Key Takeaways
- Victoria Falls offers a rare combination: a genuine Gary Player championship golf course and one of the world's greatest safari regions, five minutes apart.
- Elephant Hills Golf Club is an 18-hole, par-72 championship layout designed by Gary Player, where warthog, impala and elephant regularly cross the fairways above the Zambezi gorge.
- Green fees are exceptional value — from about US$50 for 18 holes for visitors, with reduced rates for resort guests, seniors and juniors, plus caddies, carts and club hire on site.
- The safari half is world-class: Hwange National Park for enormous elephant herds and lion, the Zambezi National Park beside the course, a sunset cruise, and a day-trip to Chobe across the Botswana border.
- Golf plays year-round; the best game viewing is the dry season, June to October, when animals gather at the waterholes and the Falls still run.
Why Victoria Falls Is Africa's Most Extraordinary Golf-and-Safari Base
Victoria Falls is the only place in the world where you can play a Gary Player championship course in the morning, stand in the spray of one of the seven natural wonders of the world by lunch, and watch a thousand elephant come down to drink at dusk. The town sits on the Zimbabwe bank of the Zambezi, on the doorstep of the Falls, and it has spent a century learning how to host travellers who want the extraordinary as a matter of course.
The golf is real, not a novelty. Elephant Hills is a full 18-hole championship layout carved out of the bush on the lip of the Zambezi gorge, designed by the greatest golfer Africa has ever produced. But what makes it unforgettable is what shares it with you: warthog trotting across the tee boxes, impala grazing the fringes, baboon patrolling the cart paths, and — often enough that the staff barely blink — elephant emerging from the tree line beyond a distant green. You do not go looking for the wildlife here. It comes to you, mid-round.
What makes Victoria Falls unbeatable for a golf safari:
- A championship course among big game — Elephant Hills is a Gary Player design where warthog, impala and elephant genuinely cross the fairways above the Zambezi.
- One of the world's natural wonders on the doorstep — the Falls are five minutes from the first tee, thundering all year and at their most colossal from March to May.
- Three great safari regions within reach — Hwange, the Zambezi National Park beside the course, and Chobe in Botswana, all reachable as day-trips or short transfers.
- Exceptional value — green fees, caddies and five-star lodging cost a fraction of comparable golf-and-safari destinations in Europe or North America.
Elephant Hills — Gary Player's Championship Course Above the Zambezi
If one course defines a Victoria Falls golf safari, it is Elephant Hills. Set on the ridges above the Zambezi gorge, a few minutes from the Falls themselves, it is an 18-hole, par-72 championship layout designed by Gary Player — nine-time major champion and the most decorated golfer the continent has produced. At roughly 6,205 metres off the back tees, it is a parkland course of Bermuda-grass fairways and bent-grass greens, framed by indigenous bush, palm groves and long views down toward the river.
What sets it apart is not just the pedigree of the design but the company you keep while you play. This is unfenced Zambezi bush, and the animals treat the course as their own. Warthog trot across the fairways, impala graze the rough, baboon lope along the cart paths, and elephant regularly appear from the tree line — sometimes close enough that play pauses while a herd crosses. The course rules quite seriously ask you to give the wildlife right of way. It is the only championship golf we know where "elephant on the fairway" is a genuine, written local rule rather than a marketing line.
Green Fees & Playing the Course
Elephant Hills is superb value by any international measure. As a guide for 2026, visitors pay around US$50 for 18 holes (about US$35 for nine), while guests of the Elephant Hills resort play for roughly US$18 and guests of the historic Victoria Falls Hotel for about US$30. Seniors over 65 pay around US$20, and juniors play free. A caddie — well worth taking, both for the local knowledge and the extra pair of eyes on the wildlife — costs about US$15 for 18 holes, a golf cart around US$40, and a set of rental clubs about US$20, so you can travel light and still play well. There is a driving range and practice facilities on site.
