Where There's Smoke...

Enjoy extravagance and one of the most famous views in Africa.

- Bruce Dennill

One of southern Africa’s most enduring clichés sees well-meaning marketing types constantly going on about “the smoke that thunders” – the English translation of Mosioa-Tunya, the Kololo name for Victoria Falls. It’s one of those facts that adds local colour for visitors, but which, after being mentioned in every pamphlet and guided tour introduction, quickly loses its effect.

That is, until you find yourself on the sun deck at the Royal Livingstone by Anantara, right on the water in sight of the famous rising spray from the falls, hippos occasionally snorting in the channel in front of you and a kingfisher working on his dinner off to one side. Then you begin to understand what all the palaver is about – a cocktail on that deck is a bucket list event.

The hotel, just outside the town with which it shares a name, is a very different proposition from the many safari options that tourists passing through Livingstone and Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side of the border might be on their way to or from. It’s unashamedly big, grand and regal and is a winner from the first moment thanks to its location on the wide, scenic part of the river just before the chasm, encircled by emerald-green lawns and flooded with commanding air-conditioning that blows away the heat and humidity that bounces off the bank along the river. 

There are macro (the enormous lounge area with its wood-lined bar) and micro (the fresh roses in the room on arrival) touches that convince of the pampering power of the hotel. Being able to watch a zebra cropping the grass around your room’s patio has a similar effect – an antidote to exhaustion.

Access to adventure