13 June, Wednesday - Arrival in Livingstone, Zambia
Just a 20-minute drive from the harry mwaanga nkumbula international airport, The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Zambia Hotel by Anantara is located in the lush riverine belt on the banks of the mighty Zambezi river. Upon arrival, the staff gave us a warm welcome and proceeded to check us in.
We were blown away by the beautiful colonial decor of the reception area, the breath-taking view of Victoria Falls in the distance and of course, the free-roaming zebras and giraffes on the hotel grounds!
Once we checked in, our butler, Reagan, showed us to our deluxe room which was tastefully furnished with colonial-style decor. I really liked our private balcony which faced the Zambezi river and just below our balcony, was a grass patch where we spotted impalas and zebras. Reagan mentioned that we needed to keep the balcony doors closed because there were incidents where monkeys got into rooms to steal food from the mini bar.
After Freshening up, we headed out to The Sundeck for lunch which was located by the Zambezi river. The temperature was a cool 17 degrees celsius with the perfect amount of sunshine.We chowed down on burgers & sandwiches while enjoying the view of the tranquil waters of the Zambezi river as well as Victoria falls in the distance.
After lunch, we took a 10-minute stroll to our hotel's private entrance to Victoria Falls.
We couldn't believe that one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World was just minutes from our hotel. It was really a sight to behold.
On the way back to our room, we met a couple of the hotel's permanent residents...
After only a day here, I was in awe of this place. there were endless photo opportunities from its picturesque sunsets to the free-roaming zebras and giraffes on its grounds. I was definitely looking forward to spending the next few days at The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Zambia Hotel by Anantara.
14 June, Thursday - CHOBE NATIONAL PARK
Our tour was scheduled to start really early (7am-kind-of-early)on day 2. As we dragged our asses out of the room at 6.30am for breakfast, the freezing 9-degrees-celsius air hit us like a hard slap in the face. We were definitely more awake then!
The hotel daily breakfast buffet only starts at 7am but they had laid out a complimentary spread of pastries and hot beverages for guests who had early tour such as ourselves. I had a Danish & a glass of warm milk before taking a short nap in front of the fireplace.
We were picked up from our hotel by Chris Taxi & Tours Ltd at exactly 7am. Our guide checked that we had our passports & Visas on us because we were going to cross the border between Zambia & Botswana. He was helpful in assisting us with immigration and then accompanied us to a ferry which we had to Take to cross the Zambezi river. It was quite cool that we were at the intersection of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia which share the River.
Over in Botswana which was literally minutes away by ferry, we were welcomed by another guide who was waiting for us with an open-air jeep to kick off the game drive in the Chobe National Park.
By the Time we commenced the 3-hour game tour, the temperature rose to 20 degrees celsius which was pleasantly cool. Our guide reached under the seat & pulled out a chiller box which contained icy cold beverages. He then offered us beer and said "The more you drink, the more animals you will see!". Our guide was both knowledgeable & entertaining. We saw elephants, wild boars, water buffalos, giraffes, impalas, and kudus in their natural habitats.
After all that excitement, we were dropped off at the Chobe Safari Lodge for a sit-down lunch buffet. It even included roast wild beast which I thought was a bit too gamey for my liking. I loaded up on carbo like the mashed potatoes, French fries & giant croutons. I enjoyed the fruit sorbet.
After lunch, we proceeded to the jetty within walking distance from the buffet to embark on the river safari boat cruise in the Chobe River. We got up-close to crocodiles, elephants, hippopotamuses, and water buffalos.
The most delightful part was seeing the elephants splashing around in the water almost as if they were having a pool party! They were wrestling playfully with one another and it was just too cute. Our guide steered us closer to an elephant who washing its veggies by clutching the veggies with its trunk and swishing it from side-to-side in the water!
By the time they dropped us back at the hotel, the sun was about to set. The entire hotel was bathed in the beautiful hues of the sunset.We sat by the poolside and watched the zebras graze against the magnificent sunset.
