wildlife. It borders the Mana Pools National Park to the west and forms part of our mission to convert vast tracts of Africa into pure conservation land. It is now recognized as one of the finest wildlife destinations in Africa today. We access this fantastic wildlife sanctuary and the Mana Pools National Park if we want to offer a combined range of over 337,000 hectares of prime, protected wilderness for our guests. It is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site and a core area of the middle-Zambezi biosphere reserve.
Enjoy the privacy of a safari, so rare today, in a wildlife-rich sanctuary along the Zambezi River with us. Here you don’t have to worry about anything else except how best to soak up every moment. Your safari with us includes everything, day and night wildlife-viewing drives, boating, canoeing or guided walks and tracking, drinks. And, of course, our Relais & Châteaux level cuisine and service.
This morning enjoy breakfast and quick activity before returning to the airstrip for your lite aircraft flight to Hwange National park.
Here you will be met by the rangers from Kulu Bush Camp, Hwange National Park’s quintessential luxury safari lodge. Inspired by the breathtaking splendor of its natural surrounds, Khulu Bush Camp reflects Africa’s timeless wonder and natural beauty, providing you with the ultimate and utterly unforgettable safari experience.
Khulu Bush Camp is the smaller, more intimate sister lodge to its neighbouring Ivory Lodge. The excellent accessibility does not take away from its unparalleled feeling of seclusion and remoteness in the true African wilderness. Khulu Bush Camp is a tribute to Cedric Wilde, one of the Directors of the Amalinda Safari Collection, who it is named after. Khulu is the community and staff’s affectionate name for Cedric and it means ‘grandfather’. If you are lucky enough to be in camp with Khulu himself your evenings will be spent around the fire, talking of days gone by and strumming to old country tunes.
The beauty of this camp is that it combines luxurious and private accommodation with old world hospitality. Khulu overlooks an ancient riverbed, in today’s terms called a ‘vlei’, known to attract a variety of the greatest wildlife and bird life in Hwange National Park, right on your doorstep.
Over the next three days enjoy guided walks and Day & Night game drives where you can spot the elusive African wilddog. Spend an afternoon at the Pan enjoying full day waiter service while herds of Buffalo, Elephant, Plains game and predators come to drink. Or enjoy an afternoon on the Dete Cultural Tour.
Today our driver will collect you for the transfer to Bulawayo and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Motobo Hills, the oldest National Park of Zimbabwe. Tucked away into an ancient Bushmans shelter, the wilderness of granite Amalinda Lodge is an exclusive, privately owned safari lodge. This African inspired refuge effortlessly harmonizes with the cultural and spiritual energy, allure and unique beauty for which the Matobo Hills is renowned and celebrated.
The granite domes and castle kopjes echo the essence of tranquility and majesty of untamed Africa, where wildlife and birdlife species thrive in prolific numbers. Famous for its healthy population of endangered rhino, the area is one of the most sought after destinations within Zimbabwe.
Over the next few days enjoy Rhino tracking in one of the last bastions of both black and white rhino in Africa. In vehicle and on foot knowledgeable guide provide and encounter of an unforgettable safari experiences. Visit the world famous tomb of Cecil John Rhodes, visit the National Railway museum of Bulawayo, take historical bikes, hikes and walks as you explore the hills where mysterious nomads one held their sacred ceremonies.
At journey's end return depart for the Bulawayo airport.
Extend your stay with a complete visit to the beautiful country of Zimbabwe with a visit to the stunning Gonarezhou National Park and Chilo Gorge, Pamushana in the 130,000-acre Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve or for the history buff a visit the Great Zimbabwe.
