Zambezi Source Expedition (20 days)

(email cheapflights@southafrica.to to make a reservation)

The waters of the Zambezi which began their journey in the highlands of northern Zambia, plunged over cataracts and water falls, burst across plateaus and plains, and swelled behind colossal concrete dams, finally enter the Mozambique Channel with barely a ripple in its journey of life.

Through the 1,653 miles (2,660 km.) of its life the Zambezi River brings sustenance to both animals and humans. It is used to drink, it is used to irrigate, its energy is captured for hydroelectric power, and its fish are consumed for their protein. The banks and surfaces of the river are used for recreation and enjoyed for the viewing of the variety of animal populations that also depend on the river for life. The Zambezi River is unquestionably central Africa's River of Life.

Nature of the Tour:

This is a truly off the beaten track experience. Zambia is often referred to as “Africa’s Undiscovered Gem”. The country is fed and shaped by three great rivers, bordered by three immense lakes and bounded by vast skies. It is a place that beckons to the intrepid, the adventurous - to those wishing to alight from the tedious conveyor belt of mass tourism.

The breathtaking splendour of Victoria Falls was first seen by the legendary and intrepid explorer, David Livingstone from the Zambian side - his memory is enshrined in the nearby town of Livingstone and his heart is buried in this magnificent land.

The group shall consist of a minimum number of six pax and maximum number of eight plus two tour leaders.

Safari dates 1:

Johannesburg to Johannesburg

Arrival/Start – 6th September 2011

Departure/End – 25th September 2011

Basic Itinerary:

Tour starts at 06:30 from Linga Longa Guest House in Kempton Park Johannesburg.

Day 1 Khama Rhino Sanctuary Botswana

Day 2 Elephant Sands

Day 3 Livingstone - Maramaba River Lodge Zambia

Day 4 Livingstone - Maramaba River Lodge

Day 5 Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp

Day 6 Puku Pan

Day 7 Lufupa River Camp

Day 8 Explore Busanga Plains

Day 9 Mutanda

Day 10 Mwinlunga

Day 11 Zambezi Source

Day 12 Kitwe

Day 13 Lusaka

Day 14 Lusaka

Day 15 Chirundu Zimbabwe

Day 16 Harare

Day 17 Great Zimbabwe (Masvingo)

Day 18 Cawoods Mazunga Ranch

Day 19 Linga Longa Guest House South Africa

Day 20 Departure

Expedition Cost:

Please emailcheapflights@southafrica.to for additional dates and costs based on the number of people in your party should the suggested ones above not be of convenience to your itinerary.

Option 1 – Johannesburg via Zambezi Source to Lusaka (13 Days), flight back to Johannesburg. (Flights2 can be expected from USD 169 up to USD 200 per person one-way) – ZAR 40, 040

Option 2 – Johannesburg to Johannesburg – ZAR 46, 540

Our prices include:

• Your fully customised Land Rover vehicles and all necessary camping equipment where required

• Support vehicle and photographic guide costs

• Route planning, itineraries, bookings and travel guidance

• Field guides, maps and documents required for cross-border travel

• Complete introduction to the vehicle, equipment & basic 4x4 driver training where necessary

• Vehicle exchange when serious mechanical breakdown occurs

• Comprehensive vehicle insurance cover (full details available upon request)

• Free airport transfers to and from our Johannesburg offices

• Our individual service

• All fuel & toll road fees

• An emergency medical kit, and all guides are first aid trained

• Two full meals per day plus snacks

• Drinking water and cordial

Our prices exclude:

• International/regional and domestic airfares to and from collection/departure points

• Visas and personal travel insurance

• Alcoholic beverages, mixers and soft drinks

• All beverages and food out of camp

• Laundry services

• Clothing, toiletries and all other personal items e.g. sun block, anti malaria prevention etc

• Fees for non-scheduled excursions, activities, entrance fees etc

• Gratuities

• Costs for any upgraded accommodation to that listed above and below.

• Camera’s and camera equipment

Passport Visa Requirements:

We will be travelling in South Africa:

• South Africa – Visas are generally required at the port of entry. You will be given a three-month visa, which is free of charge.

• Botswana – No visas are required

• Zambia – Visas are required at the border entry point however the cost of these seem to change dependent on whom you find at the border post, costs are very similar to that of the Zimbabwean pricing – see below.

