Due to the countrywide lock down in place since January, Woody and I had not done any travelling this year, but March brought about an ease in the restrictions so we took full advantage of it and went on a wonderful road trip to the Deka Drum area, then on to Victoria Falls, before tackling the long haul home via Bulawayo.
Sundowner Zambezi Lodge has been on our “Must Visit” list for a while; however, due to the fact we are based in Kariba and Sundowner is on the Zambezi River near Deka Drum, and with the Karoi to Binga road being in an absolute state, we have put the trip off – but cabin fever soon cured that! After a night in Bulawayo with some wonderful friends we hit the road west. Our friends in Bulawayo recommended we stop on the way at the newly built dam at Lupane. We had no idea this dam even existed and were very impressed with it, a nice spot to break the trip and have a picnic lunch. We were soon on our way again and arrived late afternoon on a bit of a gloomy evening due to the light rainfall. This was soon cheered up with sundowners on the jetty overlooking the river at Sundowner (pun intended), and a nice warm 3 course meal prepared by the hostess, Charity.
The following morning, sadly, the weather was still not on our side but we were determined to get out there and catch some fish! We couldn’t believe how high, fast and dirty the river was. Warren our skipper was great and we were soon at a fishing spot not far from the lodge where we caught a lot of squeaker, including a very yellow and spotty squeaker which the locals know as a Camouflage Squeaker, and we think is the same type of fish we caught at Mukambi Safaris this time last year called the Upper Zambezi Squeaker or Bubblebarb Squeaker. We also caught a few small Silver Barbel or Butter Catfish, same again as at Mukambi on the Upper Zambezi in Kafue National Park.
After returning to the lodge for lunch and an afternoon kip we were back on the water and Warren had us zipping up the river in no time at all to one of his favourite spots. For those of you that have been on the jetboat activity in Victoria Falls, this is what it felt like as Warren expertly navigated the rapids, a bit of an adrenaline rush! It was worth it though as between the 2 of them Woody and Warren managed to land about a 4kg Cornish Jack. Now that made Woody’s day.
After 2 lovely nights at Sundowner it was time to head to Victoria Falls, but not via the main road, rather the scenic dirt road that runs along the Zambezi Gorge. We had never been down this road before and were surprised with the decent state it was in, given all the recent rains. The Teak trees were out in full flower as well as the wild flowers and it only took us 3 hours to get to Vic Falls using this road. Once in Vic Falls it was nice to unwind and just take in the very quiet town. It was sad to see so few tourists but beneficial if you happen to visit at this time as the game is a lot less nervous and you pretty much have the magnificent Falls to yourselves. Sadly we took no pictures of the thundering falls as we had been told we were going to get VERY wet from the spray due to the amount of water coming over the falls and that we did! Well worth a visit as always.
While in the Falls we were given the opportunity by Wild Horizons and Victoria Falls Guide to partake in a Gorge Swing, one of the many High Wire Activities on offer. I must admit I never thought it would be something I wanted to do, but while in Rome do as the Romans do I always say! And gosh – I did it! I still can’t actually believe it, but what a rush! Interesting to find out that the actual free-fall of the swing is only 3 seconds, while the entire experience lasts about 6 minutes. If you are in the falls and are a bit of an adrenaline junkie then I highly recommend this activity. The Wild Horizons team, Sebastian and Michael, are extremely professional and will put you at ease, especially when they show you the double harness and rope system in place.
Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, what better way to relax than with a night of being pampered at the award winning Victoria Falls Safari Club (VFSC) who have once again recently featured on the US publication Travel + Leisure’s annual list of the Top 500 hotels in the WORLD, and in particular, they were selected as one of the Top 5 Africa Resort Hotels.
We were met upon arrival by Matina, who I had been communicating with since my initial request to view the lodge, and who did a great job showing us around the various accommodation options, as not only is VFSC on the property, but also Victoria Falls Safari Lodge (FVSL), Victoria Falls Safari Suites (VFSS) and Lokuthula.
After viewing the various lodges it was nice to just sit and relax in the entertainment area overlooking the waterhole, where we saw a majestic male elephant come down to drink. Due to Covid the club was not full and we pretty much had the place to ourselves, we even had the gorgeous pool to ourselves for the entire afternoon, something I am sure will never happen again. We were looking forward to dinner as we had had a sneak preview of the menu when the chef introduced himself upon our arrival and showed us the menu to see if there was anything extra we would like or that he could adapt for us. What service! He didn’t disappoint and our meal was delicious and the service great. After the meal it was time to retire to our room, which was exquisite and extremely comfortable, with lots of small touches other lodges don’t have.
If you want a 5* experience at discounted local prices, now is the time to travel. We can’t wait to get out on our next road trip and see more of what our beautiful country has to offer.
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