Luxurious floating hotel changes face of tourism
IMAGINE spending days surrounded by water in a luxurious environment as you leisurely cruise along the vast waters of Lake Kariba.
At your disposal is a gym, spa, library, swimming pool, viewing deck and bar among other amenities.
When the body finally needs to rest, you retire to an immaculate room with therapeutic ambience.
It is a floating luxurious hotel ladies and gentlemen!
After days, weeks and months of grinding, hustling and focused exertion in search of money, what better way to pamper yourself and loved ones with a getaway into the lake of a 102 islands.
This is the Zambezi Trader, the biggest houseboat on Lake Kariba, which recently underwent refurbishment and upgrading.
The three-decker, known commonly as the Trader is changing the tourism landscape providing a premium houseboating experience.
Providing a novelty experience to the rich catalogue of activities and attraction.
It mirrors the life of the rich in countries with beaches, seas and oceans where a private getaway is the ultimate goal, at a cost of course.
This one provides a unique experience as it allows people to see wild animals including elephant, antelope, buffalo, lions, birds, crocodiles and zebras among others.
If you were to be woken up after somehow finding yourself in the boat, you would think you are in a high end land based hotel.
You will then be confused after seeing the water outside.
With 29 rooms, including 16 twin cabins on Deck A, 5 family cabins and 8 luxury cabins, it competes against some established hotels.
For perspective, CUT Hotel in Chinhoyi has 22 rooms while Chinhoyi Caves Motel has 24 rooms.
Zambezi Cruises and Safaris have been quietly working on the boat over several months to bring it to premium status.
This meant new furnishing, artwork, bedding and reinforcing the structure to bring out the best in luxury houseboats in Lake Kariba.
The first group of people to experience the facilities on the Trader were more than 60 regional, international and local agents.
In partnership with Falcon Air, which provides chartered services to mostly remote areas in the country, the agents flew into Kariba from Harare and Victoria Falls.
These were coming from Finland, Slovenia, Germany, United States of America, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe among others.
They were accommodated at Kariba Safari Lodges and Crown Eagle Hotel while others slept in smaller houseboats including Umbozha, Shikra and Sovereign.
This is in line with the product development philosophy which seeks to take tourists on a combined land, water and wildlife experience. The ultimate experience for local and international tourists!
In the morning people went to the iconic Kariba Dam to see the architectural work.
Moments later they boarded the waiting houseboats to Tashinga Island where the boats docked for the night.
The distance is by no means small but the leisurely 5 to 7 knots cruising speed translates to around 12 kilometres per hour, around five hours of smooth cruising while a sweet cool breeze blows on the decks’ sitting areas.
It is an ideal set up for those who want to discuss business, casual chatter and when one needs solitude, they can go to their air conditioned room, an antidote for the searing Kariba heat during the day or at night.
The rooms are self contained with a toilet and bathroom, running cold or hot water.
Your communication needs are met with reliable wifi on all the boats.
Cold drinks, whether alcoholic or not, are available with caterers at hand to prepare sumptuous meals.
For Mr Walter Joe of Zambia, the experience was breathtaking and recommended the boat for that once in a lifetime experience.
“This is a solid product, which is sure going to give a lot of people memorable experiences,” he said.
Mr Matej Rancigaj from Cape Town in South Africa said the Trader offered a unique experience.
“In my view one of Zimbabwe’s greatest asset from what I have seen during this trip is it’s people. They are a warm people and hospitable as well,” he said.
ZCS director Mr Phillip Dobinson said the boat was among other products meant to improve the overall experience for the visitors.
Marketing executive Mr Richard Mutanda said the familiarisation trip got overwhelming response and it would equip local and international agents with the right information to market Kariba as a destination, the products and attractions it has to offer.
Mr Mutanda said scheduled departures have been lined up where people get into the houseboat on Friday and leave on Monday morning.
“People will undertake all water and land based activities from the houseboat, giving a fulfilling and unique experience,” he said.
From the houseboats, visitors are taken by tender boats for some fishing, game viewing and can be loaded into trucks for land game viewing.
It can cost anything up to US$10 000 for the Trader to leave its docking area for that unforgettable experience.
It can host functions including weddings for up to 150 people and 68 people can be comfortably accommodated in the cabins.
While it may not be as big as the Cruise liners that cross the oceans which have football fields and other amenities, it holds the record of being the first of its kind and points to great future developments in the Zimbabwean houseboating sector.