This morning you will fly to Hoedspruit, then drive an hour into the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. There are no fences between the Timbavati and Kruger, so wildlife roams freely across the whole area.

After lunch you will head out on your first game drive. Your guide will read the ground for fresh tracks of lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. The Timbavati is also one of the only places on earth where white lions occur naturally. Sightings are rare, but never impossible. As the sun drops you will stop for sundowners. On the drive back, a spotlight will pick out the night shift: hyena, genets and owls. Dinner will be around the fire in the boma.

Your full day will start before sunrise with coffee and rusks. You can choose a morning drive, or set out on foot with an armed guide to learn the bush up close: tracks, dung, birdsong and medicinal plants. Midday is for long lunches, siestas and the pool. In the afternoon you will head out on another drive, and at night there will be no light pollution, just a sky full of stars. In the green season the bush will be lush and full of newborn impala, migrant birds and dramatic afternoon storms.

Bateleur Safari Camp · Fully Inclusive· Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa

After a final morning drive, you will travel south by road to the Sabi Sands. You will arrive in time for lunch and your afternoon drive.

The Sabi Sands is known as the leopard capital of Africa. The guides here know many of the cats by name and family history. They can also leave the track to follow a sighting, which means closer, longer encounters with the Big Five. Each day will bring a morning and an afternoon drive. After breakfast you can take a guided walk along the Sand River. In the heat of the day you can watch the riverbed from the deck, cool off in the pool or book an in-room massage. Evenings will end in the boma, swapping stories of the day's sightings.

Umkumbe Safari Lodge Riverside · Fully Inclusive · Sabi Sands, South Africa

After an early breakfast, you will transfer to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport for your direct flight to Victoria Falls. Once you have settled in, you will board a sunset cruise on the Zambezi. You'll hear hippos grunting in the shallows and see elephants on the banks, with a cold drink in hand as the sky turns orange.

The next morning you will take a guided walk through the rainforest opposite the Falls. Mosi oa Tunya, "the smoke that thunders", drops over 100 metres into the gorge below. You will move from viewpoint to viewpoint, through spray and rainbows. Then you can see it all from above on a Flight of Angels helicopter flight. In the evening, The Boma will serve a feast of local dishes with drumming and dancing. Be brave and try a mopane worm.

Ilala Lodge · Bed and Breakfast · Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Today is your last day in Zimbabwe!

Today you will be transferred to Victoria Falls International Airport before catching your international flight home.