VIEWS, VIBES AND VULTURES
LOCATION
The hotel may be in the centre of the little village of Victoria Falls but it is set on a plateau with each room facing the sweeping views over the Zambezi national game park. Pristine, untouched, seemingly endless and with a large, regularly populated watering hole, the daily sunset easily rivals the cinematography of Out of Africa.
STYLE
It’s modern and discreetly comfortable, with the décor and furnishings giving a tasteful nod to the African Safari theme. Open-thatch roofs and wooden decks dominate the public areas and the openplan structure is an homage to the panoramic view of the African plains. From the bar, the restaurants, even floating in the VICTORIA FALLS SAFARI LODGE, ZIMBABWE double-tiered hotel pool, you can spot elephants ambling up for afternoon drinks at the watering hole.
THE SERVICE
Zimbabweans are famously friendly — there’s a generosity in the service that comes from the heart.
THE EATING
The in-house MaKuwa-Kuwa restaurant serves up breakfast, lunch and a fine-dining dinner, while the Buffalo Bar offers light meals. The major drawcard is the Boma, an interactive restaurant where you are encouraged to have your face painted, to get a certificate for eating a mopane worm (it tasted like a rubber band) and to drum your stress away. The food in this enormous boma includes African-style dishes and ingredients that are fairly exotic for the overseas tourists: crocodile tail, warthog stew and dried worms (none of which tastes like chicken). There is also a full-on braai area that serves a selection of venison, local fish (bream, for example), as well as good old steak and boerewors. The evening I visited, a long queue formed for the lamb on a spit that took centre stage.
THE ‘DO’ LIST
The falls obviously, but there is so much more crammed in and around this little village — from elephant encounters to bungee jumping, giant swings and river rafting. If action is not high on your bucket list, then the Elephant Walk Artists’ Village is the spot to pick up a piece of local craft, admire the art and fabrics on sale or just chill over an excellent coffee. A visit to the Jafuta Heritage Centre, a little museum that offers cultural and historical insight into Zimbabwe, is also a must-see.
My top “to do” picks: The plush sunset cruise along the Zambezi where, on a pontoon accommodating just 28 guests and from the comfort of an armchair, you can view hippos, crocs, marabou storks and fork-tailed drongos. The Zambezi Royal is the business class of cruise boats, with hot and cold canapés served at your private table and a waiter who makes sure that your gin and tonic or glass of bubbly is discreetly and consistently replenished.
Also high on my list is a restaurant with a difference. The Safari Lodge offers a daily hillock of carcasses and offal to flocks of visiting vultures. The vulture-culture experience is not only an entertaining spectacle where hundreds of vultures, marabou storks and the occasional gatecrashing warthog brawl over the buffet, it is also an integral part of conservation efforts to protect the many rapidly declining vulture species, and provides a site for ongoing research.
BEST TIME TO GO
Straight after a welcome change of government, many would say. And if you want to see the falls at its grandest, go between February and July, the high-water period. Then again, the winter months of May through September mean warm days, cold nights and great game viewing.
FACILITIES
Every room at the lodge has a balcony where you will spend hours awed by the view and, if you can drag yourself away, there is a complementary shuttle service into town and to the falls. Rates include breakfast.
RATES
Rates begin at US$199 pp/n but specials are regularly available on www.africaalbidatourism.com. A 30% discount is on offer for bookings during the period of January 18 to March 18 2018.
BOOKING
http://victoria-falls-safarilodge.com/enquiries/ or phone 263 213 284 3201.
Seid was a guest of Victoria Falls Safari Lodge