Victoria Falls & Unforgettable Safaris: A Family Adventure in Southern Africa

When you land, we’ll greet you at the airport and help you through customs, to minimise waiting times for the tired little ones. We’ll then escort you to your hotel by private transfer, which takes around 35 minutes. While you’re in Johannesburg, you’ll be staying in a very special place: a thatched-roofed house known as the Satyagraha House, which once belonged to Gandhi. Now a South African heritage site, this building houses a museum and a guest house and is located in the heart of Orchards, a residential area close to the city’s main areas of interest. You’ll spend tonight in a small two-bedroom cottage, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and restorative vegetarian cuisine. Much more than a pitstop, this is a chance for the whole family to learn about the history of a great man.

While you’re in Johannesburg, we’ll arrange for you to take a private guided tour of the city. You’ll walk in Nelson Mandela's footsteps as you discover Soweto, the heart of the fight against Apartheid, as well as the contemporary and powerful Apartheid Museum, and Maboneng, the trendy district in the east of the city. Here, wander between studios and exhibition spaces as you soak up the creative atmosphere. In-between, you’ll stop for a well-deserved lunch break.

Today you’ll head back to the airport for a flight to the legendary Victoria Falls, which takes about an hour and 40 minutes. When you land, you’ll be welcomed at the airport once again with a private transfer to your hotel in a quiet area not far from the majestic falls. You’ll spend two nights in a charming lodge with colonial-inspired architecture. The spacious rooms are ideal for families, as is the pretty garden surrounding the property, and of course the swimming pool. This evening, enjoy a meal on the restaurant’s beautiful terrace.

Victoria Falls is one of the world’s most legendary natural sites, and an essential stopover for anyone visiting southern Africa. David Livingstone became the first European to see the falls at the end of the 19th century, and there are markers of the past all around here, whether in the steam train or the architecture of certain hotels and buildings. So you can discover the area from all angles, we’ll organise two activities for you today. First, you’ll experience Victoria Falls by bike. During this guided family activity, you’ll discover the city centre, its craft markets and shops before heading to the Zambezi River which you’ll follow to the falls. Along the way, enjoy spectacular views of the Batoka Gorge. Aside from the powerful falls, the highlight of this trip is a generous lunch in one of the area’s iconic cafés, which gives you a breathtaking view from its terrace.

You’ll have a few hours to relax this afternoon before your next activity: a private sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. Aboard a small motor boat, enjoy this peaceful trip on the river as you admire its beauty, drink in hand (for the grown-ups at least). As you glide across the water, look out for the wild animals who come to the riverbank to drink. If this isn’t an aperitif in paradise, we don’t know what is.

It’s time to swap Zimbabwe for the great wild spaces of its neighbour Botswana. Today, a private driver will take you to the Kasane border post and assist you with customs formalities. You’ll then continue along the Chobe River where the children (and adults!) should keep their eyes peeled for the wild animals that live here. Your base for the next few days is located on the border with Namibia, a camp overlooking the river. It’s near a quieter part of the Chobe National Park, and your well-furnished bungalows come complete with a balcony overlooking the bush or the river. From the swimming pool, you’ll get a great view of your surroundings.

This park is the most northerly in Botswana and covers 4,517 square miles. Around 45,000 elephants live here, the largest herds in Africa. From May to the first rains (usually in November) herds of more than 200 elephants can be seen splashing in the waters of the river. But these incredible animals aren’t the only inhabitants of Chobe’s humid plains. At night, tents vibrate to the roar of lions and the grunt of hippos, buffaloes gather in their hundreds under the trees, crocodiles haunt the banks of the Chobe and countless antelopes feed the predators lurking in the grass. If that weren’t enough, scavenging hyenas and vultures have also found a home here.

While you’re in the park, you and your family will have two outings per day: a land safari aboard a 4x4 and a water safari. During the first, your guide will look out for tracks, listen for the cries of baboons and take you to watering holes where animals tend to gather. On the second, you’ll glide along the Chobe River in a motorboat alongside splashing elephants and hippos, seeing the animals that live on its banks along with the area’s numerous birds.

Today, you’ll head deeper into the heart of Botswana towards one of the planet’s rarest ecosystems: the Okavango Delta. In a 4x4, your driver will first take you back to Kasane where a small taxi plane will be waiting for you on the landing strip. You’ll then fly at low altitude above the meandering delta towards your camp, sometimes stopping here and there to drop off other travellers at their lodges. This fun experience is made even better when you find yourself flying over herds of giraffes or elephants.

You’ll spend three nights in a small, isolated camp in the heart of forests and floodplains in the Selinda reserve, east of the delta. The raised tents of this simple camp are perfectly camouflaged in nature, and you’ll all stay together in a large family tent. The emphasis here is on slow adventures in the bush. The guides have two specialities: riding safaris and walking safaris, and you can also see wildlife from a mokoro (a long traditional canoe). The camp has a common dining room, a bar and a circle of chairs surrounding a crackling campfire where you can convene every evening to share stories of your time in the bush.

Khwai is a region of Botswana in its own right, but travellers tend to overlook it in favour of its neighbours, which is a good thing for us! Located near the floodplains of the Okavango Delta and the mouth of the eponymous river, this is an incredible place to see local wildlife. While you’re here, you’ll experience enchanting landscapes of canals, ponds and islands, and above all come up close to animals you’ve only dreamed of seeing in real life: lions, leopards, cheetahs, antelopes, giraffes, buffaloes, warthogs, hippos and crocodiles. We’d hazard a guess that the children won’t be the only ones to find themselves speechless…