By the fifth day of CroisiAfrica’s safari cruise, the journey has shifted from city history and river lodges into something more remote.
The later stretch is built around small aircraft, boat safaris, game drives and a final encounter with Victoria Falls, with Lake Kariba acting as the quiet, atmospheric centrepiece.
It’s a rhythm that suits travellers who want the logistics handled but still want the trip to feel adventurous.
At a glance
- CroisiAfrica’s safari cruise continues from the Chobe region to Lake Kariba, Matusadona National Park and Victoria Falls.
- Key experiences include a Cessna transfer, water safaris, game drives, a Zambezi lunch cruise and a guided walk at Victoria Falls.
- 2027 prices for the 11-night safari cruise start from £6,561 per person, excluding international flights.
Small-plane theatre on the way to Lake Kariba
The transition from Namibia’s Zambezi region to Zimbabwe is part transfer, part safari in its own right.
Guests leave luggage outside their bungalows at Cascades Island Safari Lodge, with staff moving the bags by boat as the group heads towards Kasane airport by way of a Chobe River water safari.
From there, the journey becomes pleasingly stripped back.
A 12-seat Cessna Explorer replaces the usual commercial airport choreography, with no boarding card ceremony and a bottle of water standing in for inflight service.
The aircraft flies low for the first short sector to Victoria Falls airport, where Zimbabwean immigration formalities are completed, before continuing north over Lake Kariba.
The landing strip in Matusadona National Park is red clay rather than polished terminal, and the baggage carousel is a rug.
Two safari vehicles then take guests on a 45-minute transfer to the African Dream, the 16-berth vessel moored on Lake Kariba.
With elephants grazing in the evening light before arrival, the transfer already feels like the next chapter rather than dead time between destinations.
Lake Kariba’s drowned forest and quiet drama
Lake Kariba gives this section of the itinerary its most distinctive visual language.
On the water safari, guests leave the African Dream for a smaller boat and pass through the pale remains of mopane trees, submerged since the lake was completed in 1959 to provide hydroelectric power for Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The trees still rise from the water like mineralised sculptures, strong enough for fish eagles to nest on their branches.
Guide Vanessa tells guests that Lake Kariba is estimated to hold around 10,000 crocodiles, though an exact count is difficult.
She also frames the lake’s creation in human and ecological terms, explaining that around 50,000 people had to be relocated and that faster-than-expected flooding left wildlife stranded on shrinking islands.
Operation Noah was launched in response, with Vanessa saying more than 6,000 creatures were rescued.
The route passes Fothergill Island, named for Rupert Fothergill, who managed that rescue operation.
Back on board, the pace softens with a three-course lunch, wine and time on the sun deck.
By evening, the tender is out again for sundowners and catch-and-release fishing, with brown squeakers reeled in and returned to the lake.
Matusadona National Park from the ground
The next morning’s game drive in Matusadona National Park brings the focus back to land-based tracking.
Driver Richard uses small details to read the bush, stopping for moth larvae on the bleached horns of an antelope skull and pointing out the high bone content in hyena dung.
His point is simple and memorable.
Nothing is wasted in the bush.
The drive also turns to scavengers, with vultures waiting in numbers and Richard noting that vultures, hyenas and marabou storks may be part of the so-called Ugly Five, but they are important signs of a functioning ecosystem.
Fresh lion tracks become the day’s strongest clue, eventually leading to a pride feeding on a waterbuck.
Later, rain changes the plan, keeping the group aboard the African Dream rather than out for another sundowner.
Vanessa gives a summary of Zimbabwe’s history, and the final evening on board closes with cocktails, drums and dancing between crew and guests.
Victoria Falls and the last safari notes
An early departure brings guests towards the Lake Kariba dam for a presentation on its history before another Cessna flight to Victoria Falls airport.
Arrival is timed to allow for a Zambezi lunch cruise, where the riverfront can briefly feel manicured and leisurely until crocodiles, elephants and hippos reset the scene.
The menu includes more adventurous options such as crocodile skewers, ostrich salad and Amarula cheesecake, with wines served at lunch and dinner throughout the trip.
After check-in at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, guests can slow down by the pool or head back out for a final game drive.
The rhino drive crosses 6,000 hectares of private game reserve, where a conservation project that began in 2006 with six rhino has grown to 17.
Driver Nixon, drawing on a decade of experience, tracks signs around a waterhole and eventually secures brief views of an older female rhino.
The final morning starts with breakfast overlooking elephants at the waterhole below the lodge.
A coach transfer then takes guests to Victoria Falls, where guide Moses provides ponchos for the rainforest path fed by spray from the falls.
The walk is arranged around key viewpoints, giving travellers one last natural spectacle before check-out and airport transfers.
Trip details
| Operator | CroisiAfrica |
|---|---|
| Itinerary focus | Johannesburg, Chobe and Zambezi rivers, Lake Kariba and Victoria Falls |
| Vessel named in Lake Kariba section | African Dream |
| Lake Kariba vessel capacity | 16 berths |
| Notable stays | Cascades Island Safari Lodge and Victoria Falls Safari Lodge |
| Included experiences noted | Water safaris, game drives, Zambezi lunch cruise, excursions and domestic Johannesburg to Kasane flight |
| 2027 starting price | From £6,561 per person for an 11-night safari cruise, excluding international flights |
| Price includes | Four-night cruise, four-night lodge stay with all meals and drinks, overnights in Johannesburg and Victoria Falls, lunch cruise on the Zambezi, domestic flight between Johannesburg and Kasane, excursions, game drives and some gratuities |
What makes this itinerary compelling is the way it removes many of the usual frictions of multi-country safari travel while keeping the sense of movement intact.
For travellers who like their wildlife with strong logistics, varied transport and a finale at one of Africa’s defining landscapes, this later stretch of CroisiAfrica’s safari cruise is the part where the journey finds its most memorable stride.
