Across the border - Zimbabwe
The Victoria Falls Hotel
WHERE MODERN LUXURY AND HISTORICAL ROMANCE MERGE Writer: Sarah Kerr Photography: Sarah Kerr
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ictoria Falls, Zimbabwe, is a unique destination, a world wonder in a country ripe with a fascinating history, incredible wildlife and some of Africa’s most hospitable people.
The town by the same name calls visitors back time after time with its heady mixture of an epic landscape, lively dining and entertainment options, abundant wildlife and an illustrious past. Victoria Falls town offers varied accommodation options for travellers of all tastes and budgets but one hotel above all others stands out in the collective imagination and the history of the town itself. Affectionately known as ‘the grand old lady of the Falls’, the Victoria Falls Hotel was the first hotel in the town of Victoria Falls and she looms large in the development of the town.
The hotel was originally built in 1904 to house workers building the iconic Victoria Falls Bridge in a bid to complete Cecil John Rhodes’s vision of a railway network that would stretch from Cape to Cairo. To this day the hotel’s logo features a lion and a sphinx, symbolising Rhodes’s dream of connecting South Africa with Egypt. The Victoria Falls Hotel played an important role in expanding early tourism to the area as it pioneered visits to the Victoria Falls by means of rickshaws, offered cruises on the
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TRAVEL & LEISURE ZAMBIA
Zambezi and was a stop on the BOAC flying boat service between Southampton and South Africa.
It is over a century since the hotel came to be and ‘she’ has presided over numerous visits from royalty, seen uncounted visitors and stood steady through two world wars, the introduction of the automobile and the birth of Zimbabwe as an independent democracy. Despite the many changes and the ebbs and flows of tourism to the region the hotel, with its classical façade, manicured gardens and quiet, calm interior has kept her grace and beauty throughout. There are few properties like this left in the world and I was thrilled to visit ‘the grand old lady’ for a night of much-needed pampering. Despite having grown up in Victoria Falls under the watchful eye of this icon of tourism I had never had a chance to stay the night.
The establishment’s striking architecture was designed to take advantage of its unique position and, from the long stretch of the hotel’s front verandah, verdant green lawn sweeps down towards the spectacular view of the bridge spanning the Batoka Gorge and the resplendent spray rising from the mighty Falls. It was this perfect, carefully framed view that greeted me through the open doorways as I proceeded through the main entrance and grand communal areas to the terrace. Symmetry plays a key role throughout the architecture, with sweeping staircases, colonnades and
Edwardian adornments all pleasingly mirrored. The attention to detail, high ceilings and scale take your breath away at each visit.
I was staying in the Stables Signature Wing which was completely refurbished in 2013. Despite new additions, it perfectly matches the older parts of the hotel in style while providing greater luxury such as larger, more modern bathrooms. You would be forgiven for thinking you had stepped back in time when you first enter the tranquil corridors lined with remnants of the hotel’s fascinating past, but closer inspection reveals that the colonial era is long gone. Today, African businessmen mingle with American tourists having high tea on the broad verandah and the amenities have been updated so that modern luxury and historical romance merge in perfect harmony. After my private check-in, in the lounge of the Stables Wing, I was shown to my spacious and lovely room. The room overlooked the beautiful hotel grounds, and although I could not see the Falls with the screened window open, they could clearly be heard and I spent an incredibly pleasant afternoon reading while being soothed by their sound. The room offered teaand coffee- making facilities, a mini-bar, complimentary Wi-Fi, air-conditioning, satellite television and an in-room safe. The bathroom featured both a walk-in shower and a romantic ball and claw tub. The Stables Wing guests are also offered a