15 June, Friday - Victoria falls & Zambezi River Sunset Cruise
The day's activities were scheduled to start at 8am so we decided to sit down for a leisurely breakfast on day 3. When we entered the Royal Livingstone Dining Room, The chirpy waiters asked if we slept well and if everything was to our satisfaction. The breakfast spread was pretty substantial with a wide variety of juices, smoothies, pastries, cheeses, and cooked food. I especially loved their yoghurt fruit cups and I think there were 7 flavours to choose from. They even served champagne at breakfast!
After filling our bellies, we were ready for our tour of Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is a waterfall in southern Africa on the Zambezi River at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya which means "The smoke that thunders". When David Livingstone discovered the falls, he named it in honour of Queen Victoria of Britain. I prefer Mosi-Oa Tunya because it sounds more badass.
We started with the Zambian side of the falls with our guide bringing us to vantage points where we could get the nicest views of the falls at different angles. It was such a pretty sight to see the rainbow over the falls. During this season, more than five hundred million cubic meters of water per minute plummet over the edge, over a width of nearly two kilometers, into a gorge over one hundred meters below. This meant getting soaked by the tremendous spray of the falls when we had to cross certain pathways such as the Knife-edge bridge. Before braving the falls, we put on our ponchos which came all the way down to our shins. We looked like a bunch of walking condoms but all of us managed to stay 80% dry despite walking through what felt like a storm.
We continued the rest of the tour in Zimbabwe to view the other side of the falls. We spotted a double rainbow!
While we were still in Zimbabwe, our guide drove us to the Sinathankawu Open Art & Craft Market to pick up souvenirs. Although the shopkeepers were a little pushy, they were willing to negotiate prices with us. We left the market with beautiful hand-crafted souvenirs.
We ended the day on a sunset cruise down the great Zambezi river on The African Queen. The cruise included snacks, canapés and a free flow of drinks. The friendly cruise staff served us several rounds of fruit juice before bringing us a bowl of overly salty & stale snacks. I was even more disappointed when they served the canapés which were mediocre.
Despite starving on the cruise, I enjoyed the sunset.
16 June, Saturday - Helicopter ride over Victoria Falls & Rhino Walk
After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we began our tour at 8am with our guide picking us up to go to Batoka Sky for our 30-minute helicopter ride over Victoria falls. Our pilot, Cornelius Steenkamp AKA the Hobbit, gave us a warm welcome and proceeded to give us an aerial tour of Victoria Falls, Batoka Gorge, Zambezi River and the lush Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. It was spectacular.
The best part was when we swooped down into the Batoka gorge and we could almost touch the water! It felt like an exciting flight chase scene from Star Wars! While we were over the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, our sharp-eyed pilot spotted hippopotamuses, elephants and giraffes and flew the helicopter lower to the ground so that we could get a better look.
We were pretty sad when the exhilarating ride came to an end.
Later in the afternoon, we explored the neighbouring Avani Victoria Falls Resort which had an outdoor cinema. A couple of zebras found their way there. I guess they wanted to ensure they had the best seats in the house.
At 3pm, we set off for our Rhino walk in Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park. It started with a 30-minute bumpy ride deep into the park where we had to alight from our vehicle and met up with a group of 5 escort scouts. They quickly briefed us before escorting us on foot even deeper into the park. We came across four White Rhinos who were quietly grazing. We spent about 30 minutes observing them before making our way back to the vehicle.
17 June, Sunday - Time to leave
It was our last day in Livingstone. I was sad to leave all this behind but I was looking forward to seeing Nick & Hachi back in Singapore. Anyway, we took the buggy over to Avani Victoria Falls Resort for a quick lunch before catching our flight home. We ordered a Biltong pizza, Kudu burger, crocodile satay and other finger food.
After lunch, I stopped by the souvenir shops one last time and picked us traditional Makishi dolls. They're so cooL!
During our stopover in Johannesburg, we bought local snacks such as Biltong and game pate. Can't wait to try these when I get home!
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