Changa Safari Camp

The Luxury Tents at Changa Safari Camp are designed with a traditional yet unique African aesthetic, crafted from rustic wood, leather and woven materials, and featuring locally-made furniture. Each bedroom features a comfy double bed with soft linen and plush pillows. The tents feature floor to ceiling mesh windows, creating a light and airy environment and offering sweeping views of the incredible landscape and lakeshore. The rooms lead on to private en-suite bathrooms with an additional outside shower and bath. Guests can relax and enjoy the scenery from inside their tents, where fans are provided to keep away the heat, or out on their private verandah.

The two Family Tents consist of two standard luxury tents which join together via an inter-leading passageway. As with the luxury tents, the family tents are designed with a traditional yet unique African aesthetic, crafted from rustic wood, leather and woven materials, and featuring locally-made furniture. Both of the tent’s bedrooms feature comfy double beds, adorned with soft linen sheets and plush pillows. The family tents also have floor to ceiling mesh windows that create a light and airy environment and offering sweeping views of the incredible landscape and lakeshore. The two rooms both have independent en-suite bathrooms with an additional outside shower and bath. Guests can relax and enjoy the scenery from inside their tents, where fans are provided to keep away the heat, or out on their private verandah.

Meals at Changa Safari Camp are relaxed and comfortable. Guests can enjoy dining around a communal table, under a canopy of trees on the wooden viewing deck which offers lake views, or on the camp’s private beach. Start the day with a light breakfast of toast and muffins before your firsts activity of the day, and return for a hearty brunch buffet. Lunch is served in the afternoons and is followed by a light dessert, before afternoon tea a little later. Dinner is a three-course affair, freshly prepared by the camp’s chefs using local ingredients. Vegetarian options are also available. Guests can enjoy pre-dinner drinks by the lake, and the meal concludes with a delicious dessert.

Venture out on an exciting game drive and explore Matusadona National Park from the comfort of a specialised safari vehicle. The camp’s knowledgeable guides will be able to teach you interesting facts about the incredible animals of Zimbabwe, as well as showing you the best spots for viewing game. Look out for elephants, zebras, waterbuck, buffalo, lions, impala and hippos, as you traverse the plains and roam the African wilderness. Lake Kariba is home to an abundance of Nile crocodiles, and the shores offer spectacular views of the giant herds of elephants and the Big Five.

Explore the bush on foot on a walking safari, and experience the smaller details that make safaris more immersive. Your experienced guide will be able to teach you how to recognise tracks, and follow clues left in the wilderness that will lead to incredible game viewing opportunities. Explore at your own pace, without the noise of an engine to startle the wildlife, and take advantage of incredible photographic opportunities. Game walks take place early in the mornings, when the wildlife is most active, and late in the afternoons to avoid the hottest time of day.

There are over 240 species of birdlife around Lake Kariba, including the squacco heron and collared pratincole. Guests who are particularly interested in bird watching will particularly love Zimbabwe’s rainy season when the migratory birds return. By the lakeshore, guests will be able to spot aquatic bird species as they fish in the waters, such as the abundant fish eagles. Watch these incredible creatures as they swoop through the air, effortlessly plucking their prey from the lake, and listen to their beautiful songs.

Fish from the shore, or set off on a boating adventure and cast your line in the waters of Lake Kariba. Guests can explore the waters and reel in a range of fish including the challenging Tiger Fish, bream, tilapia and vundu catfish. Fishing is done on a catch-and-release basis to protect aquatic populations. Enjoy this peaceful activity while admiring the stunning lake views.

Take a short boat trip across the lake and visit the unspoilt Sanyanti Gorge, a quiet ravine which is home to an incredible number of birds. Guests can wander through the steep, 10 km cliffs and look out for antelopes among the sloping hills and dense vegetation. Bring along a pair of binoculars and admire the beautiful birds, including the elusive African finfoot, osprey and African darter. Sanyanti Gorge is also an ideal fishing spot, and the dramatic landscape and colourful wildlife present amazing photographic opportunities.

