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Victoria Falls Safari Lodge

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (general), Zimbabwe

Victoria Falls Safari Lodge

The Victoria Falls Safari Lodge is located just outside the city of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and next to the Zambezi Nature Sanctuary. The lodge is really more like a hotel. Rooms are located in two-story buildings that hold about 10 rooms each. The main building houses the lobby, Makuwa-Kuwa restaurant, a bar, viewing decks, pool, and tourist/information desk. The lodge is fairly nice, and the view of the watering hole is also very nice. WiFi internet was available at the hotel, but for a significant fee. We found cheaper internet cafes in the city.

We stayed here for three nights, although two is probably sufficient to see the falls. There isn't much to do in the city of Victoria Falls and one full day probably would have been fine. If you want to do a day trip to Chobe, another day could be beneficial, but that means you will incur separate immigration visa fees.

Location

The View at Breakfast

The Victoria Falls Safari Lodge overlooks a watering hole in the nature sanctuary that can offer some great game viewing. We watched a herd of elephants drinking one evening. Throughout the day there are always a large number of birds, antelope, and warthogs that walk by. The main lodge has several viewing decks that can be a great place to sit and watch. The hotel is about a 5 minute drive from the Victoria Falls town. They offer free shuttle buses once an hour throughout the day to the town and the falls themselves. We found this quite annoying as we were always scheduling our day around the bus schedule. We just found that there was not enough to keep us entertained in the city to kill an hour if we had just missed the bus. Also, while waiting for the bus, it was very common that you would be bothered by random people on the street trying to sell you things. While it was nice to stay in a quiet place with a great view, I think it would be preferable to stay in one of the hotels in the city and not have to worry about the bus schedule.

The Room

The Bedroom

The Bathroom

All the rooms at the lodge had a view looking out on the sanctuary. Some rooms had a view on the watering hole as well. Each room had a balcony and the door to the balcony was the only "window" that could be opened. We were warned at check-in to keep the door locked and watch out for monkeys that will come into your room and damage your belongings. We had to keep a watchful eye on the balcony whenever we had the door open, the monkeys can be quick.

The beds were equipped with mosquito nets, although we didn't notice many bugs in the room during the winter. The bugs only came out at night, and because of the monkeys, we kept the door closed most of the time.

The bathroom had both a bathtub and a shower. The toiletries they provided were high end, but otherwise the bathroom was pretty standard.

Food

Our hotel stay included breakfast. Breakfast consisted of a cold buffet - cereals, fresh and canned fruit, breads, and pastries. The buffet also had a pancake station. In addition, you could order an item off a menu of 3 items (that did not change during our stay) or any standard hot breakfast item of eggs any style, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, grilled tomato, smoked haddock, or potato.

Mosi Down

Mosi Down Eggs at the included breakfast

The eggs were fully cooked. The rest of the ingredients were in very small quantity - this dish was mostly egg. The pesto and hot chillies made a nice twist to traditional eggs.