Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has the least flexible season of any country we work in, because its best park physically closes. Mana Pools sits on the Zambezi floodplain at the bottom of a long escarpment descent, and when the rains come between roughly December and March the access road becomes impassable. In practice the park is a May-to-November proposition, with the exclusive campsites and Chitake Spring at the tighter end of that.

Within that window, September and October are the peak. By September the Zambezi is the only water for a long way, game has concentrated on the river frontage, and the winterthorn pods drop, which is when you see the behaviour Mana is known for: elephant balancing on their hind legs to strip albida branches four metres up. It is also 40 °C by mid-afternoon. July and August are cooler, greener and less dramatic; June is quiet and beautiful.

Hwange runs a longer season, from roughly June through October, when game concentrates on the pumped waterholes. Most of the park has no natural perennial water and functions in the dry season only because a network of solar and diesel pumps is maintained, largely with conservation funding. Several hundred elephant queuing for a borehole at the Nyamandhlovu platform in October is the result.

Victoria Falls runs opposite to the game calendar. Peak flow is March and April, when roughly five hundred million litres a minute go over the lip and the spray often hides the falls entirely. Low water from September to December reveals the full width of the lip, opens Devil's Pool on the Zambian side and is the best rafting season. September and October combines a good view with the best game season, which is where most of our routes land.

Trunk roads are tar and mostly serviceable, but surface quality is inconsistent in a way that punishes speed. The Harare to Chirundu road down the escarpment is the one we brief hardest: long stretches are fine, then a section appears with potholes deep enough to destroy a rim, often on a curve and often in shade where you will not see them. Drive it at 80 km/h, not 120, and never at night. The Bulawayo to Victoria Falls road is generally better.

The Mana Pools access is the piece of driving that defines a Zimbabwe trip. You turn off at Marongora, where you must stop at the parks office to report and collect your permit; this cannot be done at the gate below. From there it is roughly 76 kilometres of dirt and sand descending the escarpment to Nyamepi on the river, 4x4 only, two to three hours, with nothing on it. Do it in the morning.

Hwange is much gentler: tar from Main Camp out towards Ngweshla and good gravel loops beyond, manageable in a high-clearance 2x4 in the dry season. Sinamatella and Robins in the north are rougher. Gonarezhou needs a 4x4, has river crossings on the Runde and Save that must be walked first, and limits or closes access in the rains.

Fuel is generally available in Harare, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, Chinhoyi, Masvingo and Hwange town, and generally paid for in US dollars. There is none inside Mana or Gonarezhou, so fill in the last real town and carry jerry cans. Bring dollars in small denominations and good condition; older or damaged notes are sometimes refused.

Police roadblocks are frequent, courteous and quick, and what makes them quick is paperwork in order. For a foreign-registered or rental vehicle: registration and authority-to-drive letter, your licence, the temporary import permit and third-party insurance from the border, two red-and-white reflective strips on the rear, a reflective triangle set, a fire extinguisher and a usable spare tyre.

Zimbabwe's parks are far enough apart that a full circuit needs three weeks, and good enough individually that two of them done properly beats five rushed. Our most-requested route is Mana Pools, Hwange and Victoria Falls in fourteen to sixteen nights.

• 4 nightsMana Pools

  Four nights minimum. The escarpment descent costs most of a day at each end, so a three-night booking is really two nights on the river. Four gives you two full days of walking in the albida groves and an afternoon in a canoe. Nyamepi is the main campsite; the exclusive sites, Mucheni, Nkupe and Vundu, give you a stretch of riverbank to yourself and need booking well ahead.

• 2–3 nightsChitake Spring

  An add-on to Mana rather than a destination in itself, and only for the fully self-sufficient. In September and October the spring in the dry riverbed is the only water in the escarpment, which produces lion and buffalo encounters at close quarters on foot. No facilities, no water supply, no help; we book it with a licensed guide.

• 3 nightsHwange National Park

  Zimbabwe's largest park and the classic dry-season waterhole experience. Three nights from Main Camp covers the Ngweshla and Kennedy loops and an afternoon at the Nyamandhlovu platform. For the wilder end of the park, add nights at Sinamatella or Robins in the north.

• 2 nightsMatobo Hills

  Balancing granite whalebacks, some of the finest San rock art in the region at Nswatugi and Bambata, Rhodes' grave at World's View, and the best chance in the country of tracking white rhino on foot with a guide.

• 2–3 nightsVictoria Falls

  Two nights covers the falls from the Zimbabwean side, which holds around two-thirds of the frontage and the better rainforest walk, plus a Zambezi sunset cruise. A third night allows rafting below the gorge in the low-water season, a helicopter flight, or a day crossing to the Zambian side for Devil's Pool.

• 3 nightsGonarezhou

  The wildest corner of Zimbabwe, in the south-east lowveld, and the Chilojo Cliffs above the Runde River are among the great views in Africa. Three nights minimum: a long way from anything, 4x4 only, with river crossings that need checking on foot. Dry season only.

• 2 nightsLake Kariba & Matusadona

  Drowned forests standing in open water, houseboats, tiger fishing, and elephant on the shoreline at dusk. Best paired with Mana Pools, since both sit on the same stretch of the Zambezi valley.

Zimbabwe asks for preparation and cash more than driving skill. Hwange, Matobo and Victoria Falls are within reach of a competent driver in a high-clearance vehicle. Mana Pools needs a proper 4x4 and three hours on a descent. Gonarezhou needs everything Botswana needs.

What Zimbabwe asks that other countries do not is tolerance for administration. You report at a parks office rather than a gate, pay fees in cash, get stopped at roadblocks and asked to produce a list of items, and find that a booking made by email needs confirming by phone. None of that is a problem if you expect it and leave some slack in the schedule.

Carry your own drinking water and food for the parks, dollars in small notes, and a satellite communicator for Mana and Gonarezhou, where there is no mobile coverage. Book Mana's exclusive campsites and the Hwange picnic-site camps as far ahead as you would book Botswana; the September and October slots on the Mana riverbank go early. And if you have the budget for one guided day in the whole trip, spend it here on a licensed professional guide, on foot.