The course is walkable but most visitors take a cart, partly for the heat and partly for the reassurance of quick movement if a herd is on the move. Tee times are easy to arrange through the resort, and we book every round, caddie and cart in advance as part of your itinerary. Bring a current handicap certificate to be safe, though resort rounds are relaxed and welcoming to all abilities.
Wildlife on the Fairways — Golf Inside the Zambezi Bush
The animals are the whole point of golf at Victoria Falls. Because Elephant Hills sits in open Zambezi woodland, the same corridor of bush that feeds the Zambezi National Park next door, the wildlife moves through the course freely. Warthog — tails up, trotting in single file — are a constant, comic presence on the fairways. Impala and kudu browse the edges, vervet monkey and baboon patrol the trees, and elephant, buffalo and even the occasional lion pass through, particularly in the dry months when they follow the river.
It changes the way the game is played. Rounds slow down. You keep half an eye on the tree line. You learn to read the alarm calls. A caddie who knows the animals is invaluable — they will hold you back from a blind approach if there is a herd in the way, and point out the game you would otherwise miss. It is golf played with all your senses awake, and no clubhouse story from home will ever quite match it.
The Safari Half — Hwange, the Zambezi & Chobe
Golf is the theme; the safari is the soul. And Victoria Falls sits at the meeting point of three superb wildlife regions. The headline is Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe's largest reserve, about two hours south by road or a short charter flight. Hwange is famous for some of the biggest elephant herds in Africa — many hundreds gathering at the pumped waterholes in the dry season — alongside lion, buffalo, giraffe, wild dog and the woodlands once ranged by Cecil, the great collared lion. Two or three nights in a Hwange lodge is the emotional heart of the trip.
Closer to town, the Zambezi National Park runs right up to the golf course, its riverine drives and boat safaris producing elephant, buffalo, hippo, crocodile and antelope within twenty minutes of your room. And across the border in Botswana, Chobe National Park — the elephant capital of the world — makes a spectacular day-trip: a morning game drive and an afternoon boat cruise among hundreds of elephant on the Chobe River, back in Victoria Falls for dinner.
The Falls, the River & the Adventure Capital
No golf safari here is complete without the wonder that gives the town its name. Victoria Falls — Mosi-oa-Tunya, "the smoke that thunders" — is more than a kilometre and a half wide and drops over a hundred metres into the gorge, throwing spray you can see from the aircraft on arrival. A guided walk along the rainforest paths on the Zimbabwe side gives the classic head-on views; a helicopter "flight of angels" gives the scale; and the Falls run year-round, at their most overwhelming from March to May after the rains.
The Zambezi itself is the other great character. A sunset cruise above the Falls — sundowner in hand, hippo surfacing, elephant on the bank, the sky going copper — is the classic end to a day on the course. For the adventurous there is white-water rafting below the Falls, bungee from the bridge, and canoe safaris upriver. And for a quieter afternoon, the historic Victoria Falls Hotel serves high tea on its terrace with the spray of the Falls rising in the distance.
Where You Stay — Resort Golf, the Grande Dame & Bush Lodges
A Victoria Falls golf safari is a sequence of very different beds. The natural golf base is the Elephant Hills Resort itself, whose rooms and suites look out over the course and the distant spray of the Falls, with the first tee, three swimming pools, a spa and the casino all a few steps from your door. For old-world grandeur, the legendary Victoria Falls Hotel — the "Grande Dame" of the Falls, dating from 1904 — offers colonial elegance, manicured gardens and that famous terrace looking toward the bridge.
Then, for the safari, you move into the bush: intimate lodges and tented camps in Hwange and along the Zambezi, with private decks, waterhole views, open 4x4 game drives and dinners under the stars. The contrast — championship resort golf one night, canvas and lantern-light in big-game country the next — is exactly what makes the trip sing.