• Zimbabwe – Visas are required at the border entry point for US passport holders USD 30 and UK citizens the cost is USD 55 for a single entry visa. South African passport holders are not required to pay anything.

This information is correct as of today’s date, please double check with the relevant embassy in your home country before you travel. Chimhavira cannot be held responsible to any changes to these requirements that are beyond our control.

Items of interest:

Total driving Distance: Approx 5, 530 km (3, 436 UK miles)

Diesel consumption based on one vehicle: 2, 370 litres (626 UK gallons)

Suggestions:

African kids love asking tourists for sweets and pens. If you have space in your suitcase bring a couple bags of both with you. The kids will smile and be happy; you will enjoy it for little cost. Old clothes are good for bargaining with adults for curios or local fruits etc.

20 - Day Zambezi Source Expedition

Meal Key: B – Breakfast, L – Lunch, D – Dinner

Day 1:  Johannesburg – Khama Rhino Sanctuary

In 1989 a group of Serowe residents conceived the idea of a wildlife reserve near Serowe. Serwe Pan, then a cattle post, had been a traditional hunting area teeming with wildlife and the residents wished to re-establish it to its earlier splendour. In 1993 the Ngwato Land Board allocated the land around Serwe Pan to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust.

The site was chosen due to its excellent habitat for rhinoceros, central location and proximity to a Botswana Defence Force (BDF) base, which provides the Sanctuary with 24hr protection. Covering approximately 4,300 hectares of Kalahari sandveld, the Sanctuary is centred around Serwe Pan - a large grass-covered depression with several natural water holes. Serwe Pan provides prime habitat for white rhinoceros and other grazing animals, whilst the denser vegetation in the southern area of the Sanctuary is favoured by browsing animals such as giraffe.

Approximate distance: 630 km

Accommodation: Khama Campsite

Meals: L, D

Day 2:  Khama Rhino Sanctuary – Elephant Sands

Elephant Sands has a camping ground on a 23000ha private conservancy and has game such as elephant, wild dog and lion wondering through the camp from time to time. You will enjoy the hot showers in an ablution block that has been designed with no roof.

Approximate distance: 430 km

Accommodation: Elephant Sands Campsite

Meals: B, L, D

Day 3 & 4:  Elephant Sands – Maramaba River Lodge (Livingstone)

Despite its proximity to the centre of Livingstone, this is as near to a wilderness camping experience as you'll get in Livingstone as Maramba River Lodge is in a National Park and the resident wildlife has right of way! This includes the elephants who freely wander through the grounds at certain times of the year. This is a place that encourages you to cut off from the outside world and embrace the scenery and the local natural environment.

Day 4, has purposefully been left free for you to do what ever you want o do. Why not visit the Victoria Falls and if you feel that you have not had enough go over to the Zimbabwean side and have a look at the Falls from there. There are also a number of activities that you can choose to do such as White Water Rafting, bunjee jumping or the more relaxing sun downer cruise.

Approximate distance: 350 km

Accommodation: Maramba River Lodge

Meals: B, L, D

Day 5:  Livingstone to Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp

Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp is a new development located on the site of the old Nanzhila Rest Camp built in the late 1950's, in the remote and seldom visited southern sector of Kafue National Park. The area is best known for its lush woodlands of Miombo, Zambezi Teak and Mopane, the beautiful plains and the stream that runs through it, after which our lodge is named. Nanzhila Plains offers excellent opportunities to see the healthy populations of a number of antelope species including Roan and Sable, Reedbuck, Defassa Waterbuck, Oribi, Hartebeest and Eland as well as all the major carnivores, with a particularly strong population of Wild Dog and Cheetah. The birdlife is phenomenal throughout the year, and sightings can almost be guaranteed of the endemic Black-cheeked Lovebird, the Wattled Crane, Ground Hornbill and Saddle-billed Stork amongst others.

Approximate distance: 300 km

Accommodation: Nanzhila Plains Campsite

Meals: B, L, D

Day 6:  Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp – Puku Pan

Deep in Zambia, on the banks of the Kafue River, lies the second largest game park in the world of 22,480 square kilometres. A place where hippos rule the waters, lions the land and fish eagles the sky: the Kafue National Park. And in this pristine wilderness lies Puku Pan, a rustic yet comfortable safari lodge designed to blend in with its extraordinary natural surroundings.

