Close your eyes and imagine the early evening wind blowing by and fluttering your safari hat as you bounce across the bushland terrain. Holding on tight to the truck as the aroma of the hot, dusty African trails whisk past your face.

All combined with the adrenaline of what incredible wildlife you’ll see emerge from the trees…. take me back there.

Now I think it was fate if we hadn’t had the puncture my everlasting memory of sitting amongst a herd of graceful elephants would never have happened.

It was one of those magical moments when you had to pinch yourself. Danny had spotted the silhouette of a matriarch elephant just emerging from the bush, it was incredible.

The surroundings now almost make the landscape look prehistoric.

We pulled in amongst the fallen forest and sat and watched, slowly more and more elephants large and small, male and female stride out from the woodland edge.

The smaller ones didn’t care about us they wanted to play with each other, but the elders we a little more cautious.

These incredibly powerful animals came so close at times, that if they stretched out their trunks, they could have almost touched us.

After a while Danny asked if we wanted to move on, I wasn’t ready this was a beautiful experience and one I tried to hold on to.

Take a peek at our other Zimbabwe posts and start creating your own adventure for yourself. 

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There are some beautiful birds in this part of the world, you have to be quick to catch them on camera though, they don’t sit around for long.

Ohh yes and always keep an eye out for the smaller guys as well, so often we’re looking far ahead into the bushland and not looking down. Danny spotted a leopard tortoise pacing it out along the side of the track.

Baboons also appear to be less popular with the locals around these parts.

I suppose perhaps it is because they are relatively common in Zimbabwe; nonetheless, we are visitors here after all.

It was a bit of a distance back to the lodge and by which time the sun had set entirely. In the eerie shadows, we could make out some dark movements across the dry river bed. As our eyes tried to adjust a vast herd of buffalo were moving in great numbers along the vlei. This was surreal.

However, the best was yet to come, as we were nearing the lodge Danny spots some bright eyes watching us just off of the side of the track. I kid you not, they belonged to a lion.

Danny had seen this lion regularly, and she used to have a female cub, who has since died. The male cub with her was around 6 months old. Apparently, this lioness usually travels with two males, but they were nowhere to be seen. Or perhaps they were watching us.

Another lifelong memory from Zimbabwe.

Prior to arriving at Hwange, we’d visited Victoria Falls town for a couple of nights, after flying in from Harare. It goes without saying that a visit to the incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site of Victoria Falls is a must; however, I urge you to venture further afield. Hwange National Park is only around a 2-hour drive from Victoria Falls town, and there’s such incredible wildlife at your fingertips. Another location I highly recommend is Lake Kariba, this is truly an experience you’ll treasure for life.

Flight options from Harare to Victoria Falls are with either Air Zimbabwe or Fastjet airlines.

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