A Visit to the Stanley and Livingstone Boutique Hotel

Article by guest author Peter Brooker

We flew into Victoria Falls via Cape Town. A subservient concierge is there to greet us and heaves our bags around his shoulders. Another gentleman, taller, broodier, not carrying anything but the weight of the world. 'His name is big boy, my boss. He's your driver,' the Concierge says. I tell him quietly but loud enough for the driver to hear, 'If he's such a Big Boy how come you're schlepping all the bags?'

This is Zimbabwe, or as Anastasia would say, 'this is real Africa, not Mickey Mouse Africa.' On the drive down to the hotel I grill Big Boy.

'What's the deadliest snake you got out here?'

'Black Mamba,' Big Boy answers. 'Most poisonous snake here, longest snake in Africa, but you'll never see one. They're very rare. We don't have any other venomous snakes here. But we have lots of American tourists. They are the most dangerous mammals of all.'

It was a dry road, lined with teak trees that led us to the hotel. The Stanley and Livingstone Boutique Hotel was built in 1998 and refurbished in 2018. Livingstone after David Livingstone who was a pioneer and explorer of Africa, and Stanley who was a reporter sent from the US to find him after false reports of his death. Upon finding him, Stanley said, 'Mr Livingstone I presume,' which is very famous saying here.

You must take a trip to Livingstone Island atop Victoria Falls to see why we Brits had such a hard time giving this place up.

The Stanley and Livingstone Boutique Hotel is also a game reserve that covers 14,000 acres. The Rangers carry firearms protecting rhinos from poachers and have a shoot first ask questions later when it comes to poaching. Our first day out on the range was with a guide called Nixon (more on him in later posts). Nixon parked next to two Rhinos, a mother and a calf and spoke passionately about them.

'Black rhinos aren't black, and white rhinos aren't white. They're differentiated by the shape of their mouths. Black rhinos were on the brink of extinction in 1960-1995. Hunting and poaching nearly cleaned them out. But Africans have come together, and the breeding is on the up, although there is still a lot of work to do. White rhinos are endangered but not as much as the black rhino and we have an around-the-clock anti-poaching team here. We can track poachers through their footprints. Us guides wear the same uniform boots so we know if there is someone that's walking around here that shouldn't be.'

We drive to a dam where the river runs to a stop and a long lake stretches out to point on the horizon where we could just make out a tower of giraffes. Nixon brought out a table and set up a mini bar with beers, wines, spirits and biltong. An African Fish Eagle soars low over the water, sticks in his talons, but finds nothing before retreating over the tops of the trees.

The tour was organized by OFF2AFRICA, this was not a press trip nor are they paying me to post these reviews.