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Best wishes from all of us at Chishakwe to all of you for a very happy Easter. At Chishakwe we like our food to be fresh and ethically and locally sourced wherever possible ... and of course delicious! The beautiful girls in the picture above are members of the flock of hens we keep for eggs. At night they are very securely locked up in a snug coop; safe from genets and other marauding animals. During the day they wander at will in a large fenced garden.

Hunter's House is one of the accommodation options in our popular Home from Home collection and is situated on the far West of the Devuli Head Quarters area on Chishakwe. It is a large house which easily sleeps 11 people and more if beds are added to some of the larger bedrooms. The wide veranda that runs the length of the house and overlooks the front garden is likely to be where guests will spend most of their time when they are "home" and not out on the ranch looking for wild animals and birds or at the dam fishing. The house was probably first built in the 1930's and was likely smaller and simpler than it was at that time as, over the years, rooms have clearly been added on both ends of the house. On the addition on the East end of the house there was a steep stairwell leading down to an underground concrete bunker which was added during the Rhodesian war. This bunker was thought to be the one mentioned by author Alexandra Fuller in her novel, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. The bunker no longer exists at Hunter's House as, during recent renovations, the decision to fill it in was taken. The reinforced cement slab which formed the raised roof of the bunker took up a significant space on the veranda and the bunker itself was providing habitat to scorpions and centipedes. Unfortunately, converting it to a wine cellar was not an option! On the kitchen end of the veranda there is a fire pit area where most of our guests spend their evenings, especially in winter. From here it is not at all uncommon to see the animals that roam the garden area around the house at night. These commonly include impala, bushbuck, kudu, jackal and hyena.

If the shorter, cooler days did not confirm to us that winter is coming then a look at ant activity would surely do so. Once you start looking it is hard not to be fascinated by the activity and interactions of these tiny insects and impressed by the strength and level of energetic commitment they display. Like the fable, they are working hard to provide for the days ahead. However, we are not able to confirm the same for the grasshoppers. If the famous fable is to believed they are whiling away the last of the summer on enjoying themselves.

Devuli Ranch was once the largest cattle ranch in the world. It was pioneered by two brothers, Lucas and Despard Bridges, after the first World War. The two brothers, with the help of their cousin set about the very tough job of taming the wild African bush and setting up a massive cattle ranching enterprise. Despite their impressive success in this regard, the tough South East Lowveld with its endemic drought cycle, prevented true longevity of the project. Less than a century later, after a truly epic drought, Devuli was sold in lots and it is those lots the make up most of the Northern part of the Save Valley Conservancy. The headquarters area of Devuli sits centrally on Chishakwe and the houses which once housed the managers of the huge ranch have been sensitively renovated to retain the original Devuli ambience. Sturdily and practically built (though maybe a bit rambly due to successive farm built renovations over the years), with cool cement floors and verandas to shade the interior rooms. Tin rooves reflect heat and amplify the drumming of the rain on wet nights. The houses are not grand but they are comfortable ... and packed with character. They are set up with everything you need to make yourself at home and children are most welcome. They provide the perfect location for a gathering of the clans or a get together of friends, just as they did for many years before on Devuli Ranch.

It is official! Here, in the Southern Hemisphere, the writing is on the wall for summer with the arrival of the Autumnal Equinox on March 20-21. We are fortunate that, in our Lowveld area, this does not mean freezing cold nights and grey days. In fact, some cooler weather might even come as a bit of a relief after some scorching of the scorching hot days over summer. We expect big, open, bluer than blue skies and warmish days followed by nights which are cool enough to encourage vicinity to the open air fire after dinner. The colours of the bush change completely. Instead of abundant foliage and thick grass all in every shade of green imaginable, we get shades of gold, amber and russet brown. As the dry winter goes on these colours fade until (especially in a dry year such as this one) we find ourselves in a bleached out, almost monochromatic, world. In this world the impala stand out fiery orange against their background and one cannot imagine what on earth they eat in the harsh environment. It is always beautiful but rugged and wild. #biophilia #everydayisasafariday #Autumnequinox #SouthEastLowveldZimbabwe

While the much thicker and greener bush conditions in the rainy season make game watching, in the traditional sense, a bit more difficult; they create a great opportunity to observe all the smaller, less observed life forms that make up such an important part of overall bush ecology. Butterflies are particularly present amongst the abundant bug life and we hope you enjoy seeing a few of these beauties as much as we did. #ButterflySafari #RealLifeSafari #ChishakweSafaris #SouthEastLowveldZimbabwe #It'stheSmallThings #RainySeasonSafari

At Chishakwe every day is a real life safari. If you are looking for the type of 5 star safari that comes with an ensuite jacuzzi, an on site gym, and a guarantee that you will leave with a certificate saying that you saw the Big 5 then a safari at Chishakwe is not for you. If you are looking for an authentic but comfortable experience in a uniquely Zimbabwean atmosphere and the opportunity to see any one (or all) of the Big 5 and learn more about a host of other animals and plants, then you will really enjoy a visit to Chishakwe. Chishakwe is a part of the Save Valley Conservancy and straddles the head quarters of what was once the largest privately owned cattle ranch in the world, the famous Devuli Ranch. A number of roomy old ranch houses dating back to this time have been sensitively renovated so as not to lose their original relaxed Lowveld ambience. These houses provide the basis for Chishakwe's Home from Home safari experiences for self-catering guests. In addition Chishakwe boasts a tranquil safari camp, set a few kilometers away from the Devuli Head Quarters area, on the banks of the Msaize River. Our primary business is habitat and wildlife conservation which we fund through safari tourism activities. We love sharing the natural bounty and tough, rugged beauty of the South East Lowveld with our guests. If you are they type of traveller who likes to get to know the locals, to smell the dust settling at the end of a day and try out the local favourite foods and drinks then we really look forward to hearing from you and getting to know you too.