Planned by the People Who Know It Best
Welcome to the second instalment of our Victoria Falls itinerary series, and the first one focused squarely on a luxury lodge stay. If you are after a quiet, slow, beautifully run three nights with the Batoka Gorge on one side and the Wild Horizons Wildlife Sanctuary on the other, this is the trip we would plan for you. The Elephant Camp sits on 4,500 acres of private wilderness about a twenty-minute drive from the town of Victoria Falls – close enough to step into the spray of the Falls before lunch, far enough that you fall asleep to the sound of impala on the perimeter rather than tour buses on the road.
We have been operating in Victoria Falls for more than 25 years. Our guides run the Falls walks, our boats run the river, and our reservations team plans these three-night stays every working day of the year. That continuity matters when you arrive. We know which suite holds the late-afternoon Gorge light, which Flight of Angels helicopter slot pairs best with a Zambezi Royal sundowner cruise, and which morning is best for the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust visit so you are not rushed. This guide has been lovingly shaped by more than 25 years of creating unforgettable stays for our guests in Victoria Falls. You’re welcome to follow it from beginning to end – the timings reflect how we thoughtfully design each day for the best possible experience. Or simply use it as inspiration and let us know what you’d like to include, change or leave out. Every stay is tailored around you, and we’re delighted to help create a journey that feels just right.
How to use this guide
We created this itinerary for couples, honeymooners, anniversary travellers, photographers and small multi-generational families seeking a fully inclusive luxury safari-style stay at The Elephant Camp – a peaceful retreat immersed in nature rather than a hotel based in town. If you are looking for a more budget-friendly option with the convenience of walking to restaurants and cafés in town, our Waterfalls Lodge 3-night itinerary may be a better fit. For guests dreaming of an authentic riverside luxury lodge experience on the banks of the Zambezi, we also invite you to explore our upcoming 4-night Signature Stay Safari, combining two unforgettable nights at The Elephant Camp with two nights at Old Drift Lodge. Each itinerary in this collection follows a thoughtfully designed flow… the difference lies in the lodge you call home and the experiences best suited to each unique setting.
Before you arrive – visas and the Zimbabwe immigration form
Most international passport holders can buy a Zimbabwe visa on arrival at Victoria Falls International Airport. The line at immigration may be long, so we recommend you pre-complete the Zimbabwe online immigration form on your phone before the flight lands. For a regional overview of single, double and KAZA Univisa options across Zimbabwe and Zambia, our partners at Africa’s Eden maintain a useful tourist visa info page.
Day 1 – Arrival, the Batoka Gorge sundowner, and your first dinner at The Elephant Camp
Seasonal note: Cooler, dry conditions May to August mean clear Gorge views at sundowners; green season Nov to April brings dramatic skies and lower light, which photographers tend to prefer – our Best Time to Visit Victoria Falls guide has full month-by-month conditions.
Midday – Arrival at Victoria Falls International Airport
On arrival, your Wild Horizons guide will be waiting to warmly welcome you in the arrivals hall with a personalised name board. From there, it’s an easy scenic drive of approximately 20 minutes to The Elephant Camp; just enough time to introduce you to the experiences ahead over the next few days, while still getting you to the lodge before the afternoon settles in. Most guests find themselves relaxing on the main deck with a refreshing cold drink in hand within 45 minutes of clearing immigration.
Afternoon – Lodge orientation and the slow first hour
On arrival at The Elephant Camp, Camp Management will personally sit down with you to thoughtfully plan your stay… confirming the timings for your Flight of Angels helicopter experience, Zambezi Royal sundowner cruise, Wildlife Trust visit and Elephant Conservation Experience. We take care of every detail from the very beginning, so once your itinerary is in place, you can simply relax and enjoy the experience without having to think about logistics again.
