Zimbabwe: Safaris at Davison's Camp

 

We saw this male ostrich several times on game drives at Davison's, or at least we thought it was
the same ostrich. Sometimes it was accompanied by two females. 

           During our 2026 trip to Africa, one of our most pleasant stops was three nights at Davison's, a safari camp in Zimbabwe's game-rich Hwange National Park. It's operated by Wilderness Destinations, the company that helped us plan our trip and was the second of two Wilderness camps that we stayed at. 

       Here you're greeted every day at 5:30am by someone yelling "Good Morning" outside your tent, which is more like a cabin with a thatch roof and canvas walls. The hinged door provided much better access than unzipping flaps. Then a simple breakfast around the fire pit, which for my money was the best meal of the day. By 6:30 you're bounding into the bush hoping to see lions and other wildlife as they start their day. Then return to camp for lunch, a rest,  and back into the bush until sunset. To me, there are few things that compare with safari game drives, especially ones where you see lots of animals. "Sundowner" cocktails and snacks in the bush are de rigueur.

        Our guide here, Paul, didn't have to work too hard to find giraffes and zebras. There are multitudes of both. Lions were found through radio contact with other guides. A highlight was finding an elephant with three of her offspring, an addolesent female and a pair of months-old twins. Paul said he had never seen elephant twins before. We had thought we'd see elephants at Davison's pumped watering hole right in front of the camp, but 2026's unusally wet rainy season had left too many natural watering holes out in the bush, and the camp's attracted few customers. 

      One characteristic of Wilderness camps is a focus on local culture. I think that Paul is probably encouraged to share stories about his life, being raised first by his grandmother and then by another family in his village, gathering termites, cooking and eating them, and more. He knocked a hole in a termite mound to show us its occupants. Paul said he worked four weeks straight, then two weeks off to be with his family.  That seems to be the situation for most guides at safari camps. 

    Here are some pictures:

Odd birds are among the many delights of safaris. This is a secretary bird, so named because
 the headfeathers  are thought to resemble pencils stuck behind a secretary's ear. 

This yellow-billed hornbill was one of many that we saw at 
Hwange National Park. It's called "the flying banana."

This was one of a pride of lions we saw on a Davison's safari. It was mid-morning and they
were mostly napping, though some walked around a bit and some looked directly at us.

Zebras (in Africa they're called ZEH-bras) are always a treat to see. We saw several mother-foal duos such as this. 

     

A adult female, left, with three of her offspring, including months-old twins. 

The twins are protected by their mother and their older sibling.

The kori bustard is another of Africa's large birds.

  

The Cape buffalo is one of the "Big Five" of African game animals, the five animals that posed
the biggest challenges for big-game hunters a century or more ago: lion, leopard,
rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo. 

Africa: Sands of the Kalahari

These photos were all taken in the Kalahari Desert, where we stayed at Kalahari Plains in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This camp is one in the Wilderness chain of safari camps (click HERE for the Wilderness website).  We met fellow guests who were staying at a string of Wilderness camps. The company has its own fleet of small aircraft to pick up guests at airports and to shuttle them between camps. It's also known for stressing local culture. At Kalahari Plains, we were met by a number of the women employees singing a cappella in either Swahili or a local tribal language. There was also "dancing Bushmen" at one dinner, and the bush walk (see photo below).  

       For more photos from our early 2016 Africa trip, keep scrolling and hitting "older posts" when you get to the bottom (before the canal boat photo). Click HERE for a written account of the trip, along with links to Kalahari Plains and all the other safari lodges and camps we visited. 

Northern black korhaan.

Black-backed jackal.

Black-headed heron.

Some watering holes look a lot like mud puddles. . 

This was our introduction to kudus, We later saw these antelope
alive and well elsewhere in Botswana.

An oryx, also known as a gemsbok.

Adbim's stork.

Southern giraffes; in Tanzania we saw
Maasai giraffes. We were told there are seven
different types of giraffe. The southern
giraffes' color is a bit more muted than
that of the Maasai. We saw only those two types.

Hartebeest.

Our canvas-walled cabin at Kalahari Plains. We slept every night
under the stars on the raised deck. The staff put mattresses on the
floor for us and made up very comfortable beds. No dew, so
everything was dry when we woke up.

One night at Kalahari Plains, dinner was served outdoors. The bonfire
is a ritual at most safari camps. Everyone sits around and chats before dinner.

This San Bushman, an employee at Kalahari Plains safari camp, traded his
 usual clothes for traditional Bushman attire (no idea if anyone still wears loincloths
in real life) to take us on a walk in the bush. Here he's demonstrating
how to make a simple snare for trapping small game.

Black mamba snakes aren't always black.

Our guide guessed that this black mamba was more than two meters long.