Choose your safari experience
About Bushlife Safaris
Bushlife Safaris is a small safari company privately owned and run by the Murray family. Nick and Desirée are both professional guides with decades of experience, and they offer guests exclusive and authentic private guided safaris in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe.
Walking Safaris
This guest testimonial sums up why a walking safari is the ultimate wildlife experience: “At Vundu Camp the truck is just a way to get to your starting point. It’s when the engine shuts off that the adventure begins. From tracking lions (and finding them) on foot, walking with a pack of wild dogs, getting close enough to elephants to count their eyelashes or dodging hippos while canoeing the Zambezi; a trip to Vundu Camp is a fully interactive few days of sensory overload in the bush”.
See Painted Wolves
Mana Pools was the setting of the Painted Wolf episode of the Sir David Attenborough narrated series, BBC Earth Dynasties. Vundu Camp hosted the production team, and Sir David himself. Nick Lyon, the Executive Episode Producer said, “Keeping up with the painted wolves was down to the tracking skills of our guides. Nick Murray has spent so long tracking the painted wolves that he knew the exact routes.” So if you would like to see these magnificent and elusive creatures in the wild, read more here…
Private guiding
Bushlife Safaris has a well-deserved reputation for having an incredible guiding team. Both Nick and Desirée are professional guides and hand-pick their professional guiding team so clients can be assured of only the very best in Africa. Due to his knowledge and tracking ability, Nick Murray was chosen as the lead guide on the epic BBC Earth Dynasties Painted Wolf production and hosted Sir David Attenborough himself.
Conservation & Community
Bushlife Safaris are active members in the Mana Pools National Park community and are passionate about wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe. Bushlife Conservancy is our main funding partner, which is based in the United States. Our boots-on-the-ground team is the Bushlife Support Unit which is actively involved with National Parks in anti-poaching, community engagement and research projects.
Our guests' experiences
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"We loved the view from our accommodation, looking out to the Zambezi River and the escarpment in the backdrop with Zambia on the other side. We had Jim as our guide and enjoyed his personality and guiding very much. We chose the camp with the understanding that Nick (the owner) puts an emphasis on high-quality guides and Jim did not disappoint. The highlights were to see wild dogs and Boswell on foot. We had the vehicle to ourselves with generous and flexible game drive schedule, which were very important to us. A great stay overall." -
"On our last morning, along with Nick we were able to track down Tusker, one of their famed elephants. Tusker was resting/sleeping...To our surprise, Nick motioned for us to come and sit with him and Tusker! I had the opportunity to sit within 2-3 feet of the bull elephant, which will forever be imprinted in our memories. It was incredible to be so close to such a majestic animal and to simply sit and watch him & take in his beauty". -
"This was our fifth trip to Southern Africa and by far the best. What Nick and his staff at Vundu Camp are able to provide is simply so much above what you get with a "typical" vehicle-based safari that there is simply no comparison...a trip to Vundu Camp is a fully interactive few days of sensory overload in the bush. This is not your "typical" safari where you are driven from sighting to the sighting. At Vundu camp you are as much participant as an observer and that brings everything to another level."