SWEET ISOLATION
The Chobe Water Villas take ‘getting away from it all’ to a whole new level, with their remote location and sophisticated style, writes Elizabeth Sleith
It’s a weird little wodge of land, the Caprivi Strip. Part of Namibia, and now officially called the Zambezi Region, it’s a 450km panhandle that juts out from the northeast of the country towards Zimbabwe, bordered by Botswana to the south, and Angola and Zambia to the north.
Feel free to snicker at its origin tale, which starts with a rather laughable error: the failure of some poor sod to consult a map. In 1890, when Germany acquired it in a trade with Britain, hearts fluttered because it ended at the Zambezi River. The Germans thought it would provide a lucrative short-cut to the Indian Ocean.
As it turned out, there was a small glitch — by some measures the largest glitch in the world: 65km downriver is a 108m dead drop in the Zambezi, which no ship could ever handle. You probably know it as Victoria Falls.
So shame, the weird wodge failed to deliver the riches of which its owners dreamed. Their loss is a traveller’s gain, since its remote and wild location today makes it a dream spot for a lodge, namely the Chobe Water Villas. These 16 free-standing chalets sit alone on the edge of a 150km² conservancy on the Namibian banks of the Chobe River, at the eastern edge of the strip. Directly across from them lies Botswana’s famed Chobe National Park.
Because of the remote location, getting there is a passport-stuffing, three-countriesin-one-day affair. We fly from Joburg to Kasane, Botswana, then ride through town in an open safari vehicle to the immigration post, a ramshackle building on the edge of the river. After a quick stop for more passport stamps, we exit Botswana by flat-bottomed boat, and head out into the glittering blue-grey expanse of the Chobe.
Round a bend and across to the opposite bank, it’s another derelict building, another stamp, and now we are cleared to moor up alongside the luxury villas, waiting in an armswide-open line on stilts over the water.
EVERY DETAIL A SYMBOL
The villas’ thatched, rustic appearance from the river belies the contemporary elegance inside. Even as we climb up from the jetty, it’s clear this will be a refined affair. The openplan communal area beckons us in with its neutral Namibian tones, clean lines and geometric flourishes.
Subdued indoors give way to subtly splendid outdoors, with come-hither chill-out couches and a rim-flow pool dripping away to the river. As general manager Nerise Coetzee explains, the architectural and décor elements are a point of pride. Not for them the paint-bynumbers animal-skin rugs and taxidermy-onwalls routine.
Instead, myriad details take subtle inspiration from the land. Vases on a table cherish different-coloured sands from farflung corners of the country. Framed photographs on the walls zoom in on the patterns of an elephant’s trunk, or the rosettes of a quiver tree.
Above the intimate bar, the giant light fitting is a tangled basket strung with fairy lights — a fantastical take on weavers’ nests. Every detail is symbolic and tells a story, which makes it a wonderful space to explore.
The rooms, reached by a wooden walkway, are similarly refined, with inspired artworks, inviting linens on enormous four-poster beds, and deep, linger-longer baths. Each private balcony faces onto the river and the open plains of Chobe National Park on the other side, a giant stage on which a glorious cast of creatures will quietly come and go over the next few days.
BOTSWANA AND BACK AGAIN
The next morning, on a game drive in the park, we see things from the animals’ side.
We have missed the dry season — April October is best for game, as the pans dry up and the animals must gather at the river for water. But still, we tick off a satisfying number.
There are impala — “the only animal I guarantee,” laughs our guide, Saruf Wilson. There are giraffe. There is a surreptitious lion snoozing under a low-hanging tree.
There are muscular waterbuck — Ernest Hemingway once said there was “no more ruggedly handsome animal in all of Africa.
And there is a breeding herd of Cape buffalo with some cuddle-me calves.
Of course, there are elephant. Chobe is legendary for these — the population is said to be the densest in the world at 50,000, give or take. Definitely take away four, which is the number of elephant carcasses we spot at intervals, lying alone in dust.
The last one, spectacularly, is crawling with vultures — so many of them, they seem to writhe as they crowd around to pick apart those old bones.
We humans try to behave with a bit more dignity over our own meals, though it’s not easy, what with chef Gareth Davies’ indefatigably exciting delivery of dishes both pretty and perfect to taste. “Tea time” is really a guilt-inducing buffet of scones and jams and biscuits and sandwiches. At one dinner alone, there is olive and thyme focaccia, smoked butterfish carpaccio, chargrilled fillet and sole and cheesecake. What can we do but eat our fill, and then just a little more?
FOUR COUNTRIES COLLIDE
A sundowner cruise in the late afternoon takes us to the very edge of the Caprivi Strip. On the way, fire-red flamboyance trees crowd in among the greens, thick and lush along the banks. Hippos “jacuzzi” in the shallows, and crocs lie in freeze-frame on the land.
We turn around at Impalila Island, where four countries meet (Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe), and where giant rocks already start to make the waters unnavigable, and head down the Kasai Channel, which links the Chobe River with the mighty Zambezi. Delicate reeds and pretty papyrus waft us along, and birds poke their beaks into the shallows or flit in and out of the tangled branches.
Suddenly a fish eagle wading off the shore snatches a fish and soars away. Our hearts go with it.
STRIPPED DOWN
And so it is that a few days of uniquely lazy adventuring go by. Clearly the task for guests of the villas is to perfect the art of doing not much, and yet so much, at the same time. Sit, lounge, drink, eat, inhale, exhale, repeat, and relish your absolute escape to this gloriously isolated, utterly peaceful part of the world.
If you’re a restless soul, chill. There are more excursions to choose. You could take a gentle stroll to the small neighbouring village. You could take a tour on foot of Impalila; or charter a fishing boat.
You could even take a day trip to Zimbabwe to visit those dang-blasted falls. Just make no mistake: you have to go by road.