Zambezi & animalscapes

DATE TOUR 1 2-14 September 2025 (13 days) xFULL
DATE TOUR 2 18-30 September 2025 (13 days)xFULL
TOUR LEADERS Marsel van Oosten and Daniella Sibbing
GENRE wildlife
FEE 15,995 USD
tour 1 starts in Lusaka & ends in Harare
tour 2 starts in Harare & ends in Lusaka
DEPOSIT 2,500 USD per person
GROUP SIZE 6 guests
SINGLE SUPPL. 1.995 USD for a single room
LEVEL all experience levels

This tour is currently fully booked. Please use the booking form below to have your name put on the waiting list for this tour. As soon as something opens up, we will be in touch!

TOUR DESCRIPTION
The tour is wild in terms of getting close to animals and shooting at low angles. It is a safari timed for the he dry season when animals have to drink at certain water points and the predators know this. And so do we, that is why we will be there! The tour will be 12 nights in total, of which we’ll stay 4 nights in a safari lodge in Mana Pools (Zimbabwe) and 6 nights in a safari lodge in Lower Zambezi (Zambia). Both sides of the river have beautiful winter thorn threes and we’ll be looking for anything that presents itself under those extremely photogenic trees!

CLIMATE
Hot during the day, cool in the mornings, and warm at night. We did not choose the dry season for our comfort, but for effective shooting; all animals come to the waterholes and the river, as the temperatures rise during the day. And that is where we will be!

TOUR ITINERARY & ACCOMMODATION
In Zambia, we will use the bush camp that we always mention when people ask us “what is your favorite place for safari?”: Old Mondoro in Lower Zambezi National Park. The place where elephants walk through camp daily, where you are really in touch with nature, and where we will have exclusive use of the camp. The first time we were there was in 2007. And have been back over 20 times, with and without guests. So it must be good!!! That is why we will stay there for 6 nights, as the areas we go to are very diverse.

We are combining Lower Zambezi with the forest of Mana Pools, where we will stay in the new Mana River Camp which opened in 2022. Here we will have exclusive use of the camp. It’s a more simple tented camp, but you won’t miss a thing while we are there. And most importantly: it’s ideally located in an open area with big trees, and the closest camp to the nicest part of the forest, where we will do the majority of our drives. So it’s been carefully selected.

Tour 1 starts on the 2nd of September 2025 in Lusaka, where we will stay at a boutique hotel named Latitude 15. It is our favorite place in Lusaka, with a nice relaxed atmosphere and good food. From there we take a private charter to the Lower Zambezi (Jeki Airstrip), where we will be picked up and transferred to Old Mondoro. Our home for the 6 nights. Our focus will be on ANYTHING under the beautiful trees, but we’ll also look for leopards. There are several areas we’ll visit around Old Mondoro, which is why we are staying here for 6 nights. A charter flight will bring us back to Lusaka, where we’ll connect to an international flight to Harare. Here we’ll have an overnight at the Highlands House. The next day we fly to Mana Pools, and we will be taken to Mana River Camp where we’ll stay for 4 nights. We sleep under canvas, close to the Zambezi River and we focus on whatever the forest brings us! We end the tour on the 14th of September 2025 in Harare.

Tour 2 starts on the 18th September 2025 in Harare. Here we’ll have an overnight at the Highlands House. The next day we fly to Mana Pools, and we will be taken to Mana River Camp where we’ll stay for 4 nights. We sleep under canvas, close to the Zambezi River and we focus on whatever the forest brings us! We fly back to Harare and connect to our international flight to Lusaka, where we will stay at a boutique hotel named Latitude 15. It is our favorite place in Lusaka, with a nice relaxed atmosphere and good food. From there we take a private charter to the Lower Zambezi (Jeki Airstrip), where we will be picked up and transferred to Old Mondoro. Our home for the 6 nights. Our focus will be on ANYTHING under the beautiful trees, but we’ll also look for leopards. There are several areas we’ll visit around Old Mondoro, which is why we are staying here for 6 nights. A charter flight will bring us back to Lusaka. We end the tour on the 30th of September 2025 in Lusaka.

PRICE & WHAT’S INCLUDED

The price of this absolutely beautiful and amazing safari is 15,995 USD based on sharing. As we have to buy out the entire camps with just a group of 8, we have based the tour on 1 couple and 4 single travelers, each with their own tent (as we need to fill 6 tents). The single supplement is 1,995 USD for this tour.

We will have exclusive use of both camps, two vehicles for our drives (so every guest has his/her own row of seats), and in Mana Pools the guides will be walkings guides as well. All flights (including the international flight from Lusaka to Harare) are included, as well as all accommodation, transfers, meals and drinks. The flights mentioned in the itinerary are based on the 2024 flight schedules, so we’ll need to adjust times according to the 2025 flight availability & timings.

The only thing that is NOT included are the park fees in Zimbabwe, because there has been talk of changing them. So we’ve taken them out of the tour fee for now.
Currently the price for park fee & conservation fee per night is 100 USD (20 USD park fee, 80 USD conservation fee). We will add the actual costs in 2025 to your final invoice.

PRIVATE CAMPS & AIR CHARTERS WITH EXTRA LUGGAGE ALLOWANCE
Just like on most of our tours, we have a private charters for our flights to & from Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia, and we bought extra luggage seats on our flights to Mana Pools (Zimbabwe). As a result, everyone can take 40kg of luggagwe with them, in stead of the standard 12 to 20kg on bush planes.

All camps will be taken over by just our group, allowing us to basically do whatever we want, when we want it. And we like that 😀

WHY CHOOSE SQUIVER?
Because we do things differently. In this case: we know people. That means we will be able to get out of our vehicles and lay flat on the grass next to a waterhole to get great eye level shots. Try that with other companies. It also means that we can stay out longer, return later, or photograph elephants on foot. And because we take over an entire camp, our day schedule is their day schedule, allowing us to be super flexible. You can photograph from a boat, a car, or a canoe – anything goes.

That’s it? No, we are very proud to have a return customer rate of over 75% – people that have travelled with us, often travel with us again, and again. Surely that must mean something.

Our trips attract photographers of all experience levels, from all over the word. The language we speak on all tours is English. There will be daily briefings, in the field instructions, raw processing tips, and image reviews. You’ll return with spectacular images.

INCLUDED IN THE TOUR FEE

  • accommodation (12 nights)
  • all meals and drinks, apart from premium brands
  • all meals and all drinks in the safari camps (full board)
  • 2 flights by chartered airplane between Lusaka and the camps
  • extended luggage allowance (40kg in stead of the standard 20 kg)
  • transfer between the camps (1 road transfers, 2 chartered airplanes
  • highly experienced guides
  • all parkfees
  • photographic tutoring and in the field instructions by Marsel AND Greg
  • image reviews
  • lots of fun!

NOT INCLUDED IN THE TOUR FEE

  • international flight
  • travel and cancellation insurance
  • gratuities

Please read our Terms & Conditions for this tour.

If you would like to take out cancellation insurance, it needs to be arranged upon booking. You can get cancellation insurance through a third party, or we can arrange it for you. For more information go to: www.squiver.com/insurance.html.

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