Zimbabwe’s Luxury Linkwasha Safari Camp: Lions, Cheetahs & Elephants

Located in Zimbabwe’s largest game reserve and close to Victoria Falls,
Linkwasha luxury camp is perfectly positioned for wildlife spotting.

– Excerpt from The Australian, Apr 16, 2025 – by Ricky French

“There’s a carcass in the thicket, you just can’t see it.” Our safari guide, Farai Chuma, has way of seeing things the regular eye misses. He somehow spotted the lions from more than a kilometre away across the golden savannah, driving us to within metres of four females and four cubs. A short distance away stands the pride’s dominant male, guarding whatever is in the thicket. We soon find out. He dives in and drags out the gory remains of a buffalo, a project he’s clearly been working on for some time. The females and cubs raise their heads, but don’t approach. “The male is full,” says Farai, “but he won’t let the females eat.”

My wife is equal parts astonished and affronted. “This pride needs a feminist revolution,” she quips. But before she has a chance, Farai makes the case for the patriarchy, explaining that having a strong, dominant male is in the females’ best interest. With a dinner invitation not forthcoming, the lionesses turn their attention to a herd of buffalo arriving at a waterhole across the plains. An evening hunt looks on the cards, the ­aftermath of which we’ll discover soon enough. […]

We are taking our first game drive from Linkwasha, the most luxurious of four safari camps operated by Wilderness Safaris on a 450ha concession within the 14,600 sq km Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s largest game reserve. Linkwasha fringes the famed Ngamo Plains, home to some of the densest concentrations of wildlife in Africa, and the private concession means we’re not jostling with scores of other vehicles, so every encounter is raw and intimate.

Day one is far from done. Farai spots movement near a solitary jackalberry tree, and we arrive to find two beautiful cheetahs surveying the plains from a termite mound growing from the base of the tree. Cheetahs are the lowest ranked of the big predators, and can become prey themselves for lions, leopards and hyenas. It forces them to be resourceful, hunting during the heat of the day, when other predators are sleeping, selecting prey that won’t put up a fight (baby impalas are a favourite) and eating quickly. But life is tough. There are fewer than 30 cheetahs in the whole national park, so any sighting is a privilege. […]

We traverse a landscape dominated by teak trees, open pans, palm-fringed plains and vast scrublands, all coated in a thick carpet of sand blown in from the Kalahari Desert. The railway line between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls marks the park’s eastern border, beyond which hunting is permitted. It was here in 2015 that Cecil the lion, a well-known dominant male, was lured out of the park and killed by an American trophy hunter, sparking international outrage. Cecil’s lineage lives on in the pride we just saw. We just pray they don’t stray to the wrong side of the tracks. 

The lioness-led hunting expedition has been a resounding success. We find them next morning devouring a freshly killed buffalo, shoulder muscles rippling as they tear at the flesh, their jowls stained red. They share the spoils with their cubs before sauntering over to slumber in the shade of our safari vehicle, leaving the hollowed-out carcass slumped in the dirt like a discarded costume. Chalk one up for the sisterhood. […]

Ricky French’s Classic Zimbabwe Safari was created by The Classic Safari Company & published in The Australian

READ THIS ARTICLE IN FULL NOW AT THE AUSTRALIAN

See you out there.

Thomas

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