Approximate distance: 160 km

Accommodation: Pukupan Campsite

Meals: B, L, D

Day 7 & 8:  Puku Pan – Lufupa River Camp

The well-known Lufupa area of Zambia's Kafue National Park is recognised as a focal point for prolific animal and bird life. Situated at the confluence of the Lufupa and Kafue Rivers, this site offers access to productive game viewing areas in the dambos (open grassy clearings) and woodlands of the northern Kafue. Puku, impala, and Defassa waterbuck are common while more unusual species include Lichtenstein's hartebeest. The area is renowned for its leopard viewing and elephant and lion sightings are regular.

Day 8 we will explore the Busanga Plains - This region is characterised by vast floodplains, broadleaved woodlands, open water and riverine vegetation. The Busanga area is extremely attractive to a huge variety of birds including Wattled Crane, Ross’s Turaco, Schalow’s Turaco and Red Throated Twinspot. Brown Firefinch, Sooty Chat and countless herons amongst large flocks of Open-Billed and Yellow-billed Storks can also be seen.

Approximate distance: 200 km

Accommodation: Lufupa River Campsite

Meals: B, L, D

Day 9:  Lufupa River Camp to Mutanda

For this evening we have no fixed place to camp. Close to Mutanda are the Mutanda Falls which we shall visit and find a suitable place to camp for the evening…David Livingstone did something similar pretty much every night when on his journey to the Zambezi Source.

Approximate distance: 180 km

Accommodation: Bush Camping

Meals: B, L, D

Day 10:  Mutanda – Mwinlunga

Hillwood Farm is an improbable place. It's an oasis of peace and order in a corner of Zambia which the world's media might expect, given its position between Angola and the DRC, to be under permanent siege. What's more, within its bounds, Hillwood has a very special reserve, Nchila, which has flora and fauna that are unique to Zambia: it contains a slice of equatorial forest that's been preserved and nurtured. The family who own this farm, the Fishers, have been working in close partnership with the local communities here for generations.

In short, although it's exceedingly 'out of the way' by anyone's standards, Hillwood is a totally fascinating place that's delightful to visit and contains some amazing wildlife.

Approximate distance: 400 km

Accommodation: Nchila Reserve Camping

Meals: B, L, D

Day 11:  Explore the Source of the Zambezi

Near the town of Mwinilunga in north western Zambia is a famous hill. It’s called Kaleni Hills made popular by the early missionaries who settled there. It’s near this hill, albeit some 48 odd kilometers away, that the Zambezi derives its water. This source is a spring with unimpressive start. But that’s how big things start. Small!

The tiny spring bubbles between roots of a small tree. The older tree has now fallen down replaced by a younger tree. The water from the spring does not flow way but instead it sinks again into an underground river, which outcrops 10 metres away. This second ‘spring’ also sinks down only to appear 30 metres down the slope. There the river flows on surface and becomes wider and larger as it covers more distance. 48 kms down stream the river is large and powerful cuts into rocks to form the Zambezi Rapids near the border with Angola. Then it enters Angola for about 300 kms.

Approximate distance: 100 km

Accommodation: Nchila Reserve Camping

Meals: B, L, D

Day 12:  Mwinlunga – Kitwe

With the upsurge of copper prices in the 1950’s Kitwe developed from a small township to the second largest city in Zambia, obtaining city status in 1966. It then developed as an industrial and commercial area and later an important agricultural area. The good central position of the city in the Copperbelt area made it the most popular choice for industrial developers. Other industries include furniture manufacturing, batteries, clothing, asbestos and cement production, consumer goods manufacturing among others. Kitwe also has three well equipped hospitals.

Approximate distance: 500 km

Accommodation: Eagle Guest House

Meals: B, L, D

Day 13 & 14:  Kitwe to Lusaka

Eureka is south of Lusaka and situated on a Private Game Farm.

The spacious grounds offer many shady camping spots. Eureka is known for the

"Best showers in Africa"! There's also a secluded pool for cooling off or just relaxing around.

Approximate distance: 360 km

Accommodation: Eureka Camping Park

Meals: B, L, D

Day 15:  Lusaka – Chirundu

After what most probably will be a long border crossing we have chosen to stay relatively close to Chirundu. Chirundu is surrounded by wildlife/safari areas, elephants frequently wander around the village. It is also a popular destination for fishing.

