Mini trip to Victoria Falls

[Flying mermaid]

We booked a fairly random return date for our latest South African trip and found ourselves with a hole to fill before our flight back so decided to go to Victoria Falls for 4 nights. The first challenge was to decide on an hotel. There are some fabulous resorts on the Zambian side, but given the brevity of the trip we wanted to be walking distance of the Falls. This narrowed it down to the Royal Livingstone (a Sun Hotel), or the Victoria Falls Hotel. I was inclined to the latter, as I love old historical hotels, but my brother really recommended the Livingstone. He was Director of Finances for the Sun group some years ago, so he was possibly biased, but my sister-in-law made the decision easy. Mugabe was celebrating his 91st birthday at the Victoria Falls Hotel this weekend, slaughtering multiple elephants for the feast and spending a million dollars - even if I could get accommodation would I want to?

I usually micro manage our trips and know exactly what we are going to do but this will be more seat of the pants.

It is 5am and I am jet lagged so writing this while Mr FM sleeps. We are staying at the Intercontinental at the airport. We have stayed here a number of times now and I love this hotel. All the staff are so friendly especially the porters. One remembered us from our previous trip and came over to say hello.

 

[love_the_life]

Looking forward to the TR of your short trip (as apposed to a short TR )

 

[kpc]

We went to Vic Falls in Oct 2012....that was during the Dry season...as there was little water on the Zam side, we chose to stay on the Zim side at http://www.ilalalodge.com/home it was within walking distance of the Falls, and easy to walk over to the Zam side...if it is not high flow season, you must have a swim in Devil's pool ..accessible from the Royal Livingstone. Don't miss a helicopter ride over the Falls and a sunset cruise on the Zambesi....my most perfect travel day ever was at Vic Falls! !

Devil's pool is shown briefly in the clip below. .. http://m.media.smh.com.au/travel/destinations/the-wonder-of-water-2911765.html you need to book in advance as it is very popular!!

 

[JohnM]

I've been to Vic Falls a couple of times and stayed at both Ilala Lodge and the Royal Livingstone. The Zim side is better in the low-flow season because I believe the spray can blot out the views there during the high flow. The Zambian side is good at any time. Aerial circuit is not to be missed.

There are some pics in my E Africa safari TR below.

 

[sergeyvzn]

Stay at Zambezi Sun. It's much closer to the falls on the Zambian side than Royal Livingstone. Royal Livingstone is its sister property but 3 times more expensive for not much more in terms of comfort and a worse location.
On Zimbabwean side the Victoria Falls hotel is probably the best but it's a 30 min walk to the falls and you have to pay for visiting the national park whereas if you stay in Zambia you are actually in the national park and it's free to come and go as you please. Also if you walk from the Victoria Falls Hotel to the falls you have to go through a souvenir market where locals harass you...I know they are terribly poor etc but they are quite aggressive and spoil the whole visit a lot


Our room in Zambezi Sun was 5 min walk to the falls and we had antelopes come and visit. The resort has a nice swimming pool, a bar next to it and a couple of restaurants
The info is from October 2014 when we were there as part of a 280K trip including South Africa and Zambia/Zimbabwe

 

[JohnM]

The Zambezi Sun is certainly convenient (you have to walk past it going to the falls from the Royal Livingstone). In Zim, Ilala is (or at least was) the closest hotel to the falls. All the hotels are good. Agree the souvenir market is to be avoided.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Thanks for advice guys - we have already booked at the Royal Livingstone, but will definitely go ver to the Zimbabwe side ( and avoid the market!).In the SLOW lounge at the moment - very similar to their domestic ones - here are a few photos of the food set out for breakfast and the bar. They will make omelettes and toasted sandwiches and later in the day there is hot food

 

[Flying mermaid]

. Also if you walk from the Victoria Falls Hotel to the falls you have to go through a souvenir market where locals harass you...I know they are terribly poor etc but they are quite aggressive and spoil the whole visit a lot

I hate being hassled and won't visit the market having been warned. However as you have said they are poor in a way an Australian can't imagine. With food shortages and 80% unemployment hassling a tourist might mean the difference between eating and not.

 

[drivatruk]

There is a new visa that makes traveling between the countries much easier now. Its only $50 us as well and you can cross the border an unlimited amount of times. It called Zimbabwe-Zambia Uni-visa. Give it a google.

 

[drivatruk]

Im doing the microlight flight over the falls next Saturday. Not sure how ill go cause the is no business class..... Im staying on the Zimbabwe side. Be aware that if you go into Zambia then you may not get back into South Africa unless you have a yellow fever certificate. I had to get the shot just to cross over to Zambia for the microflight or i wouldn't have been allowed back into South Africa for the remainder of my holiday.

​

 

[sergeyvzn]

I hate being hassled and won't visit the market having been warned. However as you have said they are poor in a way an Australian can't imagine. With food shortages and 80% unemployment hassling a tourist might mean the difference between eating and not.

