14 Days Best African Volunteer Tour

Today you meet your guide for a pre tour briefing. Once your tour briefing is over, you will start your activities by having an hour of fun with kids at a local orphanage, Rose Of Charity an organization doing amazing work for abandoned babies as little as 2 weeks old, HIV victims and many more touching cases will be told once there……. later you will be taken to the Zambezi river for your amazing sunset cruise, after an awesome African sunset beyond the palm trees, will go to the lodge to refresh before going out for a dinner at a local restaurant. Optional dinner at The Boma Place of eating

Today we visit the highlight of the whole trip – the Mighty Victoria Falls! We enjoy 3hours walk along one of the grandest wonder on planet earth. Countless gallons of litres of water cascade 108m deep into a crevice on the earth’s crust sending back to the sky a cloud of mist. We then go to the crocodile farm via the giant baobab tree affectionately known as the “Big Tree”. Later in the afternoon we set off on a night game drive in search of the elusive rhino to add to our big5 check list. Here you are most likely to see plains antelope, hordes of zebra, giraffe, a lion or two, hyena, elephants and buffalo. Birding even before the sun sinks is excellent while nocturnal birds come alive, Pel’s fishing owl, nightjars, and as many birds are attracted to the large water body in the reserve. We seal our evening with a scrumptious bush dinner in the heart of the game reserve under the stars.

Chobe is home to the world’s largest elephants’ concentration, this is an hour’s drive from Victoria Falls. We start off soon after breakfast and cross into Botswana. We spend our morning on a game cruise on Chobe River in a speedboat. Animals escaping lions, feed on lush marshy islands; these include bushbuck, buffalo and the rare red lechwe. This is where birdwatchers go crazy. After our lunch break, we explore the park in an open safari vehicle in search of lions, the elusive leopard and game that cannot cross to islands. We drive back home with indelible memories in our hearts.

TWe travel to Kasase where we spend our night in the village; our lodge is surrounded by huts in one homestead. We have our breakfast in an open sided summer hut. Then we set out to see the distances pupils walk to school, we attempt to walk the same distance behind a slow moving vehicle (… just in case) to school and hear about school needs from the school head and teachers. We get back to our home in time for lunch; this is when we discuss how we can help the kids and improve their school. After lunch we freely mingle with villagers (optional). We then go for an hours’ meeting with the village herds and the Chief Later afternoon we go to the Zambezi for sundowners and our braai dinner will be on the banks of the Zambezi in Msuna. Speed boating option.

Today we sleep in a bit only to rise up at the sound of cow bells and incessant whistling as boys open the kraals for their cows and goats before they drive them to the pastures. This marks the beginning of a new day in the village – late breakfast. We do some work at either the primary or secondary school or we divide ourselves depending on the number in our group and later mingle around once more with villagers, by around midday we regroup for lunch after which we depart for Zimbabwe’s premier game park, Hwange. This is a 2hour drive through villages, cattle, mountains and rivers. We get there in time for late afternoon tea and an introductory evening game drive. The night is wild!

After a hot cup of coffee and rusks, we are re-introduced into another unit of this massive animal haven. We will purge the savannas and miombos till we cannot swallow anymore. We break for brunch, refresh a little, before we know it, we find ourselves marveling and endlessly zooming and clicking on our cameras. Our day ends in time enough to visit the Wild Dog Research station not far from the park, the good news is that even if we are out of the park we still come across wildlife – the park is unfenced. The rest of the day is free till dinner. Good night but keep one ear open!

Today we drive to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second capital affectionately known as the City of Kings; the town is endowed with a wealth of history as evidenced by colonial buildings that still grace the city in a number of isolated spots. In Bulawayo, after setting camp, we visit the Natural History Museum and The Railway museum after which we are free to roam around in tourist fashion haggling and gazing at strange structures. Art lovers can have a field day at the Bulawayo art gallery. We then find a fine restaurant to tickle our taste buds before we go to the “village” for the night.

We rise up early to catch a glimpse of the sun in its amazing golden splendor as it rises up from beyond the imposing giant boulders of Matopo Hills National Park. We search for rhino, leopard, the rest of the animals are strewn all over. We probe the skies for the majestic black eagle the largest eagle gliding on the thermals. Our amazing guides will show us some tailless rodents inhabiting rock fractures and crevices (dassies) as well as plants restricted to this park. Here, feel the warmth of the rock beneath your bare feet as you walk up the rocky mountain range to the world’s View where you see the grave of colonialist Cecil John Rhodes, the man who wanted to build “the Cape to Cairo” railway line. We go home in the “village” for a rest. Dinner is in the township!

Great Zimbabwe is one monument we can’t miss; we drive southwards to witness the phenomenal structures that still puzzle historians and archeological geniuses. After lunch we set off to Gweru, a small town in the heart of this teapot shaped country. We make ourselves comfortable in a private wildlife rehabilitation sanctuary. The temptation is to look at the environs than to rest, a beautiful slow flowing river runs through the property, birdlife is inviting and then………that unmistakable roar! This is Africa! Lion Encounter is carrying out researches on the cats at the same time rehabilitating lions back into the wild. This wonderful place is well tucked away in the thick wooded forest like it doesn’t exist at all. The night roars – Yes it does! You can’t miss the roar!

Today there is some work to do! We will meet the guides, lion handlers and researcher as well as those who work as volunteers. It is after this meeting that we know what we do for the lions, there will be some optional activities ranging from lion walks, interaction, game drives and more, the authorities will be there to educated us more on what we can do otherwise we have lots of free time in this tranquil retreat.

This day we drive 4hours to Kariba. Kariba dam once was the largest man-made lake the world over pushing 300km backwards from the wall with a breadth of 50km. Here, there are countless optional water activities from water skiing tiger fishing; speed-boating, the list is endless. We drive through Chinhoyi and take a lunch break at these mysterious caves. The mountainous countryside is stunning, animals roam everywhere freely. Our rest camp on the sandy beach is shared with hippos and warthogs. Elephants and buffalos kept out by an electric fence while lion roars penetrate through in some special nights. (Entry to the caves Optional)

This is a free day we only visit the dam wall, once we have had enough, we have the rest of the day to ourselves. You may read a book, go down town or do some of the optional activities as may be advertised.

This is a unique day among many, we load our vehicle and all our equipment in a vessel and we take a 22hour ride of a life time on the Zambezi expanse and enjoy the magnificence of this mighty river’s amazing vastness. The day is as awesome as the night- words fail!

Once we arrive in Binga, we lazy around enjoying the scenery giving our guides time to offload the vehicle from the ferry as well as preparing for our last lap our safari. We refresh at a lodge on the banks and drive through mountains, villages and valleys while we slowly sink into a peaceful slumber. In less than 4hours we begin to see the “smoke” from our beloved Mosi oa Tunya rising steadily to the heavens and we are home once more. Our afternoon is free we can do a few last minute “things” we can take a siesta or go shopping at various curio markets in town. We seal our last evening with an amazing farewell dinner.

After our last breakfast we pack our bags, say our goodbyes wiping tears of joy, having given Africa a hand of love seen her beauty and before we separate, we hug one more time, shed some more tears with the hope of meeting once again – someday. Travel safe! We Shall Meet Again!

N.B. (A fully comprehensive itinerary with activity and departure times is sent to clients together with other tour documents upon booking and full payments made for the trip.

Optional own expense activities may include:

Canoeing, lion walk, helicopter ride, elephant Rides, horse rides, high tea, Bunji jump or other adrenaline activities. Go to activities page for more options.