Africa: Zimbabwe and Zambia (Part 1)

I’ve been a wildlife enthusiast for as long as I can remember and most of my excursions have been within Peninsula India. It is one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet and I’ve always wondered how it would stack up against the African bush. 

 In June 2025 the invitation to join a specially curated wildlife tour of Zimbabwe and Zambia presented a great opportunity to find out for myself what the hype was all about.  

Let me tell you at the very outset. This trip was fabulous.

In the interest of making it more concise I decided to deviate from a chronological trip report to a segmental documentation of our 16-day visit to what some refer to as, the ‘Mother Continent’.

Victoria Falls and Zambezi River

We flew into Livingstone in Zimbabwe via Adis Ababa. Our first stop, the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, was an impressive multi-level, structure constructed predominantly in wood.

From here one got a wonderful panoramic view of the African plains. About 200 yards away was a water body that, at any given time, had several wild animals and birds including warthogs, various antelope, elephants, crocodile, maribou stork, white-backed vultures, helmeted guinea fowl and a host of other species!

View from our room balcony

Later that evening we did a leisurely sunset cruise down the mighty Zambezi river. As we sipped our wine and ate our dinner on the upper deck we got our first sighting of the famed African hippo and the impressive plume of water from the Victoria Falls despite the fact that it was miles away. 

Sunset on the Zambezi River Cruise

Victoria falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world. The Zambezi river drops abruptly 108 metres into a narrow gorge formed by a fracture fault in the basalt plateau.

With a span of 1.7km it is the largest sheet of falling water on the planet. At its peak, millions of gallons of water roar over the edge and the mammoth plume of mist that rises an impressive 400 meters into the air gives it it’s local name: ‘Mosi-oa-tunya’  or the ‘Smoke that thunders’.

The falls are so huge that the only way to view it in its entirety is from the air

75% of the falls lies in Zimbabwe and the rest in Zambia. We explored the falls from both countries and the highlight of the trip was an exhilarating helicopter ride to view the falls from the air. The image above reveals the entire span of the falls as well as the impressive plume of water rising above. The narrow bridge connecting Zimbabwe on the left and Zambia on the right can also be seen in the foreground.

There are parks in both countries that allow one to explore the falls on foot. Our first walk was on the Zimbabwe side and, although it was a bright and sunny day with not a cloud in sight our guide distributed raincoats insisting that there was a 100% chance of ‘rain’. 

Sure enough, when we got near the various viewing points there was a continuous ever-changing curtain of water that imparted a magical now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t effect to the cascading water.

Within the park cobbled pedestrian paths with offshoots that lead to the various viewing points. Each point offers a unique view of small sections and the only constant is the relentless roar of gushing water.

Although the Zimbabwe side of the falls has more viewing spots, the views we got from the Zambian side were more dramatic.

Rainbow over the falls from one of the viewing points in Zambia

Additionally on the Zambian side, one has the option of walking across the Knife Edge Bridge (below) that is quite an adrenalin rush.

The bridge was built in 1968 for the railways and is now only for pedestrians. It is 70 metres long and a mere 1.5 metres wide. Walking across the narrow metal path, 100metres above the turbulent Zambezi river with the gusty wind and intermittent sheets of cold water threatening to push you over makes for quite a thrilling experience and I must admit a bit scary as well!

We had planned to do river cruises from both Zimbabwe and Zambia. The one in Zimbabwe as mentioned earlier, involved a slow sunset cruise in a large ship with upper and lower decks complete with a well stocked bar and plated fine dining. Expecting the same in Zambia we were driven to the riverside and made our way to two similar vessels berthed on one side of the pier. Here we were met by our Captain who led us instead to a small 15 seater that sat low in the water completely dwarfed by the larger boats!

What followed was a very different but extremely enjoyable experience.

For one, being small, the boat could move close to wildlife on the shore and we did get up close and personal on several occasions.

Close up of a basking Nile crocodile

A red-billed oxpecker takes full advantage of a snoozing battle-scarred hippo (below). Oxpecker’s diet consist of insects, especially ticks that are engorged with blood. It is said that these birds love the taste of animal blood and will feed off their wounds even to the extent of keeping them open to satiate their hunger.

A red-billed oxpecker on a snoozing battle-scarred hippo

The other advantage of being so low in the water was the ability to get ‘eye level’ shots as in the case of the African open-billed stork below.

African open-billed stork

The elusive and secretive African finfoot

The Zambezi river separates Zimbabwe from Zambia. This is marked by an imaginary zone that runs through the middle of its course. Within the Zambian territory were several islands and our boat zipped between their shores based on the sightings of the captain and guide.

When we started out our guide took the boat across to the shore of one of the islands where he spotted some kingfishers.

Pied kingfisher

Giant kingfisher

We were in the midst of enjoying the kingfishers when the captain swung the boat around and gunned the engine back towards the main bank just in time to catch a herd of elephants making their way down to the river.

