Botswana & Zimbabwe Lodge Safari

Explore the best of Botswana and Zimbabwe on a two-week safari adventure

From the crashing Victoria Falls to the meandering Okavango Delta, this safari visits the best destinations in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Encounter the huge elephant herds of Chobe, search for rhinos and leopards in Matopos and spot wild dogs in Hwange. Starry skies and burnished sunsets complete the adventure. And where better for a sundowner than the shimmering Makgadikgadi Pans?

Join us to celebrate Exodus’ 50th anniversary! The departure starting in Victoria Falls on 21 July 2024 features extra inclusions to mark the occasion: a Zambezi cruise, a local birthday celebration and a special edition Exodus kitbag.

People, Places & Planet

We work hard to create trips that improve life for the people and places we visit and look after the planet we explore. To read more about sustainable travel ethos and practice, click here, and to find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation click here.

People

How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

• The use of a local guide means our customers will be well informed about local traditions, and cultural-social sensitivities.
• This trip brings income and opportunity to the destination community through the inclusion of locally owned accommodation and restaurants, the emphasis on eating locally produced food and support of other local enterprises.
• We employ local site guides in Chobe National Park and several other conservation areas.
• In the Okavango Delta, we work with polers from the Poler’s Trust. This is a community-based project formed to create an ecotourism business that would benefit everyone in the area. By using these facilities and going on boat tours with the Poler’s Trust, we ensure we are helping the community by providing employment and supporting environmental initiatives.
• At our camp in the Okavango Delta, we can participate in BaYei and Hambukushu music and dancing, see how local food is made and buy handmade souvenirs, such as woven baskets.

Places

How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

• Read about our commitment to nature protection and restoration here, including our rewilding commitment for every customer who travels.
• By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.
• We do a number of wildlife-oriented activities, such as game drives in Chobe National Park and exploring the Okavango Delta by mokoro dugout canoes and on foot.
• Our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices with regard to working animals and wildlife viewing. Our animal welfare policy can be found here.
• We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for reusable bottles.
• Our local partners support the Save Our Sausage Trees initiative in Botswana, which aims to address the issue of depleting forests in the area. The mokoro is a canoe used by the people of the Okavango Delta and it is crafted traditionally from a single mature Kigelia Africana tree (or sausage tree). Although increased tourism has had some obvious benefits to the area, it has also brought a higher demand for mokoro boats and therefore more trees are being cut down. As a wooden mokoro only lasts about five years, there are hundreds of these trees being felled per year and there are not enough trees to sustain this. We have consulted with the Okovango community, and have agreed to pay half the price of a fibreglass mokoro if a poler wants to purchase the other half to save the trees.
• The Exodus Foundation is supporting fuel and maintenance costs for an ATV used by the Matobo Rhino Trust (MRT) for anti-poaching patrols. After significant rhino losses between 2000 and 2012, Matobo National Park implemented a rhino protection programme and the MRT has been a big supporter of such projects. Over the years, rhino poaching has decreased with only nine rhinos poached in the last ten years. Fewer losses and increased births have resulted in an increased population which, relative to other Southern African parks, is a major achievement.

Planet

How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

• Read about our climate action here, including our carbon reduction and compensation commitments.
• By favouring smaller, locally run accommodation and campsites we have a much smaller impact on the surrounding environments.

Tips for sustainable travel on this trip

Extra steps you could take to minimise your impact when travelling.

• Leave no trace: We do all we can to ensure we leave no rubbish behind in the wild and beautiful places we visit; we ask that you do the same. If there are no recycling facilities in-country, we’d ask you to consider bringing recyclable materials home with you.
• Plastic waste reduction: Please bring your own reusable water bottle on this trip; filtered water will be provided where tap water is not drinkable.

Is this trip for you?

This trip is graded Activity Level 2 (Easy & Moderate) and has a Wildlife Rating of Four. For more information on our trip gradings please visit the Activity Level Guidelines page or our Wildlife Holidays page for more on our Wildlife Ratings. If you have any queries about the difficulty of the trip please do not hesitate to contact us.

Drives: This two-week safari covers a lot of ground but connects some of the best places in Botswana and Zimbabwe. It does mean, however, there are some long drives on a combination of paved and dirt roads, though you never know when you may spot wildlife, even outside the parks. The longer drives between the sites are done in a more comfortable minibus while the game drives are done in special safari vehicles.

Accommodation: This is a safari for people who want to see wildlife and get immersed in nature but do it in more comfort. While not luxury, accommodation is in lodges apart from the two nights in the Okavango Delta, which are in our wild campsite.

Weather: October and November are hotter months but are also good for wildlife viewing.

