"We may be poor here but there is no crime," she says proudly as if to suggest she has a better life than we do. I'm a sensitive soul and almost retorted if that were the case why did so many Zimbabweans live in South Africa?
I've been on the defensive ever since we crossed the bridge over the Zambezi and also livid that I didn't have my camera ready for what is unquestionably the best position for a picture of The Victoria Falls aka Mosi-oa-Tunya - the smoke that thunders. "Oh," she says to our group, as a throwaway before we disembark at passport control, "don't say that you're a journalist if asked." Turns out it was smooth sailing through Zimbabwean customs and the only concern is to put off a small but persistent group of men selling handiwork and the now defunct Zim dollar bills. Good news is that South African passport holders can get a visa at the border at no charge.
I have declined many invitations over the years to visit Zimbabwe until this seductive invitation from Rani Resorts to visit The Victoria Falls and stay at their luxurious Stanley & Livingstone Hotel arrived. I have tried to convince myself that the politics I found so previously objectionable had changed, and perhaps they have, albeit too slightly, but the truth is that when I visited Rani's website and looked at what the property had to offer, I subjugate any ethical resistance with the offer of pleasure. Part of my defensiveness was at feeling guilty at being there at all.
Right up to the last minute we remained confused about which side of the border we were staying. We knew we were flying with 1Time into Livingstone, Zambia but didn't know that as the border town between Zambia and Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls town is only about 45 minutes away from Livingstone airport.
Most of the hotels in Victoria Falls are near each other so the location of Rani Resorts' The Stanley & Livingstone Hotel, about 15 minutes out of town, makes it even more exclusive. If you're after the historically correct authentic colonial experience, book at The Victoria Falls Hotel but know that nearly every tourist that visits the Falls will stop there for tea. I liked what I saw of the hotel.
The Stanley & Livingstone is situated on a 6000 hectare private game reserve and with only 16 all-suite rooms, even at full capacity, you'll feel more at an exclusive, grand house party than at a hotel. Although built in 1999 and refurbished in 2003, care has been taken to recreate the Victorian Colonial look - broekie-lace details and highly polished, dark timber floors while furniture ranges from woven cane to heavy wingbacks and overstuffed comfy couches. There are lots of memorabilia in the public areas and the most fabulous library of books by and about the intrepid explorers. I kept returning to one book, Cape to Cairo, a massive sized tome that actually requires a coffee table to support it.
This is the kind of hotel where you're most likely able to recreate the romantic and hedonistic worlds of films such as Out of Africa and White Mischief. Elephant and waterbuck may come to drink at the waterholes 25 meters from the hotel terrace and although we only saw Buffalo we heard a lot of animal sounds at night.
The thatch-topped and rondavel-shaped suites are extremely large and comfortable with separate sitting rooms and a deep covered porch, with English-style lead-window panes. A highlight is the fabulous Victorian-style bathroom with double vanities, shower, bidets and ball and claw bath in the centre of the bathroom.
As a five-star deluxe hotel, prices here are not especially sharp except for the laundry price list which must be the most affordable I've seen at a hotel. It was also exquisitely completed and wrapped in tissue paper.
Liveried staff are always at hand to top up gins and tonic or to rustle up a club sandwich and the one day we decided to stay in the pool during a thunder shower, staff came running out with umbrellas to bring us in.
I found the staff genuinely eager to please and wished that we'd had more time to enjoy the luxury of clean air and open space. There were some incongruencies like mismatched Noritake cups and saucers and wines such as from Chateau Petrus for US$10 000* a bottle on the wine list. When I enquired they had five bottles in the cellar.
Airport transfers from Victoria Falls Airport are free of charge but US$15 is billed for a shuttle into town. Shearwater Victoria Falls provide all the adrenalin experiences you can imagine. We went on a sunset Zambezi cruise which was fabulous but I'm sorry we didn't also take the "Flight of Angels" helicopter over the falls.
When we visited, the river was so full that the falls created too much mist and rain that we couldn't photograph them. Despite wearing rain ponchos which you must hire and then return, we were soaked. Better to go in your bathing costumes as the Victorians did.
Rates are US$305 on a full board basis per person, per night. For more information go to www.raniresorts.com and www.shearwatervictoriafalls.com.
*Exchange rate at time of publishing: US$1=R6.64