Drift along the cyan waters of Lake Kariba with a beverage in your hand, and watch the many bird species as they flit across the darkening sky. Listen to the sounds of hippos while the silhouettes of elephants wander across the horizon as the sun dips behind the rolling hills, casting a burnt orange glow across the lake and sky. Enjoy watching the landscape transform before the glimmering stars begin to emerge, and Zimbabwe’s nocturnal creatures begin to stir.

Learn how to capture the perfect wildlife shots and develop your photography skills with a workshop with Neil Fairlie, a professional wildlife documentary filmmaker from Zimbabwe. Neil Fairlie worked on the Netflix series, Our Planet, and has a deep knowledge of the bush and Africa’s wildlife. With a decade of formal experience, and a skill for capturing incredible moments that truly show the personalities of his animal subjects, guests will be able to benefit greatly from Neil Fairlie’s guidance. Learn to take amazing photos that will make your friends back home jealous, and expand your knowledge of the African bush.

African Parks is a non-profit group that works to rehabilitate and preserve national parks in partnership with local communities and governments. The organisation launched in 2000, responding to the decline of protected areas which were suffering due to a lack of both funding and management. African Parks works to support the economic development of communities that surround national parks so that each park is sustainable ecologically, socially and financially.

‘We currently manage 19 national parks and protected areas in 11 countries covering over 14.7 million hectares in: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.’

‘Our goal is to manage 30 parks by 2030, the geographic spread of protected areas and representation of different ecoregions makes this the largest and most ecologically diverse portfolio of parks under management by any one NGO on the continent.’

Change Safari Camp supports Kidzcan, Zimbabwe’s leading organisation for supporting children with cancer. Kidzcan finds and provides chemotherapy and other drugs and medicines for children who are undergoing treatment, supplies blood and blood products, and provides children with prosthetics.

‘What may seem an unlikely association, at first, makes perfect sense when you understand that the common denominator is family – and how Changa and Kidzcan operate from the values and traditions that also happen to strengthen the bonds of family. Changa has pledged to contribute $1 per guest per night to Kidzcan. And they’re inviting their guests to match this dollar or more.’

Changa Safari Camp was built using locally sourced materials to reduce the carbon emissions generated by transported resources and is designed to blend into the landscape as much as possible, causing a minimal impact on the environment. The railings and tent supports were constructed out of old, petrified Mopani logs, and roofs are made from thatch to help regulate temperatures and provide shade without the need for air-conditioning which consumes a lot of energy.

Changa Safari Camp is run using solar energy. The camp’s workshop roof holds 60 solar panels which gather energy that is then stored in 8 large batteries which are invertor-controlled. The camp uses a borehole to provide water for guests, which is also powered by solar, with a solar-powered water pump that draws water from the lake as  Separate solar panels run the borehole water system to fill the tanks for camp requirements with another solar-generated water pump from the lake as a backup. Hot water for staff and back of house use is supplied by solar geysers.

Changa Safari Camp discourages the use of single-use plastics and provides both guests and staff with refillable glass water bottles to reduce the number of plastic bottles that are used within the camp. Changa Safari Camp use a reverse osmosis water purification plant in order to provide clean water for drinking, where guests can refill their bottles. Cans and bottles are crushed on-site and sent to be recycled weekly, and cardboard is flattened and sent to Harare to be recycled each fortnight. Biodegradable waste is also sorted and repurposed.

‘Changa, being situated in the heart of a pristine wildlife area, does not compost for our own organic use and do not plant introduced herbs or plants in case they become invasive and spread within the park. We do, however, use the organic material for our ‘wormery’, a grand coal-walled protected room for worms, which delight in this rich, organic feast, and which are bred on site for our fishing guests’ use. The coal walls are sprinkler-cooled on hot summer days, so the interior remains cool and at a comfortable temperature for the worms to breed.’