Travel Blog

News from Goliath Safaris - August 2010 Spring has sent advance notice that it will soon arrive in the valley. A little earlier each day, the morning light steals the night, and amongst the trees the first cassias and knobthorns, with their vivid yellow and soft buttery white flowers have begun to brighten up a dusty floodplain. Their cheerfuln...

News from Goliath Safaris - July 2010 A full moon rising in Mana Pools will lighten the darkest disposition but a new moon setting is equally therapeutic. As its backlit crescent follows the sun below the horizon in the west, it leaves behind for us a perfect indigo backdrop for a galaxy of nightlights. Luminescent fire flies dance their court...

A cheetah in the Matusadona: where there were none before. This cheetah pictured on its impala kill by lucky photographer, Derek Smith, in December 2009, is a descendant of a small population of 14 of these lovely animals re-introduced into the Matusadona National Park in the1990s by conservation organization, The Zambezi Society. Cheetah are...

News from Goliath Safaris - Jan 2010 As the sun set on the year 2009, the blue moon rose in all its solar-reflected glory in the east. Its spectacular and partially eclipsed appearance on New Year s Eve did much to silence some of the lingering and discordant notes of the year past. Global warming, financial crises and fallen golf idols were re...

I have just returned from a week-long fishing trip to Mana Pools. We were one of the first parties allowed into the park under the new boating proposals. Our group consisted of four people, two vehicles and two boats. We stayed at the National Parks self-catering Nyati Lodge. I would classify myself as an outdoor enthusiast - I love outd...

News from Goliath Safaris - Sept 2009 Every year towards the end of August, the winds of change sweep through Mana Pools. At around noon the wind picks up and then in the late afternoon, thankfully carries itself away again. It s a very necessary part of the season, helping to shed old leaves and spread dry seed pods and its arrival this ...

Travel advice is all very useful and important, especially the stuff about what to do in the event of an accident or a medical emergency. Usually the advice is: get decent International Insurance that will get you admitted into a decent medical facility. What is missed, though, is that the most exciting destinations, the get-away-from-it-all ...

In January 2009, at the height of the rainy season, I was investigating one of the more exciting stretches of flooded black cotton soil in Zimbabwe s Mana Pools National Park. I had a good vantage-point, since I was up to the knees in the stuff. We ll give it a go, I called to Sally, my wife, who - wisely - was sitting in the comfort of our 80 Se...

SUMMARY OF TALK GIVEN BY CONSULTANT ENGINEER TERRY KABELL ABOUT THE SAFETY OF KARIBA DAM July 2009 (Updated March 2014) Prepared by THE ZAMBEZI SOCIETY Terry Kabell is a very experienced engineer who spent many years with Water Development in Rhodesia and then Zimbabwe. More recently he has worked throughout Africa as a cons...

POLICE ROADBLOCKS: HELP FOR TRAVELLERS (With acknowledgements to Margaret Kriel s Morning Mirror Radio Programme, ZBC) Here are a few pointers to assist travellers to the Zambezi region with Police roadblocks in Zimbabwe. Note the difference between types of roadblocks you will encounter: MARKED ROAD BLOCKS Marked Roadblocks ...