Zimbabwe's Other Courses — Harare's Historic Clubs
While Elephant Hills is the reason golfers come to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe has a deeper golfing tradition, centred on the capital. Royal Harare Golf Club is the country's grand old course — a mature, tree-lined parkland layout that has hosted the Zimbabwe Open and sits among some of the finest in Southern Africa. Borrowdale Brooke, designed by Peter Matkovich, is the modern championship test in the leafy northern suburbs, and the Chapman Golf Club completes Harare's trio of well-kept, walkable courses.
For a longer trip we can open in Harare with a round or two before flying to Victoria Falls, or add the Bulawayo and Great Zimbabwe regions for those who want to see more of the country. But for most travellers, the magic of a Zimbabwe golf safari is concentrated at Elephant Hills, where the golf and the wildlife share the same ground.
When to Go
Golf plays year-round at Victoria Falls. The winter dry season, May to October, brings warm, clear days, cool nights and the finest game viewing — animals concentrate at the waterholes of Hwange and along the Zambezi, and the bush thins out so wildlife is easy to spot both on safari and on the course. This is the prime window for a golf safari.
The Falls themselves are a separate calendar. They are at their most colossal from March to May, when the Zambezi is in full flood and the spray can obscure the view; by September and October the flow is gentler and the rock face is clearer to photograph. The green season, November to March, is hot and brings afternoon storms, lush landscapes, newborn animals and lower rates, with golf still very much on in the mornings. We match the timing to what matters most to you — the golf, the game or the Falls at full thunder.
What a Victoria Falls Golf Safari Costs
A tailor-made Victoria Falls golf safari is a mid-to-upper-luxury trip that offers remarkable value against comparable destinations. As a guide, our private journeys generally run from around US$4,500 to US$9,000 per person for a week to ten days, depending on the lodges, the safari regions and the season. That range typically includes green fees, caddies and carts, luxury resort and bush-lodge accommodation, private transfers and any internal charter flights, all game drives and park fees, a Zambezi sunset cruise, a guided tour of the Falls, and the services of a dedicated golf-safari host.
Shorter itineraries and group departures can start lower — from roughly US$2,500 per person sharing for a golf-and-Falls short break — while adding a Chobe day-trip, extra nights in Hwange, a helicopter flight over the Falls or the finest suites pushes the total higher. International flights are excluded. We price every trip to your exact ambitions rather than selling a fixed package off the shelf.
Practicalities — Handicaps, Clubs & Getting Around
- Handicap certificate: Resort golf at Elephant Hills is relaxed and open to all abilities, but bringing a current handicap certificate is sensible, especially if you hope to play Royal Harare or a competition day.
- Clubs: Bring your own or hire a quality set at Elephant Hills for around US$20 — many golf-safari travellers hire on site to avoid flying with clubs. We arrange this in advance.
- Caddies & carts: Caddies (about US$15 for 18 holes) are strongly recommended for their knowledge of the course and the wildlife; carts (about US$40) are the norm in the heat.
- Getting around: Victoria Falls has an international airport with direct links to Johannesburg and regional hubs; Hwange is a short road transfer or charter, and Chobe a straightforward day-trip across the Botswana border. We handle every transfer, tee time and border formality.
- Malaria & health: The Victoria Falls and Hwange region carries some malaria risk, so we provide current medical guidance and recommend prophylaxis for your route and season.
The Beyond Africa Victoria Falls Golf Safari
We build Victoria Falls golf safaris as complete, private journeys — the tee times, the caddies and carts, the resort and bush lodges, the Falls tour, the Zambezi cruise, the Hwange game drives and the Chobe day-trip arranged as one seamless whole. A typical trip opens with golf and the Falls from Elephant Hills, cruises the Zambezi at sunset, flies or drives into Hwange for the great elephant herds and lion, and finishes with a Chobe day-trip and a last round with the warthog on the fairway. Every itinerary is tailored to your handicap, your pace and the people travelling with you — including the non-golfers, who get a world-class safari and the Falls of their own.
Talk to us and we will design your Victoria Falls golf safari from the first tee to the last sundowner over the Zambezi.
