We are heading to South Africa in late April, and by we I mean the wife and another couple. We will be spending a few days “touristing”prior to hunting. I would appreciate any recommendations on lodging in Victoria Falls, tours, things to do and for sure things and places to avoid.

Hi Hoss12- the best advice I can give you is to get hold of a good friend of mine that lives there and runs a tour operation. Cheryl and Sid Hayes have looked after all our clients over the years ad have done everyone proud! They know all the INS and outs. Drop them an email on cheryl@exclusivetouchafrica.netave a great trip! Cheers for now Buzz

quote:

Originally posted by Hoss12:
We are heading to South Africa in late April, and by we I mean the wife and another couple. We will be spending a few days “touristing”prior to hunting. I would appreciate any recommendations on lodging in Victoria Falls, tours, things to do and for sure things and places to avoid.

Hi Hoss,
I would highly recommend contacting Nigel Theisen, the owner of Safari 5 Africa. He lives in Vic Falls and he and his significant other run personalized tours out of there. He can offer a variety of lodging options and other things to do. He is a PH and thus can take you on a game drive/walk in the park there as well.

www.safari5africa.com
nigeltheisen@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +263 77 232 4336

I to can help with booking should you choose to go with Nigel.

ledvm@msn.com

Thanks folks, keep em coming

We stayed at Shearwater Explorers Village in November. It's new, single story, nice rooms, decent bar, pool and good food. Handy to walk to shopping etc. It was part of a package deal so I can't quote a price.

I forgot to add, Zimbabwe monetary system was FUBAR..

Ilala lodge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo62cPAVqVk&t=95s


Stayed a few times at the Victoria Falls Hotel, it was like stepping back in time. Beautiful hotel and excellent restaurants.



https://www.victoriafalls-guid...ingstone-island.html


We crossed into Zambia and had lunch on Livingstone Island overlooking the falls. Link has a video. Well worth doing.

Have a great trip.

Nigel Theisen would be a great contact. Met him in Bubye while hunting with Andy Hunter. Ilala is very quaint. My wife loved this lodge. She also loved the Vic Falls Hotel. Its a trip back in history. Gracy Travel is also a good resource to book and prepay excursions. Enjoy.

The Old Victoria Falls Hotel is a must when in Vic Falls. If not staying there, then high tea or breakfast, lunch or dinner at the hotel, along with a walk around its grounds and inside areas of the hotel that are not off limits to non-booking guests.

+ 1 on the Victoria Falls Hotel. It literally reeks "Old Africa".

I was at the Vic Falls hotel in 2007 or 8, when Zim was at it's lowest point economically. The hotel was kept up to wonderful immaculate conditions and the menu as an incredible array of food and drink. However, the waiter told us the only items that were available were spaghetti, Coke, and beer.

I toured the hotel and rooms and it was an incredible journey back in time.
Cal

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If you are feeling sporty - white water rafting !! Amazing !!

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I've been to Vic Falls a dozen or so times and never get tired of the experiences. In fact, I'll be there in late August of this year.

I'd recommend the helicopter ride for sure, the rafting, the booze cruise, butternut squash soup on the veranda of the Victoria Falls Hotel, a dinner at Ilala is great, particularly if you eat outdoors.

My family and I have done the "Walk with the lions", the elephant park... it's all good.

It is not expensive to have a quide. I've used several over the years (particularly when the ladies were with me). He or she can take them shopping (which drives me crazy), make them feel comfortable upon arrival at the airport, suggest good spots to eat and ward of the occasional street vendor.

The white water rafting is really great and the scenery is spectacular.... but climbing out of the gorge is the real experience, for sure. Make sure you have a Sherpa and some oxygen.

If you wish, p.m. me and I'll give you the names of a couple or three guide services that I've found to provide quite personalized services.

A funny aside.... An AR member, several years ago, called me to ask me about the Victoria Falls Hotel and if I could get him a good rate since I "knew" the management. Well, I'd spent a lot of money there, but didn't know anyone in particular, but if he'd hold a second, I'd hand my phone to the general manager and the caller could ask directly.

Coincidence of coincidences, unbeknownst to the caller, of all the places in the world, I was in the GM's office explaining that I'd had a family emergency and would have to cancel several days of my pre-paid stay and was checking on a refund (which was granted). I'd only activated my phone for overseas service a few minutes before to be able to communicate with the ill family member.