The lodge’s luxurious suites are beautifully positioned along a gentle ridge overlooking the dramatic Batoka Gorge, with the Wild Horizons Wildlife Sanctuary stretching out behind them. Each suite features a private plunge pool, outdoor shower, and breathtaking views… perfect for quiet moments immersed in nature. If you are celebrating a special occasion such as an anniversary, we recommend letting our reservations team know in advance. Whenever possible, we will try to reserve Suite 11 for you, loved for its beautiful afternoon light spilling across the Gorge.
Late afternoon – Cocktails and canapés at the Batoka Gorge
At around 16:00, your guide will collect you from reception for what many guests quietly describe as one of the most memorable moments of their stay at The Elephant Camp. Our exclusive Cocktails & Canapés at the Batoka Gorge experience begins with a short game drive to a private viewpoint overlooking the dramatic gorge, where the powerful Zambezi rapids churn more than 120 metres below.
As the late afternoon light softens across the landscape, a beautifully laid table awaits on the gorge rim, complete with handcrafted canapés and refreshing drinks. Guests often ask about the recipe for the smoked Zambezi bream served on rye with caper butter…. although the homemade potato crisps have earned a loyal following of their own.
For something truly local, ask your bartender to prepare a gin and tonic using locally crafted Victoria Falls gin. It may not appear on the menu, but it is a favourite sundowner among those in the know.
Evening – Dinner on the deck
Dinner at The Elephant Camp is a plated, seasonal dining experience rather than a buffet, with a thoughtfully curated nightly menu designed around fresh, locally inspired ingredients. We often include a touch of Zimbabwean cuisine so guests can enjoy an authentic taste of the region… even if just as a small taster. You might find dishes such as our slow-braised oxtail with samp (or sadza), a rich and comforting favourite that offers a true flavour of local culinary heritage.
Later in the evening, the firepit on your private deck is lit at around 19:30, creating a warm and atmospheric space to unwind under the stars. In the cooler winter months, we recommend bringing a jersey or light jacket, as the temperature drops quickly once the sun sets over the gorge.
Where to stay tonight
Night 1 of 3 at The Elephant Camp, on the edge of the Wild Horizons Wildlife Sanctuary, Victoria Falls.
Day 2 – The Falls on foot, the Flight of Angels, The Lookout Café and a Zambezi Royal sunset
Seasonal note: The Falls walk is wettest February to May at peak flow – wear the provided raincoat and put your camera in a dry bag; September to November is the low-water season where the geology of the Falls becomes visible – our Best Time to Visit Victoria Falls guide has full month-by-month conditions.
Morning – Guided walking tour of the Falls
After breakfast on the deck, your guide will take you on a guided walking tour of Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side. Mosi-oa-Tunya – ‘the smoke that thunders’ – is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, but the walk is more than a viewpoints tour. We time the route so you reach Devil’s Cataract first (best in low side-light), Main Falls in the middle of the rainbow window, and Danger Point last. The rainforest entry fee of US$58 per international visitor is payable on the day; it goes to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and is the single most direct contribution any visitor makes to the upkeep of the Falls.
Midday – Lunch at The Lookout Café and the Canopy Tour
Lunch is at The Lookout Café, perched on the rim of the Batoka Gorge with a panoramic view of the Victoria Falls Bridge below. The Lookout is ours – we built it and we run it… it is not a third-party restaurant we have sent you to. If you can, ask for Table 4; it has great views, and order the grilled lemon-and-garlic Zambezi bream. The Cape sauvignon blanc list is short but well chosen. After lunch the included Victoria Falls Canopy Tour runs next door…. a two-hour guided network of zip slides and rope bridges over the Gorge. It is family-friendly, but the panoramic view is the real reason adults book it.
Afternoon – The Flight of Angels helicopter
This is the bonus activity included in your 3-night Elephant Camp package. The Flight of Angels helicopter is 12 to 13 minutes in the air. Our pilots fly the standard figure-of-eight pattern over the Falls – two clockwise passes, two anti-clockwise – so guests on both sides of the helicopter get the same shot. If you are bringing a serious camera, ask at the helipad to be seated on the left for take-off; the first long pass favours that side. The flight then crosses upriver over the Zambezi National Park before returning. Park fees and the fuel levy are billed on invoice and are subject to change.
