The amber season is, above all, a matter of light. As the sun begins to dip toward the horizon, it floods the landscape with a golden hue, creating an atmosphere of rare stillness.
The plains and clearings, covered in dry vegetation, take on copper tones. Baobabs stand like solitary sentinels, while the skin of elephants reveals all the years carried by these colossal animals… In this slanting light, every shadow seems to stretch on endlessly, giving the landscape a new, almost mysterious depth.
Travelling to Zimbabwe between July and October means stepping outside of time, away from the noise of the modern world. Vast, silent landscapes, night skies of rare clarity, nights spent in camps at the heart of the bush. Everything here invites contemplation and reflection. Whether it’s an evening by the fire, listening to the stories of elders, or sitting outside your tent with an unobstructed view of the Zambezi River — every moment is an invitation to slow down, to reconnect with what matters most.
An experience that leaves a deep impression. As it did for us the first time, more than twenty-five years ago…
MANA POOLS – Zambezi Life Style
Zambezi Life Style Camp, Zimbabwe © African Bush Camps
A few words are enough to define what Zambezi Life Style is: an experience combining adventure, understated luxury and direct contact with one of the last great wilderness regions of southern Africa — Mana Pools.
Camps are not in short supply along the Zambezi. One might think they’re all alike, offering the same experience… But that would be underestimating Africa! Twenty-five years of experience in Mana Pools have taught us every subtlety of the national park and the adjoining private concessions. It is with this depth of knowledge that we design your safari, selecting the locations and camps best suited to the season, to meet your wishes and respect your constraints.
Juliette, Aurélie, Amandine, Stéphanie and Laurent know how to listen — and then design the ultimate safari in this singular corner of Africa.
PRIVATE CONCESSION – Premium on the Banks of the Zambezi
Tembo Plains Camp, Zimbabwe © Great Plains Conservation
Two private concessions on the banks of the Zambezi, each located at one end of Mana Pools National Park.
Ruckomechi has long been regarded as one of the finest areas in the region: floodplains where hippos share ground with waterbuck among countless Nile crocodiles; dry riverbeds where the shade of sausage trees offers a perfect refuge for lions and leopards; magnificent forests of acacia and mopane…
Sapi has a more turbulent past. A hunting reserve until 2016, it is now fully dedicated to conservation, and the substantial investment from Great Plains Foundation (led by Dereck & Beverly Joubert) has driven its revival. Today it stands as a unique, well-preserved territory where wildlife numbers continue to grow. As you’ll have gathered, exploring these two concessions offers a highly exclusive experience — unmatched elsewhere in Zimbabwe.
You can choose to spend an extended stay at either one. Or better still: combine both within a single safari!
MANA POOLS – Walking Safaris… and More!
Zambezi Life Style Camp, Zimbabwe © African Bush Camps
Zimbabwe is renowned worldwide for the quality of its guides, particularly those specialising in walking safaris. But 4×4 drives or walking are not the only ways to discover Mana Pools. Boat activities are prohibited within the national park (to protect the riverbanks, nesting grounds for carmine bee-eaters), but canoeing allows you to explore the full beauty of the Zambezi River over dozens of kilometres.
Mana Pools is arguably the finest spot in Africa for this exceptional experience — whether for a few hours or several days.
HWANGE – Kingdom of the Elephants
Little Makalolo, Zimbabwe © Dana Allen
This is the full complexity of wildlife conservation: over the past fifty years, Africa’s elephant population has declined by 60%. And yet regions such as Chobe National Park (in Botswana) or Hwange (in Zimbabwe) now carry far more elephants than their ecosystems can sustain. This is where responsible tourism can, in its modest way, play a part — providing the financial means to relocate elephant populations rather than cull them for population control. A vast subject on which we won’t venture any hasty judgement. Nonetheless, Hwange can rightly be considered the Kingdom of the Elephants, and the amber season is the ideal time to watch their deliberate march toward the few remaining waterholes, in the spellbinding atmosphere of late afternoon, wrapped in gold and dust.
This alchemy is what makes Hwange an essential stop on any journey through Zimbabwe.
CHITAKE – The Art of the African Hide
Safari at Chitake © Bushlife Camps
Ever since his Tibetan travels with Vincent Munier, Sylvain Tesson has kept repeating it: watching and waiting is an art.
Of course, here at Chitake, we’re far removed from the conditions described in The Art of Patience. Still, patience and a certain willingness of spirit are required if one is to witness truly exceptional scenes of animal life — and, at last, be rewarded for it.
So let us remember the words of the travel writer: “Patience is a supreme virtue, the most elegant and the most forgotten. It helps us love the world.”
