The Route: An old-fashioned safari week — minus the Land Rover. Includes three days of tracking rhinos on Lake Kariba's southern shore as well as three days of backpacking in the Matuzviadonha Range. Fear not: You'll never be far from your armed guide.

When to go: May to October

Difficulty: Moderate

Travel advisory: Don't be surprised by delays on your Air Zimbabwe flights between Harare and Kariba. President-for-life Robert Mugabe is notorious for commandeering planes for personal junkets.

High/low points:

• Feeling a surge of adrenaline when a lion growls in the bushes behind you and you're still alive a minute later.
• Not seeing a rhinoceros. Though you'd have spotted them daily 10 or 15 years ago, heavy poaching has made the survivors extremely skittish.