Philosophy

WildIdeas (Pvt) Ltd t/a ZIM4X4

ZIM4x4's overriding mission is to share these places with you, to give you an enjoyable and informative experience, and to promote a conservation ethic that recognizes the values of nature, wilderness and wildlife, and so contributes to their conservation for future generations.

Our tours are nature-based, wilderness-oriented, and environmentally sensitive. Although we like to provide an interesting driving experience, our main focus is on the natural features of the routes we take and the destinations we offer, and we aim to make our tours informative and instructive as well as enjoyable. We do this by describing our surroundings and their features to you by inter-vehicle radio, by providing specially-written route and area briefings, and informally around the campfire.

We limit the size of our tour groups, for two reasons. One is to enable us to provide a genuinely personalised service to all our tour participants. The other is to keep disturbance to a minimum in the wilderness areas we visit. We recommend 4wd and low-range capability, as we may encounter sand, river crossings and other hazards as we go, but we do not deliberately set out to provide '4x4 challenges'. We use vehicles for their designed purpose: to reach remote and beautiful places by interesting and attractive routes.

Good tour planning is critical. The occasional long day at the wheel, over bad roads, may be unavoidable; but by and large we prefer to keep the driving legs reasonably short, and to allow plenty of time for exploration, enjoyment and relaxation at our destinations. You need at least three days in places like Mana Pools, for example, to get the best out of them - and preferably more!

Nor do we confine ourselves solely to driving. In some cases - Lake Kariba and the Matusadona shoreline are cases in point - we may suggest leaving the vehicles parked for a few days, and using boats instead.

A word here about 'game viewing' We are very wildlife-oriented, enjoy wildlife photography, and try to provide every opportunity for you to get first-class photographs of both wildlife and landscapes. But we do not set out to create adrenalin-filled close-ups of lions and elephants charging, or similar scenes. We regard this as both unnecessary human disturbance, potentially dangerous, and also as possibly resulting in the death of an innocent animal. Whether in vehicles or on foot, our objective is to 'get in and get out' of a scene with as little disturbance as possible, and preferably none at all.

Overall, we expect our clients to act in a manner that shows 4x4 owners and drivers to be responsible, conservation-oriented and mindful of the needs of other road, wilderness and accommodation users. We have a strict Code of Conduct, and we adhere to the Wilderness Code that Sally developed in collaboration with South Africa's Wilderness Action Group and the US-based Wild Foundation.

And we try to provide material support for National Parks and other wild areas whenever possible, through The Zambezi Society, with which we have a long-standing association. At present, this support is mostly focused on reinforcing anti-poaching activities with items such as fuels, vehicle spares, and communications equipment; but we also support black rhino conservation projects in the Matusadona National Park, and promote sustainable and environmentally appropriate tourism through our membership of relevant Tour Operators' Associations.