Wild Luxury in Zimbabwe
Not far from the Victoria Falls, down dusty, winding tracks of thick red Saharan sand, hides one of the world’s newest luxury safari camps: &beyond’s Matetsi River Lodge. Digital Editor Millie Walton visits the banks of the Zambezi River, watched by a troops of baboons, bush buck and the invisible eyes of a leopard, and contemplates the return of luxury tourism to Zimbabwe.
Candlelit dinner on the edge of the ZambeziÂ
Beyond the falls, Zimbabwe doesn’t attract many tourists. For one, it’s expensive. In 2008, inflation reached 79.6 billion per cent. In 2009, their currency was redundant and replaced with the US dollar. Crisp Z$200,000,000 bills can now be bought on the side of the road for a couple of dollars, euros or whatever else you have in your pocket. More seriously – and mistakenly – it’s considered a bit of a nowhere. Why go to Zimbabwe, when you can just as easily cross the border into Botswana" Ask any Zimbabwean and they’ll tell you. It’s in the burnt red earth, the ancient trunks of the baobabs, the hidden caves of the kopjies, the warm golden hue of dusk and the open smiles of it’s people. It’s a country that’s loved deeply and widely, even by those who have been forced to leave it.
Suites are unfenced with private plunge pools and open terraces
Slowly, though, tourism is catching on. At the end of last summer, the luxury travel company &Beyond, renowned for it’s luxury c...
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