"LIFE IS EITHER A DARING ADVENTURE OR NOTHING AT ALL."
Hellen Keller
Incentive Travel Itinerary Suggestions
Sample Three-Night Incentive Itinerary
Here's a sample three night itinerary. We understand that incentive travel planners will want to customize their program to meet the needs, budgets, tastes and traditions that your corporate client has developed over the years. We recommend a three night program, but it can be shortened to two. A four night program is too long for most incentive groups.
Day 1 Arrival Victoria Falls Welcome Dinner
Arrive Livingstone International Airport. Almost everyone needs a visa for Zambia. The vast majority of your guests will have visas issued by Zambian immigration as their passports are checked. Citizens of some countries such as India and Colombia will need visas in advance. We can work with the authorities in various ways to expedite immigration. Contact us for more.
Our staff holding the sponsoring company logo can be seen from immigration. We'll greet our guests just past immigration and before baggage claim. We'll then assist them with baggage claim, and escort our guests to the waiting "Coaster" type coaches which accommodate about 20 guest. Luggage trailers are attached to the coaches so the luggage stays with the guest. The drive to hotels in Zambia takes about 30 minutes and about 45 to the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe.
Upon arrival at the hotel, guests will receive a warm welcome from the hotel staff and a refreshing drink. Private registration will take on the lawn or another attractive location. We have information we will give you that you may incorporate into a welcome letter.
Later this afternoon, guests go for a walking tour of Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. (The six others are: The Grand Canyon, The Great Barrier Reef, The Northern Lights, The Harbor at Rio de Janeiro, Mt. Everest, and The Paricutin Volcano, Mexico.) The flow of the falls is seasonal. Although the falls are spectacular any time of year, the greatest volume during the dry season is between April and July.
You will see the mist from the hotel and hear the rumbling thunder build to a deafening roar as you approach the falls. In fact, the mist from the falls can be seen for more than 40 km (24 mi). As you view the Zambezi River, it looks peaceful – a great wide slowly moving river. Then, as you round the corner, calm turns to chaos as 5.7 million liters (1.4 million gallons) of water per second explode over the edge. The scene is one of indescribable power and awesome beauty. As you watch the show, consider that this is what has happened here every second of every day for the past million years. If you watch the falls for 14 minutes, you will see enough water to satisfy the daily needs of London. If all of the water cascading over the falls for 24 hours could be harnessed, it would supply 80% of the daily water consumption for the entire United States. When the initial shock subsides, you’ll begin to notice the enormity of the scene — well over a mile long (1.6 km) and 108 meters (355 ft) deep. What you are witnessing is the largest known curtain of falling water in the world.
To avoid crowding, we suggest staggering the tour over an hour or so depending upon the size of the group. If the group is here between April and July, they will get soaked. We suggest giving them a disposable poncho. Our guide will stay with guests and narrate throughout the walk. We suggest one guide for every 20 people.
Return to the hotel, dry off and get ready for dinner. Our recommended hotels each have unique settings for a welcome reception and dinner. Contact us for details and a suggested menu.
Day 2 Choice of Activities Free Time Dinner Options
You'll find you have a number of ways to create and structure today's experience. Consider that the group has likely been to Kruger, flown to Livingstone yesterday and visited one side of the falls. Their schedule has been full and physically and mentally engaging. Maybe it is time for a break. We suggest giving them a half day activity option and a half day free time to relax. Keep in mind that the Vic Falls hotels were built for extended stays and they provide the resort facilities that the game lodges lack – spas, beauty treatments, gyms, large swimming pools, lounges, dining options, a golf course (Victoria Falls) and lush grounds to explore. The hotels also have meeting facilities of various sizes. At any given time during the day a large percentage of the group will be sitting on a deck, lounging by the pool, relaxing in a hammock, having a spa treatment, or sitting on the deck enjoying a drink with friends.