Anyway, the GM was a good fellow and the AR Member got reservations much cheaper than what was offered on the internet. All three of us were in awe at the small chance of that happening.

Forgot who the AR member was??? Remind me if you read this, please.

Candi Peters handled all of our arrangements in 2014. Her work was flawless.

We spent three nights at the Safari Lodge (the new part). We had drivers and handlers from the time we deplaned in Vic Falls.

Day one - Arrive, clear customs, check in, private booze cruise and sunset dinner on the river, above the falls.

Day two - Elephant ride, walking tour of the falls, helicopter ride, lunch, shopping, high tea at Vic Falls Hotel, train ride across bridge to Zambia side and back, dinner at Boma.

Day three - Transport to Livingston and charter to hunting area.

With a driver for the duration of our stay, we were able to cram a ton into a short stay. Also, Candi was vital on scheduling, which allowed us to move from one thing to the next, without much delay.

Victoria Falls Hotel for sure, especially if you are taking the ladies. The concierge can arrange a driver for you to give you a local tour. He will can also take you to the large baobab tree by the river and the huge curio shop. We had him take us to a local village as well. It was well worth the time and cost next to nothing.

I prefer the Vic falls safari lodge to the hotel for the simple reason that from the deck or your room you look out over the bush and that waterhole frequented by numerous elephant and buffalo

+1
When I stayed there a few years ago, we stayed over in the rondavels near the Boma restaurant. We had to wait 30 minutes to get into our cottage because a young bull ele was in the front yard browsing and false charged every time we approached the front door.

quote:

Originally posted by Buzz Charlton:
Hi Hoss12- the best advice I can give you is to get hold of a good friend of mine that lives there and runs a tour operation. Cheryl and Sid Hayes have looked after all our clients over the years ad have done everyone proud! They know all the INS and outs. Drop them an email on cheryl@exclusivetouchafrica.netave a great trip! Cheers for now Buzz

Cheryl is the best. She can arrange anything and everything from perfect hotel, meet and greet, gun clearance, to local adventures!!! Plus she is a really nice person!!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

There is a new kid on the block in Vic Falls called Batonka Guest lodge. Looking at it's TripAdvisor ratings it sure looks like its THE place to stay in Vic Falls !! www.batonkaguestlodge.com

In place of the helicopter ride over the falls I would recommend an ultralight ride. I spent lots of time in helicopters in the Army and as a geologist, so I tried the ultralight. It was a lot more exciting. The flight was from a little airport on the Zambian side.

You might also want to line up some fishing for tigerfish in the Zambezi.

Dale, are Tiger Fish the same as what our guide might have called Pike? We caught several on the Kafue. They look like Northern Pike to me.

I can not answer your question. The tiger fish are stockier than pike and have bigger teeth. They have longitudinal black stripes, are mostly white, and have some orange markings. I talked to fishermen in both Zimbabwe and South Africa and they just called them tiger fish but often fish have different local names.

nobullOO,

To my knowledge there are no tigers in the Kafue so I don't know what you caught. They are prevalent in Zambezi.

Mark

I caught the tiger fish in the Zambezi just above Victoria Falls.

If you decide to raft the Zambezi, depending on the company and the time of year, sometimes you can paddle right up under the falls. I've only done it once, but it is truly an experience of a lifetime.

Thanks for all the suggestions. First time to Victoria Falls, second trip to Africa.

What Dale describes are not what we were catching. We lost all the spinners we were using because the tackle the guide had did not have leaders. Just some Mepps spinners tied right on the maybe 10-15# mno. Te pike just shredded the line. Catch of the day was a big (10+lb.)catfish caught by Nancy a first time fisherman. Oddly, it also was caught on a Mepps.

You definitely need to use a steel leader with the tiger fish due to their teeth. You also have to do a good hard hook set because the inside of their mouth is hard. When I hunted near Mana Pools we caught a lot of catfish out of the Zambezi, up to about 20 pounds. The river seems to have lots of them. We caught a few tilapia in the quiet parts of the river. We did not catch any tiger fish that trip, but it was in late June and they said it was too cool.