Evening – Sundowner on the Zambezi Royal
A short transfer takes you from The Elephant Camp to the Wild Horizons jetty, where you will board the Zambezi Royal sundowner cruise for a two-hour sunset cruise. Cocktails are freshly prepared at the onboard bar, and the atmosphere is relaxed from the moment you set off.
During the first twenty minutes, your captain offers a short, insight-led briefing on the geology and ecology of the upper Zambezi before leaving you to simply take in the experience. If the river is in high flow (typically March–June), it is not uncommon to encounter a pod of hippo within the first half hour.
After the cruise, you return to the lodge in time for dinner at The Elephant Camp.
Plan this itinerary with us
Day 2 is the day this trip stands or falls on timing – helicopter slot, Falls walk light window, Zambezi Royal departure. Send us your flight details and travel dates and our reservations team will come back with a draft schedule that lines all of them up without rushing you.
Day 3 – Game drive, Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, Elephant Encounter and a village afternoon
Seasonal note: Game viewing on the Sanctuary is best in the dry months June to October; the green season is best for birding and dramatic light for photography – our Best Time to Visit Victoria Falls guide has full month-by-month conditions.
Early morning – Game drive on the Wild Horizons Wildlife Sanctuary
Wake-up is 05:30 in winter, 05:45 in summer. Your morning game drive on the Sanctuary will be led by one of our resident guides; on most weeks you will be out with Stan or Wonder, both of whom grew up here and have been guiding with us for a number of years. The Sanctuary holds resident giraffe, zebra, kudu, sable and a free-roaming herd of elephant that uses the Masuwe River corridor. We don’t promise lion – sightings are seasonal – but our guides will read the tracks, follow the spoor and usually have you watching something most visitors have never seen before by 08:30.
Mid-morning – The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust
After breakfast you will visit the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, a non-profit conservation organisation co-located with our Wildlife Sanctuary. The Trust runs the high-care wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre and the regional veterinary laboratory – it is the closest functioning wildlife forensics lab between Lusaka and Bulawayo. You will be walked through the rehabilitation enclosures and the lab by a Trust researcher, not a tour guide. Their work covers rabies surveillance, anti-poaching forensic support and the long-term monitoring of the Sanctuary’s elephant herds. The visit is included in your rate, but it has to be scheduled with the camp manager on arrival because the Trust’s research schedule takes priority over visits… which is exactly how a working conservation site should run.
Late morning – Elephant Conservation Experience
Your Elephant Encounter is held on the edge of the Masuwe River. Our Elephant Sanctuary and Orphanage was set up in the 1980s as a safe haven for elephants orphaned by culling operations, and the resident herd now roams the Sanctuary freely. The encounter follows the rescue-rehabilitate-reintegrate principle: you are taken to where the herd has chosen to spend the afternoon, rather than the elephants being brought to you. There is no riding, no chains and no performance. Our elephant caretakers – Zenzo has been with the herd longest – will give you a presentation, then you sit with the elephants for as long as they choose to stay. Photographs are welcome; touching is at the elephant’s discretion, never the guest’s.
Afternoon – Village tour with the chief
After lunch your driver will take you to a nearby rural community for a village tour. The Village Chief himself will walk you through homesteads, the school and the community garden. This is not a staged visit – the chief decides the route and which families are willing to host visitors on the day. If you would prefer a deeper home-hosted experience, ask our reservations team to add on a home-hosted meal booked privately for your party (this is at a nominal additional fee).
