Walking Safaris in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is traditionally a country with excellent walking guides and unlimited walking opportunities.

Often the focus of the walking is to skillfully track and approach big game, making Zimbabwe ideal for more adventurous walkers.

Mana Pools National Park in particular remains one of the best places to walk in Africa, especially the floodplain and open woodland areas along the course of the Zambezi River which are open, beautiful and full of game. Most camps in Mana Pools offer walking, but a few are more specialist than others. Goliath Camp and Vundu Camp are known for their emphasis on professional guiding and offer superb walking options including up close experiences with bull elephants, wild dogs and lions. John’s Camp and Camp Mana are two further options where the emphasis is firmly on walking. The guiding at these four camps is a real ‘pull’ for safari enthusiasts. For a more adventurous multi-day walking trail you can’t beat Mana Shoreline Walking Trail, which is operated by Natureways Safaris. Away from the river, Kavinga Safari Camp is able to offer more adventurous walking along the foot of and into the escarpment hills. All in all, Mana Pools National Park is a superb walking safari destination, and the best place in Africa to see wild dogs and/or relaxed bull elephants on foot.

Walking is available elsewhere in the country, from the forests and hills of the Eastern Highlands and the remote bush wilderness of the Save Valley Conservancy and Gonarezhou National Park in the south-east lowveld region, to the Matusadona National Park on the shores of Lake Kariba, Matobo Hills National Park near Bulawayo and the vast Hwange National Park in the west of the country.

Hwange is a key big game area and camps like Camp Hwange and Hwange Bush Camp are especially strong on walking with a huge emphasis on guiding. They also offer multi-day walking trails staying in more adventurous fly camps in the wilderness, and these can be tailored to your wishes.

Gonarezhou is a large park but little known wilderness in the south-east Zimbabwe, and offers a superb adventure and wilderness experience, with great opportunities to walk. Just to the north of the park, Save Valley Conservancy is an upcoming photographic destination with some very exclusive walking options that, quite frankly, no-one really knows about! For keen walkers seeking exclusivity and wilderness, a combination of Save Valley and Gonarezhou would be wonderful.

Matobo Hills is not an adventure destination at all, but there are opportunities to track white rhino on foot with close encounters very possible.

If you are interested in finding out more about walking safaris in Zimbabwe, please call us on+44 (0) 1787 888590 or email us your requirements via our Contact Us page. To find out more about safari options in Zimbabwe, please link through to our Zimbabwe pages.