Approximate distance: 200 km

Accommodation: Makuti Lodge

Meals: B, L, D

Day 16:  Chirundu - Harare

For this evening we will be staying in an upmarket backpackers lodge located in a well maintained residential neighbourhood of Harare. This is our stepping stone to Masvingo where we will find Great Zimbabwe tomorrow.

Approximate distance: 300 km

Accommodation: Small World Backpackers Lodge

Meals: B, L, D

Day 17:  Harare to Great Zimbabwe

When Portuguese traders first encountered the vast stone ruins of Great Zimbabwe in the sixteenth century, they believed they had found the fabled capital of the Queen of Sheba. Later travelers surmised that the site's impressive stone structures were the work of Egyptians, Phoenicians, or even Prester John, the legendary Christian king of lands beyond the Islamic realm. Such misguided and romantic speculation held for nearly 400 years, until the excavations of British archaeologists David Randall-MacIver and Gertrude Caton-Thompson early in this century, which confirmed that the ruins were of African origin.

Approximate distance: 350 km

Accommodation: Great Zimbabwe Campsite

Meals: B, L, D

Day 18:  Great Zimbabwe – Cawoods Mazunga Ranch

This evening we will be staying at a Zimbabwean ranch. The Bristow family run the ranch today and are passionate about their wildlife. Their pets include two lions, a banded mongoose and a giraffe. Look out for the buffalo heard that roams around their farm.

As this is a farm we will also be taken on a tour of the orchid that supplies citrus fruits all over the world.

Approximate distance: 320 km

Accommodation: Cawoods Mazunga Ranch

Meals: B, L, D

Day 19:  Cawoods Mazunga Ranch – Johannesburg

This morning we will have time for a relaxing breakfast and pack away our equipment, when we are done we will drive the last leg of the itinerary to Johannesburg arriving early evening.

For your last evening you will book you into a guest house where you will have dinner and be joined by your guide. This will be our last chance to finalise our trip and review the “Best of the Best” images from the last 9 days.

Approximate distance: 540 km

Accommodation: Linga Longa Guest House

Meals: B, L, D

Day 20: Day of Departure

You will be transferred to the airport where you say goodbye to the guides and the group…

Meals: B

– End Of Services –

Arrival:

You will be met at the airport and transferred to your accommodation (where required). For convenience of our early start spending the night at Linga Longa Guest house is recommended, please advise us if you require a booking and Chimhavira will arrange this on your behalf.

Departure:

If you require an airport transfer this can be arranged for you.

Transport:

Chimhavira Overland Safaris cc use fully equipped 4x4 Land Rover Defender/Discovery vehicles.

Camera Equipment:

Photographic equipment is not included in this itinerary. It is suggested as a minimum that you consider bring the following: Digital SLR camera, lenses (Ranging from telephoto zoom minimum 300mm to a wide angle), tripod, camera cleaning kit, polarising and UV filter.

Accommodation:

Accommodation will be in your vehicle roof top tents. Should you want to upgrade please ask your guide to assist you. Where possible your guide will try to upgrade you as to your requirements but this will be dependant on availability. Please note upgrades are not included in your Chimhavira Overland Safari cc invoice and will therefore necessitate you paying for upgrades directly.

Spending money:

Clients are advised to bring enough money to cover the purchase of curios and personal items.

Meals:

All meals are organized by the guide and are prepared by our cook. Meals are nutritious and filling, drawing on fresh local produce where possible. We buy groceries along the way, so our clients have a say in what type of meals are eaten. Please advise us of any special dietary requirements before tour commencement.

First Aid:

Our guides are trained in basic first aid, Chimhavira Overland Safari cc guides are trained to level III St John’s or equivalent standards, our vehicles are equipped with a comprehensive medical aid kit. Preventative Malaria medication should be taken before the trip and throughout its duration, although it is advisable to consult a doctor prior to departure.

Luggage:

Maximum baggage allowance: 20kg. Chimhavira Overland Safaris cc stipulates this luggage allowance, as an overloaded vehicle is a danger to both the clients and the guide. This does not include photographic equipment and a small daypack. Please bring a backpack or soft barrel bag, not a suitcase. Please adhere to the allowance specified as space for luggage is limited.

Sleeping bags:

Chimhavira Overland Safaris cc will provide sleeping bags and pillows for those guests choosing the camping options, please advise us if this is required at your time of booking. If you prefer to bring your own please feel free to do so.

Ask our travel consultant your questions here. She would love to assist.