Conservation at The Elephant Camp: Three Programmes Woven Into Every Stay
A stay at The Elephant Camp is shaped by conservation programmes that run not alongside the experience, but through it. Wild Horizons’ commitment to the greater Victoria Falls region spans wildlife management, community partnership and sustainable operations – and three initiatives in particular illustrate how that commitment takes practical form at the lodge.
The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, founded by Wild Horizons, takes a science-led approach to wildlife conservation in the greater Victoria Falls region. Its work is broad and practical: anti-poaching operations, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, human–wildlife conflict mitigation, research, and the study of zoonotic disease transmission. The Trust operates with community involvement at every level, recognising that long-term conservation outcomes depend as much on people as on wildlife.
The Elephant Sanctuary and Orphanage has been rescuing, rehabilitating and caring for orphaned elephants since the 1980s – one of the longest-standing elephant welfare programmes in the region. Guests at The Elephant Camp encounter these animals not as an attraction, but as residents of the sanctuary the lodge was built to support.
The third programme addresses a specific and solvable problem: single-use plastic ponchos discarded in the Victoria Falls rainforest. The Rainforest Raincoat Project collects, washes, and reuses every poncho from the Falls, removing thousands of single-use plastics from the environment each year. The initiative also sustains the livelihoods of approximately 56 vendors and around 224 people in surrounding communities, embedding local economic benefit directly into the conservation model.
These three programmes offer a window into how Wild Horizons operates – but they represent a portion of a broader conservation and community commitment that underpins the entire business. Wild Horizons is a Travelife Partner and Fair Trade Tourism approved operator, designations that reflect not a single initiative, but a way of doing things.
Day 4 – A slow morning and your transfer back to Victoria Falls Airport
Seasonal note: Departures are usually mid-morning in any season. Transfers to Victoria Falls and Livingstone Airports are included in your stay at The Elephant Camp.
Morning – At leisure
This morning is yours. Most guests who want a final activity do one of three things: a game drive in the Zambezi National Park, a private breakfast on the deck of their suite, or a spa treatment to close out the stay on a quieter note. None of it is required… many guests simply spend the morning beside their plunge pool with a coffee. Check-out is unhurried, and we will build your transfer around your flight rather than the other way round.
Departure – Transfer to Victoria Falls International Airport
Your Wild Horizons guide will collect you from reception and drive you to the airport, about 20 minutes away. Check-in for most regional flights opens 2 hours before departure; the airport is small and well-run.
We have already packaged this trip for you
Our 3-night fully-inclusive Elephant Camp package – accommodation, all meals, drinks (excluding premium brands), road transfers, the Cocktails & Canapés sundowner, the Falls walk, Lookout lunch (or brunch), Canopy Tour, Flight of Angels, Zambezi Royal cruise, game drive, Wildlife Trust visit, Elephant Encounter and village tour – is one of our standing 2026/7 specials. See current pricing and seasonal departures on our 2026 Specials & Packages page. Park fees and the Sustainability & Conservation Levy are billed on invoice and quoted separately.
Final thoughts from the locals
Three nights at The Elephant Camp is the shortest stay we recommend if luxury and conservation immersion are equally important to you. Anything shorter and the Wildlife Trust visit and Elephant Encounter start to feel rushed; anything longer and you may want to pair it with one or two nights at Old Drift Lodge upriver. The mistake we see most often is travellers stacking activities onto Day 1 – you may arrive jet-lagged and lose what is, quietly, the lodge’s best feature: its silence. Land, settle, walk to the Gorge for sundowners, eat well, sleep. Day 2 is when the trip starts to move.
If you would like us to plan this around your dates, send us a note via the Wild Horizons enquiry form or read more in the main Victoria Falls itinerary guide. We will come back to you within one working day.
Plan your Elephant Camp stay with the people who live here
Final thoughts from the locals
A few of the questions we get most often from guests planning a stay at The Elephant Camp. Please get in touch if there’s something we haven’t covered.