Breakfast in the hotel, then guests have a choice of one half days tours either in the morning or afternoon. As you have read, a variety of different tours and activities are possible. The most popular incentive tours and activities include: canoe safari, boat safari, jet boat ride, corporate responsibility projects, quad biking and viewing the falls from the "other side". Depending upon the corporate sponsor's level of comfort with sponsoring more adventurous activities, we also have bungee jumping, abseiling, zipline, microlight (ultralight) flights and white water rafting.
Plus guests have the option of returning to the falls on their own.
This evening another group dinner is possible. Other possibilities include: dinner at leisure in the hotel, a Zambezi River Dinner Cruise, or Dinner on the Royal Livingstone Express, which is a restored steam train. This
is a four hour event that takes you along the original Rhodesian railway line between Zambia and Zimbabwe across Victoria Falls and over the Batoka Gorge. An excellent 5-course dinner and drinks are served. Capacity of the train is 92 guests.
Tomorrow will be our guests' last full day with us. We will help you prepare departure letters for the group and can schedule a luggage pickup that coincides with your flight departure manifest.
Day 3 Chobe National Park, Botswana Boma Dinner
After a leisurely day, our guests return to action for their last full day. Guest experience rural Africa, an eye-popping border crossing and short boat trip across the river, then on to Chobe National Park, Botswana. This is a full 10-hour day and a great one. Guests experience one game drive on land and the other by boat. This boat safari may be your guests' favorite of all of their African game drives. Passports are required. Visas for citizens of most countries will be provided at the border. Some nationals may need to secure a visa in advance. Click for more on Chobe National Park.
To avoid crowding at the hotel and creating our own traffic jam at the border, we suggest staggering the departures. We suggest 32 people depart every 15 minutes. The day begins with a one hour drive ride through villages, grassland, and some woodlands to the Zambia-Botswana border at Kazungula. Our guide will direct guests through the Zambia emigration process.
Once in Botswana, guests pass through immigration, then meet their Botswana guide who will take them first to one of the deluxe game lodges for a "rest stop". Then they'll begin their game drive of Chobe National Park, home to one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife, including birds, on the African continent. This 10,000 square kilometer (4,000 square miles) park is home to more than 100,000 elephants.
After your full morning game drive, it's time for a buffet lunch at the Cresta Mowana Lodge.
After lunch, guests at their leisure walk to the lodge dock and board a pontoon boat for a two-hour cruise along the Chobe River that flows between Botswana and Namibia. Along the way you’ll pass a number of animals including antelope, buffalo and elephant. With luck, guests will see elephants swimming. They are sure to spot hippopotamus and crocodile. The birdlife along the river is amazing – more than 450 species.
After the cruise, you’ll make a brief stop at the lodge and then begin the return trip to Zambia. Your Botswana guide will be with you until you board the boat for the return river crossing, where you will meet your Zambia guide for the return to your hotel.
You'll be back in time for dinner. For your farewell dinner, we suggest a traditional
"Boma" Dinner. A “Boma” is a protected fenced-in area, where the locals gather to enjoy celebrations and special occasions. The classic Boma dinner includes plenty of great food and drink and exciting local entertainment. The buffet menu includes tender grilled meats, fish, chicken, hearty stews (ragouts) served in traditional clay pots and fresh fruits and vegetables. During the evening a local dance group will entertain. We also have a couple of more American/European style rock groups that provide music for dancing.
Day 4 Departure
Our Echos d'Afrique staff will be on hand early this morning to coordinate luggage collection and answer questions. We'll load the coaches, check names, and travel with guests to Livingstone International Airport. Here we'll stay with the group through airline check-in, security and the emigration process. This will be a sad day for us, as we will be saying farewell to new friends. We wish them a pleasant journey home. Thank you for allowing us to be of service.
Two-Night Incentive Itinerary
If schedule and budget require, the program can be shortened to two nights. After the three night program, the two-night version may seem too short. Although we prefer the three-night version, we regularly operate the two-night program to the satisfaction of our clients and guests.
Day 1: Arrival, Walk of the Falls, Welcome Dinner (Same as Day 1 above)
Day 2: Guests have the choice of half day tours or full day Botswana. Boma Dinner.
Day 3: Depart
