Italian church, Birchenough Bridge & Humani – Turgwe River Lodge October 2020 brought about a big moment in our lives. Originally we had planned a trip to Cape Town to visit our God children, but COVID had other plans.  Never the less, I was determined we would do something memorable, and with so many awesome places to visit around our beautiful Zimbabwe, I set about planning an unforgettable road trip to take in some of

And we were off!   Our first weekend “away” post Lockdown in Zim, at the end of September, was to Rhino Safari Camp. Technically speaking, we were still in Kariba – but we were not going to be at home so that meant we were “going away for the weekend” and breaking free!  We went with a group of friends who also needed to get away after being cooped up for months on end. One of

As lock down due to Covid 19 was resumed a month ago, and enforced in Zimbabwe, Woody and I were once again reminded of how very blessed we are to live in Kariba and have access to some gorgeous accommodation options in our part of the world.  Wild Heritage is one of our favourite places to go and just unwind when life gets a little bit too busy. The fact it is only a 40

I am sure I am not alone in counting the days since our Lock Down in Zim started.  For someone like me, who loves to travel (so much so that I started this business) the fact I have not been able to get out and explore new destinations, anywhere, for an indefinite amount of time, has been torture.  But, the long awaited day arrived last weekend when we FINALLY “left” Kariba after 117 days of

I suppose you could say our adventure started about a month before lockdown when we moved house to a property up on the heights overlooking the lake.  We had the house repainted and the move went smoothly, and the lock down then gave us the time to work on the garden and get our house organised.  Poor Woody spent hours putting up all the pictures in just the right spot, which I pointed out –

Who on earth would have guessed this time last year where we would be now?  That the entire world would be affected by an awful virus called Covid 19?  That no country, no matter how small, or where in the world it is located, would be untouched by it?  I most certainly wouldn’t have believed it if you had told me.  But, yet here we are.  And although it has been devastating in so many

We first met the owners of Mukambi Safari Lodge, Idjan and Robyn, in 2016 when we still lived in Zambia and had gone to visit our friend Sport Beattie (founder and Managing Director or Game Rangers International).  Although they didn’t know us from a “bar of soap”, as the saying goes, they very graciously invited us into their home for a braai and immediately made us feel like one of their family.  This was the

Over the December holidays Woody and I planned a trip to Zambia in order to attend the son’s wedding of some very close friends who live in the Serenje area.  Since we were going to be in Zambia and I have been getting many requests to add Zambia to our website, we took the opportunity to schedule a few site visits to a couple of hotels/lodges.  As always, the trip from Kariba to Lusaka over

Zimbabwe is a country that has such a diverse landscape, from the extreme remoteness of Gonarezhou to the wilderness that is Mana Pools, to the mighty Victoria Falls, and then on to what used to be the biggest man-made lake in the world, Lake Kariba.  And I have not even mentioned our other special destinations like Hwange, Matopos or Chizarira.  In starting Heartveld Adventures we have prided ourselves on personally investigating the various destinations, so

I have lived in Zimbabwe for almost my whole life and until recently I had never been to the Honde Valley.  I have no idea why, except that no one I knew had been there and it was a whole day’s drive from where I lived, so we tended to go to closer tourist spots when on holiday.  Having now been to the Honde Valley I regret waiting so long to see that side of

I mentioned in a previous blog that Woody and I had taken the opportunity, during the hottest months in Kariba, to take a familiarisation trip to the Eastern Highlands of our beautiful Zimbabwe. We started at Musangano in Mutare, then progressed to the Bvumba.  Many years before we had been invited by Woody’s mom and step father to take a day trip to the Bvumba.  We had a lovely day out, and although I wasn’t

If you have been following our blogs, you might remember the blog about our trip to Binga and Mlibizi earlier in the year. As I mentioned then, neither Woody nor I had been to the Binga area for many, many years and we were very excited to see if it was as we remembered. I got in touch with Wayne and Cheryl who, as well as owning and running a houseboat in Binga, also offer

Earlier this year we had the opportunity to stay at not one but 2 of the gorgeous houses at Wild Heritage. My husband and I had visited one of the other houses a few years previously, but it was a very quick visit to view the Kariba Dam wall when 4 of the gates were open, so we never got to really enjoy our time at Wild Heritage. I was going to make the most

Gosh … where has the time gone?  It seems like just the other day we were all getting ready for the Lake Harvest Half Marathon weekend in Kariba and then it was suddenly upon us. I promised myself I’d sit down and write my blog about it right after, but here we are in October, 2 months after the later!  Anyway, better late than never I suppose. A week before the marathon Woody and I

Woody and I recently got to know the Mana Pools area a little better when we were invited on a couple of Familiarisation trips to Mwinlilunga and Kavinga Safari Camps.  These 2 lodges are situated in different areas of the Mana Pools National Park, and therefore offer a perfect opportunity for a combination package tour, where guests get to see 2 completely different aspects of the park. Mwinilunga is located at the old Trichelia Camp,

I met Terry and Sheona through a mutual travel partner, who recommended them and their new luxury tented camp in Hwange.  Iganyana  gets its name from the local dialect meaning Wild Dog, which is very appropriate, considering the African Painted Dog Conservation Centre  is literally a ten minute drive away.  When Sheona and Terry very kindly invited us to their camp, it had just opened in time for Christmas.  Even though they had their hands