Welcome to Zimbabwe August 31 Sunday

Welcome to Zimbabwe! August 31 Sunday

Oh my goodness! This is day one and this trip has already exceeded our expectations.

We started the day with a flight from Joburg to Victoria Falls, set out on our nearly six hour drive to our first camp in Zimbabwe. We first took some quite bumpy but “paved” roads for about three of those hours, and finally made it to the entrance of Hwange National Park. We then transferred to two open air safari vehicles for the rest of the drive. We were late leaving Joburg, so we were two hours behind and it was almost dark by this time, and our guides made up for it! Some of the dirt roads were washboards and some were just holes. It felt like we were going 80 miles an hour in the back of the truck, with a lot of dust, but it was the best seat in the house! On the way to camp we saw elephants, giraffes, baboons, and a hyena. It was fabulous, but by the time we got to our camp, it was quite chilly and we were over it.

Elephants in Hwange NP

Drinks in the open air safari vehicle on the way to our first camp at Makalolo in Hwange NP

They met us with music and dancing and served us a beautiful dinner. Everyone but us went to their tents, while we sat out by the fire pit with the staff, got to know them, stargazed, and had some wine. There are two guides, Douglass and Victor, several staff, and a chef at this camp. We also have our OAT dedicated Trip Experience Leader, Wonder, who is a local Zimbabwean, who will be with us for the entire trip.

We are staying at Makalolo Safari Camp, which is exclusively used by Overseas Adventure Travel. It is located inside Hwange National Park. There are 9 tents and a beautiful lounge/dining room area. We had to have an escorted walk to our tent with one of the guides who was a carrying a giant flashlight and an even gianter rifle. The tents are lovely. Each has private bathroom and a front porch. We zipped up all the windows, showered, and went to sleep with the sounds of various unknown animals in the near distance. It was about 55 degrees at 10 pm, and there is no heat in the tents, but we brought warm clothes and the beds are comfortable and warm.