A monochromatic view of elephants coming down to the river

A couple of them eventually got into the water and we spent several minutes enjoying the spectacle.

Nile monitor lizard

Egyptian geese are beautiful birds and they were seen often throughout our trip. They are native to Africa and were kept as pets by the Pharaohs hence their name.

Egyptian geese mate for life and are invariably found in pairs.

A pair of Egyptian geese

We saw a lot of species, especially birds, that morning and I was one happy trooper!

Hamerkop (left) and hadada ibis (right)

The disappointment of getting into a tiny boat quickly evaporated and looking back, if I had to make a choice I preferred this excursion to the leisurely sunset cruise that we did in Zimbabwe. Although, having said that I must admit, that too, had a charm of its own.

An African darter or snakebird spears a cichlid with its sharp beak.

The feathers of snakebirds lack the oily protection against water that most other bird species have. This facilitates their manouvering and diving under water when catching their prey. The downside is that have to frequently fly to a tree to dry out as our bird did (below) after swallowing the fish.

By around 12 noon we made our way to one of the smaller islands. The plan was to disembark and have lunch. There was one huge problem. Literally. The island was surrounded by hippos and several of them even had calves!!

Hippo with calf

The captain slowly circumnavigated the land and finally found a spot that appeared to be free of these highly dangerous animals that are responsible for over 500 human deaths each year. We must have been about 20 -30 metres from land when the huge guy below decided to surface between us and the water’s edge.

He stayed up for a few moments and then slowly and ominously submerged. There must have been a hint of panic in my voice when I mentioned to the captain that he could be anywhere. The captain was confident that the hippo had moved away and slowly guided the boat towards the shore.

It took a minute or so to beach the vessel but to me it seemed much longer and I admit I had my heart in my mouth the entire time!

The island was small and long, maybe 40-50 metres across it breath. We waited anxiously onboard till one of the crew checked it out before climbing onto the shore. The crew laid out a dining table complete with chequered table cloth and pretty green cushions placed on sawn logs served as seats.

The ‘lunch table’ being laid out on the island

Just in case you are wondering… that is bonafide hippo dung in the foreground! Did it deter us from enjoying our meal?…. Hell, no!!

The Elephant Express

From the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge in Zimbabwe we drove to Dete Railway Station where the Elephant Express train awaited us.  

This unique, single gauge train is run by Imvelo Safaris and offers an optional ferry from Dete Siding to its two camps, Bomani Tented Lodge, where we were staying, and Camelthorn. The 70km journey is covered in roughly 2 hours in a single railcar that has 22 individual coach seats with teakwood tables. The sides are open and there is enough space to move around to facilitate game viewing. Our train driver promised that we could stop whenever we wished. What’s more, he was even willing to reverse the engine in case he overshot something of interest! 

(Monchrome sepia filter of cape buffalo and elephant crossing the tracks)

The decor exudes an old word charm and one is transported backwards in time as the car rattles along. Contributing to the illusion are the regular, forced stops on the arrow-straight, unfenced tracks to allow a variety of animals to cross over.

A sable antelope buck that had crossed the tracks with his harem stops and poses

it was a magical couple of hours as we chugged along the tracks watching the beautiful African countryside and a wide variety of wildlife including sable, impala, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, kudu, warthog, elephant, baboons, and a large number birds.

Our driver slowed down the train as we drew level with a cryptic plaque (above) hung on a tree beside the tracks.

Cecil was a magnificent lion in Hwange National Park. He was part of an ongoing research project and quite a celebrity amongst both locals and visiting tourists. To cut a long story short, there was a huge uproar when in 2015 he was lured out of the park’s protection and shot by an American dentist who had paid a large sum of money to get a trophy. The plaque was placed in his memory.

Most tourists equate an African Safari with big game. A lesser known fact is the fabulous birdlife that this part of the world has on offer.

Fork-tailed drongo

One of the birds that was high on my bucket list was the spectacular lilac-breasted roller. It was on the Elephant Express that I got my very first sighting of this beauty.

Lilac-breasted roller

During the course of the trip it turned out that it is extremely common and I did get several better sightings and images. A fact that explained the bemused expression on the poor engine driver’s face when I insisted that he not only stop but even reverse the railcar so that I could get the shot above.

Liliac-breasted roller in flight

I do feel a bit sheepish to admit that the same went for the image of the Southern yellow-billed hornbill below!

Southern yellow-billed hornbill

It was late evening when the train neared Bomani and the evening sky was nothing short of spectacular .

The Elephant Express railcar framed against a gorgeous African sunset

We were busy admiring the sunset when the train made a hasty stop before reaching the final station and we were hastily bundled into a safari vehicle. 

Our guide Tuso excitedly informed us that we were in for a very lucky surprise.

It turned out that a large pride of lions were stalking a massive lone hippo!

However, in the words immortalised by Jack Lemon in the 1963 blockbuster ‘Irma la Douce’…

That’s another story!