Livingstone Safari Lodge

Livingstone Safari Park, Victoria Falls

GENERAL SCORES /5:

Lodge/Hospitality: 3

Rooms: 3

Food: 2

Guiding: N/A

Game Viewing: N/A

OVERALL: 5/10

Vital Statistics:

Country: Zambia

Game Reserve: Livingstone

Management:

Year we stayed: 2005

Approx price pppn then: $50

Livingstone Safari Lodge Review Summary:

Livingstone Safari lodge is a lower budget place to stay near Victoria Falls. The rooms are basic but OK, the hospitality variable (we had some very friendly service, but also problems with bills etc). The food was very limited and disappointing. The location is good if you like to be away from everything, but has the disadvantage of being a fair distance from both Victoria Falls (the main attraction of the area) and Livingstone town, so a taxi is needed to get away from the poor food offered at the lodge!

Livingstone Safari Lodge Review:

We stayed at Livingstone Safari Lodge for two nights to see Victoria Falls. Booking the place had been very good, with the owner, Tjisse, helping us with information and promising me a nice juicy T-bone steak when we arrived.

We had arranged transport with Tjisse from the airport and the driver took us to the lodge where the check in staff were very friendly. The room was very basic, but reasonably clean and had everything we needed. It was pretty much what I'd expect for the price.

Taxis or lifts to Victoria Falls or to Livingstone town were easy enough to arrange. We ate at the lodge on the first night and it was, frankly, pretty awful. There was little choice (almost no choice for vegetarian Lou) and what we were served was very disappointing indeed. So much so that on the second night we paid for a taxi all the way to the Zambezi Sun and had a decent (but expensive) meal there.

The staff were generally very friendly and would act as tour agents, booking excursions such as the White Water Rafting (a must-do in my opinion, the best in the world, but Lou would disagree - she doesn't particularly like water), safaris to Livingstone Safari Park, or the Gorge Swing. Another must-do excursion is the microlight flight over the falls - the best way to see them.

One night we were woken by all sorts of banging and crashing and thought the staff or other guests were having a really wild party. We even thought we heard shots. It turned out they were trying to scare away a herd of elephants that were approaching the lodge - and the elephants in that part of Zambia do appear to be particularly large (we passed them regularly on the way to and from the falls). It was nice to know that there were animals roaming freely in the area and was quite exciting to think that they could have rampaged through the lodge if the staff hadn't made such a racket!

I can't remember the details - I think it was something to do with the transport back to the airport - but we had a problem with the bill when we were checking out. It left a very sour taste in my mouth, enough for me to email a complaint when we returned home, but Tjisse was very unsatisfactory in the way he dealt with the complaint.

The lodge was fine and was decent value for money, but the appalling food and the way Tjisse dealt (or, rather, didn't deal) with my complaint left us resolved that we would not go back there.