Zimbabwe

Known for its tumultuous political past, Zimbabwe is now one of the safest, friendliest and most spectacular destinations on the African continent. Incredibly generous with sightings among its national parks inhabited by the “Big Five”, an ancient treasure trove of World Heritage sites and an exceptional natural setting with the majestic spectacle of Victoria Falls, it is a destination that will not disappoint thrill-seeking travellers.

The Mana Pools National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River, is a unique place to find yourself alone in the wilderness, amidst islets and alluvial basins overflowing with hippos and crocodiles, or savannahs teeming with wildlife, buffalo, elephants, zebras, cheetahs and leopards. And if that’s not enough excitement for you, you can head for the cross-border pearl of Okavango-Zambezi, in the homeland of the Ndebele people, where Hwange Park, with its 40,000 elephants, has the largest concentration of pachyderms in the world, offering some of the most adrenaline-fuelled sightings imaginable.

The archaeological sites of Great Zimbabwe and Khami, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, contain the stone remains of the most important ancient medieval cities in sub-Saharan Africa, testifying to a great Bantu kingdom of Bonapetapos warriors, which also included parts of present-day Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa, and whose wealth was linked to the trade in gold, ivory and slaves with Arabia and China. But Zimbabwe’s origins go back much further than that and you can discover them by walking through the Matopos Hills, a sacred place of the Shona people, where fine examples of rock art are preserved, created between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago by the ancestors of the San people.

As the culmination of an exciting nature experience, you will certainly not be able to leave without admiring the Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya, ”smoke that thunders”), one of the seven scenic wonders of the world, the largest and most majestic waterfalls on the planet, with a height of 108 metres and a face of almost 2 kilometres, a breathtaking spectacle!