The first thing you’ll notice is the silence, then slowly, as your eyes and ears become attuned to the surroundings, the orchestra of Africa’s bush comes alive.

By Cindy-Lou Dale
Senior Writer

When in Africa, you’ll often hear passing references to Zimbabwe’s famed hospitality, and nowhere would you appreciate it more than at the iconic World Heritage Site of Victoria Falls. Everyone smiles warmly and greets you like an old friend; they’re all genuinely delightful. How could they not be, living in a World Heritage site?

The Elephant Camp

The camp itself is exquisite and surpasses all levels of modern luxury and conjured up an era of Victorian frontier camping.

There are 16 canvas suites – each looks onto the cliffs that plummet to the boiling Zambezi River below.

In the distance, the silver-grey spray of Victoria Falls presents an impossibly majestic backdrop to the definitive African adventure. They’ve

Before sunrise, I was driven to a lookout point, where I stood at the edge of a precipice—an enormous, deeply carved crevice torn into the earth’s crust, exposing the raging Zambezi River 120 meters below. I was mesmerized, witnessing the incredible power of nature so blatantly displayed.

 Heat Dissipates

Following a late afternoon waterhole visit, when the edge of Africa’s heat dissipates and the shadows of the mopane trees lengthen, my guide found a picturesque sundowners spot.

I folded down into a camping chair and watched the sun slowly sink below the horizon, stars creeping into the crimson and tangerine sky long before it had completed its descent.

* The Wild Horizons Elephant Sanctuary and Orphanage is a safe haven for orphaned and injured elephants and ensures following the rescue, rehabilitation, and release model. Be sure to partake in this experience.

www.theelephantcamp.com

Victoria Falls Safari House

Driving through the gates of the lodge an Ndebele tribesman, in traditional tribal gear, bids us a good day and shakes his spear at a sign announcing our arrival at the premium address of Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. The road, shaded by tall Mopani trees, delivers us to a grand thatched lodge.

Inside the 72-roomed sunset-facing lodge, with its cathedral ceilings, it’s breathtaking and voluminous. Built of thatch and timber, the lodge rises several levels, giving the impression of a vast open-plan tree house.

From the terracotta-tiled lobby on the ground floor there are various levels taking you to viewing decks, the Buffalo Bar, and the MaKuwa-Kuwa restaurant. It’s open-sided and airy, with uninterrupted views across the frequently visited waterhole.

* For an authentic Victoria Falls food experience, you need to reserve a table at The Boma, a restaurant on the estate. It’s an unforgettable fusion of mouth-watering local cuisine, legendary dance performances, and interactive drumming. It bombards the senses with the tastes, sights, and sounds of Africa.

* At lunchtime daily, join the Vulture Culture Experience, and take in the spectacular sight of hundreds of vultures swooping in and feeding on leftover meat scraps and bones from the on-site restaurants, which provides a safe food source without creating dependency, and learn about their conservation.

www.victoria-falls-safari-lodge.com

Stanley and Livingstone Boutique Hotel

The world’s most indulgent hotels all have one quality that makes them stand out from one another. Sometimes it’s the faultlessly attentive staff, or sublime comfort, or the right whiff – the Stanley & Livingstone has it all.

It’s Victorian in spirit and décor, with the interiors of a gentrified colonial home. There are 16 suites which comprise of low hanging thatched roofed rondavels arranged in a half-moon around the show garden.

Sitting on the stoep of the main lodge looking just beyond the garden is a waterhole surrounded by towering Sweetgum trees. A troop of baboons were taunting a herd of zebra standing underneath. A dozen or so impala drifted into view, and to one side stood a solitary giraffe.

Other than incessant birdsong, the Stanley & Livingstone is whisper quiet, because, unlike other lodges, it’s a little further away from the Victoria Falls which is a massive plus as you don’t have the constant whirring noises of helicopter tours overhead. But it’s still close enough for a quick visit as it’s a short 20-minute drive to the Falls.

* The reserve is designated as an Intensive Protection Zone for the critically endangered black rhino, and implement a monitoring and breeding program, alongside an Anti-Poaching Unit and Ranger Training Facility. Take a late afternoon game drive into the reserve in search of these magnificent beasts and hear their plight from your ranger.

www.more.co.za/stanleyandlivingstone

When in Victoria Falls, be sure to have your lodge arrange a visit to Ko Mpisi Village and meet Melusi Mpisi Ndlovu, a proud Ndebele tribesman, and one of the world’s most distinguished traditional healers.

Africa’s Medicine Man

The ‘Chief’, as Ndlovu is commonly referred to, is surrounded by wooden bowls filled with an assortment of herbs, twisted plant roots, and strips of tree bark.

For poor Zimbabweans, traditional medicines are their first and last defense against diseases that wreak havoc on their lives. Even though Western medicine is recognized in Africa, it has not substituted but rather supplemented the ethnic health approach.

Thus, practitioners like Ndlovu remain central to the lives of many.

Ndlovu is a charismatic and distinguished medicine man known throughout Africa as a traditional healer, and internationally famed in the alternative medicine field.

His wisdom has been sought twice by the late Queen of England, and the British House of Lords. He regularly consults with major British and American pharmaceutical companies on cancer cures, but also opposes their attempts to patent traditional African herbal medicines.

In recent years he saved the life of an 11-year-old who’d received a lethal bite from Africa’s much-feared black mamba.

The hospital could only save her by amputating her arm, but Ndlovu did both. Prestigious universities from around the world now send PhD students to Ndlovu, to learn of his snakebite cures.

He has no formal education, yet he’s sophisticated and sharp witted.

“Traditional herbal medicine,” he says, “is found in naturally occurring plant and animal-based substances, which has minimal to no industrial processing.

People consult traditional healers whether they can afford modern medicines or not. It’s a belief system, integral to the lives of most Africans. There are some things Western medicine cannot fathom. You see, doctors who train in Western sciences, focus only on the biomedical causes of disease.

We traditional healers have a holistic approach. Some divine the cause of an illness by throwing bones and listening to the channeled curative advice of dead ancestors. Whilst others, like me, have in-depth knowledge of plant materials and their various healing powers.”

Wherever you choose to stay, when you leave Victoria Falls, it’s guaranteed that a big piece of your soul will stay behind.