The Elephant Camp occupies a private ridge outside Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe. Every suite looks east, across the Batoka Gorge to the spray of the Falls, and each has a deck and plunge pool of its own, with an outdoor shower, so the view follows you from the bed into the water. Three suites add a raised star bed for a night in the open.
Sundowners are poured on the rim of the Batoka Gorge at dusk.
A guide leads you through the Falls from the Zimbabwe side, and game drives head into Zambezi National Park each morning and afternoon. Sundowners are poured on the rim of the Batoka Gorge at dusk. Another evening belongs to the river, on a sunset cruise along the Zambezi. All of it is included. Rafting and helicopter flights over the Falls can be added, as can a day trip to Chobe.
Camp West has four suites of its own, set apart from the twelve of the main camp, and it is given over entirely to one family or group of up to eight adults and four children. A guide comes with it, with a chef and a host, and a game vehicle that answers to nobody else. Meals and drives happen when the party wants them, and each suite keeps the gorge-facing deck and plunge pool of the main camp.
Its research follows lions, rhinos and vultures.
Next door, the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust has worked since 2008, and every stay includes a visit. Its research follows lions, rhinos and vultures. It also takes in the conflict between people and wildlife. The Trust runs a disease and forensics laboratory, and a high-care rescue centre, both working for the animals of Zambezi National Park.
Each tent is a single open room under canvas, and everything in it leads out towards the gorge. There is a four-poster bed, and air conditioning works alongside the ceiling fans. The bathroom has a free-standing bath, there is a shower outside, and the deck, with its plunge pool, becomes a second sitting room facing east over the gorge.
The main area looks out over the waterhole in front of camp. Whatever comes to drink can be watched from the lounge or the broad deck. There is a bar, and a swimming pool looks out towards the Batoka Gorge. After dinner, the evening ends around the firepit.
Whatever comes to drink can be watched from the lounge or the broad deck.
Stays include all meals and drinks, and game appears on the menu alongside international dishes. The day begins with a breakfast buffet and a cooked breakfast, and dinner can be taken in the main lodge or out under the stars.
Two or three nights leave room for the full programme without crowding it. The Falls can fill one day and the gorge and the river the hours towards sunset, with game drives around both. Shuttles into town are included, so an afternoon in town is as easy to arrange as one in the plunge pool. Victoria Falls International Airport is about fifteen kilometres from camp, which makes the camp a natural close to a longer safari. After early starts in remote camps, the deck above the gorge makes an easy last chapter before flying home, with the firepit and a long dinner to follow.
accommodation
The Elephant Camp has 16 tented suites. Twelve are in the main camp, three of them with a raised star bed, and four make up Camp West, which is booked whole. Each has air conditioning, an outdoor shower and a private plunge pool on a deck facing the gorge.
activities
Included: a guided tour of the Falls on the Zimbabwe side, a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, sundowners at the Batoka Gorge, morning and afternoon game drives in Zambezi National Park, a visit to the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust and shuttles into town. Rafting, helicopter flights and a day trip to Chobe in Botswana can be added.
conservation
The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust next door runs a wildlife disease and forensics laboratory and a rescue centre. Every week a group of local schoolchildren visits to learn about the animals around them.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
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Fly into Victoria Falls International Airport, about fifteen kilometres south of the camp, and the camp's own transfer brings you in. Scheduled flights reach the airport from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Nairobi and Addis Ababa, so it ties in easily with a long-haul flight. Livingstone airport on the Zambian side works too, and the camp transfers from either.
If you are coming on from a safari camp elsewhere, or would rather set your own timings, we can book a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, into Victoria Falls International. Once you are settled, shuttles run from the camp into Victoria Falls town, so the Falls, the shops and the restaurants are an easy trip rather than a planned outing.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Zimbabwe below 1,200 metres as high risk from November to June and low risk from July to October, and puts the Zambezi valley at risk all year. Victoria Falls lies below that line, with its airport at about 1,060 metres. The American CDC lists the whole of Zimbabwe as a malaria area and recommends prescription medicine for travellers.
Low risk is not no risk, even in the dry months. We are travel planners, not medical professionals, so we do not make recommendations about tablets: which suit you, and what is right for a child, are questions for your own doctor or a travel clinic, best asked with your dates and the official advice in hand. Cover arms and legs from late afternoon and keep repellent close.
Alongside meals and drinks, the stay includes a guided tour of the Falls on the Zimbabwe side, a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, sundowner cocktails at the edge of the Batoka Gorge and morning and afternoon game drives in Zambezi National Park. There is also a village tour, a visit to the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust and one breakfast, brunch or lunch at the Lookout Café above the gorge.
The entry fee for the rainforest path at the Falls is charged separately. White-water rafting through the Batoka Gorge, helicopter flights over the Falls of twelve to thirty minutes and a day trip across the border to Chobe in Botswana can all be added. Tell us at booking which ones appeal, so the days are planned around them.
A non-profit conservation, research and community trust based in Victoria Falls, a few minutes from the camp. It rescues, treats and releases wild animals hurt by people through its high-care rehabilitation centre, and runs a wildlife disease and forensics laboratory that brings veterinary science to problems in the field.
Its wider work covers lion, rhino and vulture conservation, helping farming communities live alongside elephants and predators, conservation education, and work against wildlife crime that helps secure Zambezi National Park. A visit to the trust is part of every stay at the camp, so you see the conservation work behind the area for yourself rather than reading about it.
Yes, from seven upwards. Two children aged seven to sixteen can share a family suite with two adults, and each family suite is two bedrooms with their own entrances and bathrooms. Younger children are taken only when a family or group books the camp, or its Camp West, for exclusive use. Every suite has its own plunge pool, so young swimmers need watching.
Camp West suits a larger family well: two standard and two family suites for up to eight adults and four children, with its own guide, chef, host and vehicle, so the days run at the children's pace rather than to a fixed timetable. Tell us their ages at enquiry and we will shape the stay around them.
June to September, for most people. The river is falling, the view of the curtain clears, and as the bush dries the game in Zambezi National Park draws in to the river, so the drives are at their best. September and October bring the strongest heat of the year.
March to May has the river at full flood: the spray rises far above the gorge and hides much of the view, and the rainforest path will soak you. December to February is the rainy season, hot, green and quiet, and the best time of year for birds. Choose it for the power of the water and the light after a storm rather than for game.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