Legal note: All group members joining this tour will be asked to sign an indemnity form at the start of the trip. This indemnity form is a requirement of the South African Tourism Service Association, of which our local supplier is a member. As a client of Exodus Travels Ltd, your rights under the Package Travel Regulations (1992) are unaffected, and Exodus remains liable for the actions of our sub-contractors.

Following a review of all our trips we have categorised this trip as generally not suitable for persons of reduced mobility. However if you are a regular traveller on such trips, please contact customer services to discuss the trip and your personal condition.

Vaccinations and Health

Botswana

There are no required vaccinations. However, you may want to consider vaccinations for hepatitis A, polio, tetanus, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis B, rabies and tuberculosis. You will also need a yellow fever vaccination certificate if you have travelled from (or transited through) a country with risk of yellow fever transmission. Please confirm with your doctor or travel clinic. We also suggest you seek advice from your doctor or travel clinic about which malaria tablets to take.

Zimbabwe

There are no required vaccinations. However, you may want to consider vaccinations for hepatitis A, tetanus, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis B, rabies and tuberculosis. You will also need a yellow fever vaccination certificate if you're arriving from a country with risk of yellow fever transmission or transiting for more than 12 hours through a country with risk of yellow fever transmission. Malaria is also a known risk. Please seek advice from your doctor or travel clinic on the best course of action for all the above.

Visa

Botswana

Currently British and Commonwealth and European passport holders do not require visas for Botswana.

If you are transiting through South Africa and are a non UK passport holder you may require a transit visa. Please check before travelling.

Please be aware that children under the age of 18 must provide a full birth certificate (a short one won’t be accepted) as well as a valid passport. If the child is travelling with only one parent or with another adult, the missing parent (or parents) will have to provide an affidavit giving their consent for the child to travel. If flying via S. Africa you may have to pass immigration between flights and the same regulation is needed for entry into S. Africa.

Zimbabwe

Most nationalities, including British require a visa to visit Zimbabwe.  This can be obtained on arrival in Zimbabwe.  The current charge for a single entry visit visa issued on arrival in Zimbabwe is US$55.00, although this could change. If you have not obtained a visa before travelling, you should bring enough cash with you to pay for your visa on arrival. You should ensure you have small notes as immigration officers may not be able to provide change.

For this itinerary we recommend the double entry visa for Zimbabwe (US$70.00) which is available to UK passport holders and some other nationalities.

Please note that if flying via South Africa you will probably have to pass immigration there. New regulations, as of the 1 Oct 2014, mean that children under 18 will have to have an unabridged birth certificate showing the names of both parents. If the child is travelling with only one parent they will need to have an affidavit from the other parent, of no more than 3 months, confirming the child can travel with the other parent; a court order granting full legal guardianship of the child; or a death certificate of the deceased parent.

Food & Drink

This trip includes 13 breakfasts, five lunches and eight dinners.

We stay in lodges most nights, but meals are prepared by our crew.

• Breakfast is generally cereal or toast with tea and coffee with the occasional fried breakfast/brunch
• Lunch is normally a simple picnic of cheese, cold meats, salads, bread or rolls
• Dinners are cooked meals such as potjies (stew), braais (barbecues), stir-fries etc

The trip leaders do all the shopping and meal planning for the group. They always try to obtain fresh produce wherever possible. Each tour has one cool box for the meats and the fresh produce only and one cool box for cold drinks. We supply the following drinks: squash, tea or coffee served with meals. All other beverages will be at your own expense. We do not supply bottled drinking water although it is available at many shops on tour if you want to buy it yourself. On some days where early morning game drives are included, lunch may be substituted for a large brunch on return from the game drive – this is customary. We ensure the number of meals detailed in the Trip Notes are provided.

Please note, we need at least two weeks’ notice to deal with special dietary requirements (eg vegetarian or allergies.) For this reason, if you did not indicate these on your booking form, please advise us as soon as possible.

The water provided on this trip is safe and clean drinking water, normally from boreholes. It is not bottled water, however. If you would rather have bottled water then this will be at your expense, though we encourage you to make use of the safe drinking water provided as this helps diminish plastic consumption.

Weather

There is no best time to go in terms of game viewing or conditions in the Delta, as the Delta flows year-round, despite its flood periods. The wettest season is January and February, when travel on dirt roads becomes difficult. March to September, although dry and bright, can be cold at night (in June and July it really can be chilly on occasions so bring appropriate gear). Water levels in the Delta will be at their highest in July. From December to June, water levels in the Zambezi are at their highest, and the spray can be seen several miles away as it soars sometimes as much as 152m (500ft) in the air. October and November are the hottest months, and midday temperatures can be very uncomfortable. The rains normally start slowly in late November. December can be wet, but it does not rain for long periods and should definitely not put anyone off travelling, as there is always plenty of sunshine.