Gorges Camp and Little Gorges

The 10 Thatched Chalets are situated at Gorges Camp and are located within the landscaped garden with stunning views from the rim of the gorge that can be enjoyed from your private balcony. This consists of outdoor seating and a day bed for relaxing during the warm sunny afternoons. The rooms are furnished with a modern design and en-suite bathrooms. Overhead fans are provided to maintain a comfortable climate and tea and coffee making facilities are available. Four of the chalets are double storey and the other six are single storey, and guests can choose between either a double bed or two twin beds.

The Five Tented rooms are situated within Little Gorge Camp, standing atop wooden decks, facing over the 270-metre Batoka Gorge and offering astonishing views of the chasm below. Each of the tented rooms features an en-suite bathroom with a shower cut from the rocky terrain, twin basins, and a separate toilet. Guests can enjoy sitting out on their private viewing deck with a cup of tea or coffee and watching the sunset over the gorge. The rooms include a minibar, ceiling fan and electronic safe for storing valuables.

Gorges Camp and Little Gorges have independent breakfast buffets in the mornings, before the first activity of the day. Brunch, Lunch and Dinner are all enjoyed communally at the Main Lodge. Brunch consists of a hot breakfast-style meal, and guests can choose to have lunch in Victoria Falls town at the Three Monkeys. Afternoon tea is served before afternoon activities, and on returning, guests can enjoy a refreshing sundowner beverage. Dinner is a delicious three-course meal that finishes with a sweet dessert.

Visit the nearby Chisuma Village and learn about the everyday lives and routines of the local people. Guests are able to see how Imvelo help to support the people who live in the areas in which they operate, as well as visit the homes of community members to gain insight into a different culture and way of living. Join in with normal activities such as crushing grain to make meal, ploughing fields and brewing beer while interacting with local people.

Visit the local primary school and meet the pupils and teachers who are supported by Imvelo’s community projects. Help local pupils practise their English language skills and learn about their lives and culture. Guests will be treated to a song and dance performance put on by the children and are able to interact with the classes. This activity is only available during term time.

Enjoy a magnificent display of dance and entertainment from a team of local dancers from the villages around Gorges Lodge. The energetic dance and drum performance by Sebenze and his troupe will amaze you, and guests are welcome to get up and join in if they so wish.

Visit the nest of the resident pair of Verreaux’s Eagles who have made their home at the gorge at the lodge. Enjoy their displays of aerobatic skills and watch as the couple flirt with each other through courtship rituals. During the evening, the two birds can be seen hunting around the gorge. Other birds also live here, including lanner falcons, peregrine falcons and augur buzzards, and the eagles and falcons may get into disputes when they stray too close to each other’s nests. Enjoy this amazing spectacle from the comfort of the camp with a refreshing beverage and snack.

Walk along the edge of the Batoka Gorge and admire the incredible views over the gorge and Zambezi River from 200 metres above. Explore the landscape either with a brisk hike or a relaxed walk and learn about the local flora and fauna from a professional guide. At the end of the walk, refreshments can be enjoyed at Peregrine Point while the sun sets in the sky, leaving blazing trails of pinks, oranges and reds as everything else turns to silhouette.

Visit the Victoria Falls Rainforest which receives constant rainfall thanks to its location beneath the world’s largest waterfall. The area is home to a range of creatures including beetles, butterflies, insects, amphibians, birds, lizards, skinks, geckos and snakes (including the rare African python which have been known to grow so large they can constrict and swallow an entire bushbuck). Mammals such as monkeys, warthogs, mongooses and antelope can also be seen here.

Enjoy a relaxing trip to the Crocodile Farm and learn about the incredible prehistoric creatures that live here. Guests can learn all about the habits and behaviours of the crocodiles and even get a chance to hold a hatchling. A number of the crocodiles will later be returned to the wild, where they can enjoy lounging in the Zambezi River and help to boost crocodile populations.

View the incredible Victoria Falls from a unique perspective on either a helicopter or small aircraft flight. The flights go over the falls, Zambezi River and Zambezi National Park, allowing guests to view the cascading water and an incredible selection of game from a bird’s eye view. This activity is at an additional cost and must be pre-booked due to its popularity.

Gorges Camp and Little Gorges are part of Imvelo Safari Lodges which is part of the CAMPFIRE program, an initiative that builds bridges between local communities in Zimbabwe and tourism and wildlife conservation.

‘CAMPFIRE is the acronym for Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources. The philosophy underlying the project is: the people living within the natural resources are best placed to manage them and when doing so in a positive way, should reap the benefits directly. Over the past eight years, Imvelo has ploughed over US$ 2.5 million into local communities. The money is distributed to where it is needed most – education, providing clean water and developing initiatives to ensure the local people are benefiting directly from tourism.’

