Chilo Ivory Trail

AREA & ACTIVITIES

Habitat & Wildlife
Gonarezhou National Park, both beautiful and varied in terms of scenery, is situated on the south-eastern border of Zimbabwe and covers an area of 5000 square kilometres. The park is also part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a 35 million hectare cross-border initiative with the Kruger National Park in South Arica and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. Gonarezhou means ‘place of the elephants’, and the area is excellent elephant country with over 8,000 of them.

The park has some stunning scenery, particularly the impressive red sandstone cliffs of Chilojo Cliffs overlooking the Runde River which carves its way impressively through the park. The habitat is diverse and ranges from riverine forest and wetlands to mopane woodland, granite hills and Cretaceous sandveld above the cliffs (a habitat much like the Kalahari). These different ecosystems mean that game viewing is very productive, and the park is home to lion, leopard, wild dog, cheetah, hyaena, buffalo, elephant, zebra, giraffe, kudu, nyala, impala, steenbok, blue wildebeest, hippo, crocodile, golden mole (sandveld), bushbuck, Sharpe’s grysbok, klipspringer, grey duiker, waterbuck, eland, roan, sable, caracal, bat eared fox, African wild cat, civet, porcupine, aardwolf and aardvark. However, this is a true wilderness area, and game is sometimes a little spread out and occasionally skittish. Bird life is also prolific with over 450 species recorded, including bat hawk, green malkoha, gorgeous bush shrike, narina trogon, Pel’s fishing owl and chestnut-fronted helmetshrike.

Activities
Your safari is hosted by your private professional guide and tracker. Game viewing activities may include game drives by day in open safari vehicles and bush walks. It is also possible to do a solely walking safari if desired, activities can be completely tailored to suit.

Seasons
Ivory Trails operate from March through to December, though conditions will be best from July through to October.