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Where to Go in 2026: My Picks
My 2026 picks: Uganda, Kenya, Australia and Zambia, plus Guyana and Northern Albania. Places that cap visitor numbers and still feel wild if you plan them well.
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Zimbabwe is where southern Africa's best guiding meets some of its smallest camps, and a classic trip is a triangle: Victoria Falls, Hwange and Mana Pools, joined by light aircraft. That build, nine to eleven nights in the dry season, runs $11,000–$20,000+ per person. The drivers are the series' usual five, with Zimbabwe's own emphases: the season decides whether Mana Pools is open at all, the Falls run on their own opposite calendar, and the camps are small enough that availability, not rate negotiation, is the real constraint in peak months. The one figure that holds across every build is the private game-drive vehicle, typically $500 to $600 per day.
Every Zimbabwe trip is bespoke and quoted as a range for your dates. Confirm current rates with me.
The safari calendar peaks from August to October: Mana Pools open and at its best, Hwange's herds concentrated at the pumped waterholes. The Falls calendar peaks the other way, fullest around April after the rains and thinnest by November, when parts of the Zambian side can run dry (the Zimbabwe side keeps more water). No month maximises both, and pretending otherwise is how trips disappoint: choose which one leads. The shoulder resolution is May to June, with the Falls still full, the bush drying, Mana Pools open, and rates and crowds below the August peak; the trade-off is that game concentration builds through the season rather than starting high. Green season closes most Mana Pools camps outright, while Hwange stays open and green at lower rates, with the game dispersed. My post on the case against peak season explains the thinking.
Zimbabwe's top end is not palace camps. It is eight-to-twelve-bed camps in private concessions, in south-east Hwange and on the Mana Pools floodplain, whose rate buys guide quality the industry regards as the benchmark. Zimbabwe's professional-guide qualification is the hardest in Africa, and walking and canoeing at Mana Pools are led by the people who defined them. The flagship private-concession camps sit at the top; strong Hwange main-camp-area and Kariba lodges below; the Falls' own hotels are a separate, smaller line, a town stay priced like one. The new-entrant point: Matusadona's revival under African Parks management is the live story, and a famous name being rebuilt is a window worth watching.
The triangle is flown. Victoria Falls to Hwange is about an hour by light aircraft, Hwange to Mana Pools another hop, and the routing order decides whether you pay for the sky once or twice. Scheduled hops are the default architecture; charter is the upgrade for groups and tight connections. Road is realistic only for the Falls-to-Hwange leg and costs most of a day. Soft bags, strict limits, as everywhere in fly-in Africa.
Park entry per person per day across Hwange, Mana Pools and the Falls, which carry their own entry, plus concession fees inside private areas. A real but second-order line; the per-day arithmetic again argues for fewer, longer stays.
A private game-drive vehicle typically runs $500 to $600 per day, and at Hwange's pumped waterholes, where a sighting can hold you for hours, it's the photographer's call. But like Zambia, Zimbabwe's signature premium walks: private walking and canoeing with a professional guide at Mana Pools is the line to fund first. The vehicle gets you to the river; the professional guide is the experience.
Top tier is the flagship private-concession camps of south-east Hwange and the Mana Pools floodplain. High-end is the strong Hwange main-camp-area and Kariba lodges. The Falls hotels are their own, smaller line. Per-night rates move with the camp and the month, and I quote them for your dates rather than print a table that will be wrong by the time you read it.
The triangle in the order Falls, Hwange, Mana Pools, so you end on the river. Three or four nights in Hwange. Mana Pools is non-negotiable in a dry-season build.
For July to October, book by February. The camps are small.
Falls or game: which should my dates favour? They run on opposite calendars. The Falls are fullest around April and thinnest by November; the game peaks from August to October. May to June is the resolution if you want both.
Why is Mana Pools in every quote? Walking and canoeing with professional guides is Zimbabwe's signature, and Mana Pools is where it lives. It is also the seasonal piece: the camps open roughly April to November.
How do the flights between camps work? Scheduled light-aircraft hops, about an hour from the Falls to Hwange and another hop to Mana Pools, with luggage in soft bags.
When do I need to book? By February for July to October. The camps are small.
For sample routes, see my Hwange, Mana Pools and Victoria Falls and top camps itineraries, and my guide to Hwange and Victoria Falls. The Botswana cost guide is the natural comparison, and what drives the cost of a safari sets out the five decisions behind every number here.
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Every itinerary begins with a 20-minute planning call. From there, a $250 planning fee, credited in full toward your booked trip and non-refundable if you don’t book. I brief the property before you arrive — that's what the fee funds.
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