Mirjam our guide from Switzerland reveals some interesting occurrences that happened on her past trip with Jonathan Clements on their Zimbabwe Botswana Game Tracker ZBa16 which took place in November.

Close up with a Rhino mother and her calf

Matopos National Park in Zimbabwe is well known for its efforts to conserve and protect rhinos from illegal hunting. On the 16 days tour “Zimbabwe Botswana Game Tracker” there is a good chance to get close to these beautiful but endangered animals.

As it can be expected we were quite excited to go on our morning walk in the Matopos National Park, all hopeful to see rhinos. After tracking the rhinos in our safari vehicle we continued on foot as there were signs of rhinos in the area. John, the owner of The Old Farmhouse were we stay on that tour, said the signs show that the rhinos were grazing that morning right where we stood. As it had started to get hotter they had moved off to the thick bush, rather than being out in the open. John led us to the little forest further up to hopefully find them there, but unfortunately we could not track them and made our way back to our vehicle.

Much to our surprise and delight, as we were about to leave as John spotted a Rhino with her calf in the far distance on the other side of the forest. Everybody got out of the safari vehicle as fast as possible to get closer to the Rhino mother and her baby and boy did we got very close. We were able to get about 15 meters away from them where we all silently watched them grazing. The mum was absolutely relaxed and didn’t show any signs of concern or aggression with us being so close to her baby. It even almost seemed like she was showing off her baby to us by walking up and down in front of us! It was an absolutely stunning and impressive experience to see the rhinos close up and so relaxed. After watching them for about 30 minutes we decided to leave them and walked back in silence, still very impressed about this very close encounter with the rhinos.

Elephants visiting us at our lodge

In Zimbabwe the lodges we stay in are mostly not fenced and this allows the animals to roam freely, which means they can also move through the accommodation area. The lodge we stay in for two nights close to Hwange National Park is one such lodge. While walking, especially at night, you always get the chance of seeing animals and must always remember to stay alert and you need to be aware of them.

One night we were watching the dance performance of the local dance group who were interpreting different animals. As the performance finished we could hear some loud movements at the nearby waterhole. Curious to find out from what was making the noise, we all silently made our way to the waterhole. We found a herd of elephants drinking and enjoying themselves! We were just lucky enough to watch them for several minutes before they rushed off back into the bush as they were disturbed by a noise in the far distance. As some of the chalets are right at the edge of the waterhole we stayed on our balconies and hoped for them to come back, but unfortunately they didn’t return that night. I love this lodge as there is always a good chance to see some animals while enjoying the night sky before falling asleep by the sound of the frogs living at the waterhole.