I understand that and I'm happy to buy something but not when I am approached aggressively. It was very aggressive to the point we were feeling quite unsafe

 

[love_the_life]

The lounge doesn't look too bad. Who are you flying with? We have booked the IC at the airport for overnight transits on our trip. Glad to hear you like it - the HI at Santiago airport, Chile was less than glorious but OK - loved all the bottles of Bombay Sapphire behind the bar but, what for it, no gin. They were empty and just for show! The memorable thing was the disposable plastic glasses in guest rooms! Fully expecting the IC to be better!

 

[kpc]

There are tourist police (?wearing green vests) that are paid by the hotels on the Zim side to keep people from hassling you....when we walked across the bridge from Zim to Zam, i was hassled by a a local to buy a copper bracelet...anyway, I told him I would consider it on the way back later that pm...fast forward a few hours later, he was there waiting for me!! Anyway, for a small amount of ZAR (he did not want USD), I ended up with a copper bracelet:shock:....100 metres down the road, I ended up buying 3 more copper bracelets for the SAME price I had paid for the one earlier:evil:...I fell for the hard-luck story that if he didn't sell me any, his family would go hungry that night....as he was polite, and I felt a little sorry for the local Zimbabweans, i bought them, and everyone went away happy! +1 is now the proud owner of 4 copper bracelets but I think she gave all bar one away when we got back to Oz...

There is a new visa that makes traveling between the countries much easier now. Its only $50 us as well and you can cross the border an unlimited amount of times. It called Zimbabwe-Zambia Uni-visa. Give it a google.

Wow...that makes life a lot easier....back in 2012, I paid USD45 for a double entry Visa at VFA to enter Zim...when we crossed into Zam for a day, the day visa cost USD20.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Im doing the microlight flight over the falls next Saturday. Not sure how ill go cause the is no business class..... Im staying on the Zimbabwe side. Be aware that if you go into Zambia then you may not get back into South Africa unless you have a yellow fever certificate. I had to get the shot just to cross over to Zambia for the microflight or i wouldn't have been allowed back into South Africa for the remainder of my holiday.

​

We have yellow fever certificates - needed them last year for East Africa. I do not believe you need them anymore for Zambia - that requirement has recently been lifted by South Africa, but we brought them just in case. The uni visa is great - just a six month trial at present but they are talking of extending it to other countries as well. Make sure you have cash - the Comms were down and we couldn't use a card, so had to pay $100 in mostly $1 notes that we had brought for tips.... Going to be be very busy for the next few days, but will continue with my trip report when I can!

 

[Flying mermaid]

The lounge doesn't look too bad. Who are you flying with? We have booked the IC at the airport for overnight transits on our trip. Glad to hear you like it - the HI at Santiago airport, Chile was less than glorious but OK - loved all the bottles of Bombay Sapphire behind the bar but, what for it, no gin. They were empty and just for show! The memorable thing was the disposable plastic glasses in guest rooms! Fully expecting the IC to be better!

Comair/BA - I find them heaps better than SAA - both food in lounges and service on planes. You will enjoy the IC - breakfast is great too.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Had a very pleasant trip to Livingstone with Comair/BA. We were the only ones in J and economy was pretty sparse as well. Our flight attendant said that was unusual, as it was a popular flight. Mr FM had pork for lunch and I went for the vegetarian option.

 

[Flying mermaid]

There is a new terminal at Livingstone airport - it is not quite finished but in use. The old one will be used for domestic flights. Processing was very quick, except for the hitch previously advised of not being able to use eftpos to pay for the visa. On exiting customs we saw two ATMs but one wasn't working at all and the other while recognising MR FM and welcoming him and requesting his pin then kept on spitting out his card, so we left the airport still very cashless.

We had organised a transfer to Royal Livingstone wit Bushtracks and the driver gave us heaps of interesting information enroute. Unemployment is quite high as well although he was hoping the new Government would address that (sound familiar). English is the official language of Zambia.

Checkin at the Royal Livingstone was done in the lounge complete with iced tea and a hand massage. Their machine didn't work either so they couldn't take a CC for incidentals....

we we were taken to our room - beautiful views of the water from our balcony and a little gift of various snacks in the room.

 

[JohnM]

There is a new terminal at Livingstone airport - it is not quite finished but in use.

There is a story attached to that. Apparently a Chinese company built the new terminal (ingratiating themselves in Africa) but a major flood and probably shoddy quality caused severe damage. So what you see is, I believe, not so much an unfinished original build but an unfinished major repair or maybe a bit of both.

 

[CMak]

Stayed at the Livingstone a few years ago and just loved it. We really enjoyed sundowners on the deck jutting out over the river.

 

[Flying mermaid]

There is a story attached to that. Apparently a Chinese company built the new terminal (ingratiating themselves in Africa) but a major flood and probably shoddy quality caused severe damage. So what you see is, I believe, not so much an unfinished original build but an unfinished major repair or maybe a bit of both.

ok that makes sense - it seemed a bit strange that parts of the roof were being done!