By drilling and maintaining boreholes, Imvelo continues to provide local communities with reliable and clean water sources. This helps support the health of the local people who depend on safe drinking water – a precious commodity during Zimbabwe’s dry season.

‘Over the past eight years, Imvelo has been responsible for the establishment of over 80 new village wells and boreholes in 4 districts at a cost of more than US$1.5 million. Together, these wells and boreholes provide approximately 1500 school children and 2280 households totalling 13 680 people and their livestock, with clean drinking water. In addition to the installations of new boreholes and wells, existing boreholes have been repaired at a rate of more than 50 repairs a year. This program has transformed the lives of over 120 000 villagers.’

In 2011, Imvelo launched its first mobile safari with the aid of 24 Spanish and Italian volunteer dentists in order to offer free dental care to local communities. From some of the patients, the dental care and procedures they received have had massive positive impacts on their health and may have even been life-saving.

‘In the past seven years, well over 20 000 dental procedures have been carried out on over 20000 patients, including extractions, fillings and root canals – for free!’

More recently, in 2015, Imvelo were able to add an eye care clinic to their dental safari which treated 221 patients in its first year. Glasses, received as donations, were provided for those who needed them and elderly people were able to regain the ability to read. In 2018, the eye care clinic was able to treat 2,211 patients and provide people with sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun’s harsh UV rays.

Imvelo gives support to 14 schools in the area in which they operate. The Ziga and Ngamo Primary Schools, which are both located on the edge of Hwange National Park, have transformed from being the worst primary schools in the district to two of the best thanks to money raised by both donated funds and safari camp lease fees. This money went to providing clean and safe classrooms with furniture, electricity and water.

Teachers have also been provided with comfortable accommodation as well as training support and a salary. To help increase the number of children proceeding to secondary school on completing their primary education, Imvelo built the Ngamo Secondary School which is now open with hundreds of students who can continue to learn in a safe and maintained environment.

‘Since 2014 we have constructed over 9 double classroom blocks accommodating 720 students, repair and maintenance of existing classroom blocks, built 13 teachers’ houses and 3 ablution blocks, purchased and supplied classroom furniture for 612 students and their teachers, and provided 95 students with bursaries for school fees, uniforms and stationery to name a few.’

Imvelo Safari Lodges support local schools through Pack for a Purpose, an initiative that encourages guests to utilise their spare suitcase space by bringing much-needed donations for local projects. Gorges Lodge is located in the Chisuma community and supports 4 schools in the area. Imvelo Safari Lodges asks guests to bring school supplies such as pens, notepads, bookbags and colouring pencils, as well as art supplies, textbooks, flashcards, musical instruments, sports equipment, educational games and office supplies. These donations are taken directly to the schools by the lodge, where they will benefit both teachers and 1000 students aged between 3 and 19 years old.

The wildlife within Hwange National Park is reliant on artificial waterholes, which if they were to run dry would result in the deaths of thousands of animals. Imvelo Safari Lodges is working to make this programme more eco-friendly by using solar-powered water pumps in the more recent boreholes in order to reduce the consumption of diesel and fuel needed to maintain the waterholes. The solar pumps also provide a power source for rangers to make use of for radio communications with HQ and charging batteries. Imvelo is continuing to replace diesel pumps with solar-powered ones to reduce carbon emissions.

Imvelo clears and manages over 280 kilometres of fire guards each year in order to protect wildlife habitats from wildfires. Imvelo safeguards thousands of square kilometres of wildlife habitat through this initiative, as well as the animals that live within this area. The project is funded through Imvelo’s revenue and donor funds raised on both local and international fundraising events.

Imvelo has been hugely supportive of the ‘Scorpions’ Anti Poaching Unit which operates in the south of Hwange National Park by providing training, supplies, bedding and wages to the rangers who help protect the wildlife from illegal poachers. The Scorpions work to remove wire snares and aid both police and national parks in catching and arresting poachers who hunt protected animals for ivory and hides. In 2016, the Scorpions were responsible for the capture of an entire team of elephant poachers.

Imvelo and their donors have also established a new team of rangers called the Cobras, which supports park workers and the Makona ranger station on the southern border of Hwange.

By building their Jozibanini Camp in the Southwest of Hwange National Park, Imvelo has introduced a presence in a remote section of the park which further deters poachers and opened up old roads to increase manoeuvrability within the park for rangers and anti-poaching patrols.