Three nights is the shortest stay that does justice to the included activities. With two nights you would have to drop either the Wildlife Trust visit or the village tour. With four nights you would have an extra morning for an amazing spa treatment, a visit to Livingstone Island (Devil’s Pool) or a private breakfast on your suite deck.
Yes – it is one of the two luxury properties we most often book for couples. Each suite is private, with a plunge pool and outdoor shower. Tell us in advance if you are celebrating; our camp manager will arrange a romantic private dinner for one of the three evenings at no extra charge.
About 20 to 25 minutes by road. Close enough to do the Falls walk, the Canopy Tour and lunch at The Lookout Café as a single morning–lunch–early-afternoon block. Far enough that you do not hear road or town noise from the lodge.
Yes. Your 3-night Elephant Camp package includes one bonus activity, and the four options are the Flight of Angels helicopter, the Malachite Zambezi dinner cruise, white-water rafting on the Zambezi (low-water season only) or the Chobe day trip into Botswana. Tell us at the time of booking which you would like.
The Elephant Camp offers 16 luxury tented suites across two intimate camps. The Elephant Camp Main accommodates guests across 12 suites, while The Elephant Camp West offers four suites – each positioned to maximise views of the Batoka Gorge and the surrounding African wilderness.
The suites reimagine the classic tented safari experience through a contemporary lens, blending canvas romance and old-world safari atmosphere with every modern comfort. Private plunge pools, outdoor showers and thoughtfully curated interiors create an immersive connection with the natural environment without sacrificing luxury.
Family Suites at The Elephant Camp
Four family suites are available across the two camps – two at Main Camp and two at Camp West. Each features two inter-leading bedrooms, each with its own private bathroom and entrance, giving children and parents their own space while remaining comfortably under one roof. Each family suite accommodates up to two adults and two children.
Star Bed Suites at The Elephant Camp
Three premium suites at The Elephant Camp feature exclusive star beds… a signature experience that elevates sleeping beneath the African sky into something truly extraordinary. Raised above the balcony with only a mosquito net between guests and the Milky Way, the star beds invite the nocturnal sounds of wildlife and the vast sweep of the constellations to become part of the night. The sleep-out deck connects directly to the main suite, ensuring seamless access to all the comforts within: fully air-conditioned interiors, a spacious en-suite bathroom, a private plunge pool and a fully stocked minibar. Romantic by nature and exceptional by design, these suites are a particularly sought-after choice for honeymooners and couples.
Coming next in the Victoria Falls Itinerary Series
Each instalment is built for a slightly different kind of trip. We’ll link them in here as they go live:
· Instalment 1 – 3 nights at Waterfalls Lodge (town base)
· Instalment 3 – 3 nights at Old Drift Lodge (riverside)
· Instalment 4 – 4 nights, adventure / adrenaline focus
· Instalment 5 – 5 nights, slow-paced honeymoon variant
· Instalment 6 – Family-friendly Victoria Falls itinerary
· Instalment 7 – CSR and community-focused itinerary
· Instalment 8 – Photographer’s Victoria Falls itinerary
Want a variant we haven’t published yet? Get in touch — we’d love to tailor one for you.
About Wild Horizons
Wild Horizons is a Victoria Falls–based tour operator and lodge group with more than 25 years of operational experience at the Falls. We wholly own and operate The Elephant Camp, Old Drift Lodge, Wallow Lodge, Waterfalls Lodge and The Lookout Café, along with the Wild Horizons Wildlife Sanctuary and Zambezi River Cruises. We also hold a partial ownership stake in the Zambezi Helicopter Company.
Every guide, pilot, boat captain and camp manager mentioned in this itinerary is part of our in-house team – ensuring a seamless, fully integrated guest experience with no external operators involved in your core journey.
This itinerary has been carefully crafted by our reservations team in Victoria Falls, drawing on more than 25 years of first-hand experience designing stays for our guests. We are also proud Travelife and Fair Trade Tourism partners, reflecting our ongoing commitment to responsible and sustainable tourism.
