Description: The Victoria Falls Hotel is the grande dame of hotels in Vic Falls. Pure Edwardian elegance, built when the British Colonials sipped gin and tonic on the veranda and called the country Rhodesia. Everything is on a grand scale. The huge lobby is filled with plush sofas and chairs. Wide hallways are lined with black and white photographs, many of the royal family during their stay here when Elizabeth was still a princess. Hunting trophies on many of the walls are silent reminders of the days of the Great White Hunter.
Guest rooms are also large. Ours had a sitting area with a sofa and chairs where pre-breakfast tea and scones were served every morning. The bath had a huge tub to soak in and our bush jackets hung in armoires instead of closets.
Our first night in Vic Falls, we had dinner on the broad veranda that stretches across the back of the hotel and listened to the sound of the Falls we had yet to see up close. The next morning we sat here in our jackets (its cool in May, which is early winter here) and sipped coffee with a background unsurpassed anywhere on earth. Beyond the broad swath of impeccably maintained lawn we could see the hills of Zambia. Dead center in our view was the dramatic railroad bridge at the base of the Falls, framed by the ever-present mist rising from the gorge. Definitely the best location in town for breakfast
Early morning walks on the grounds can net some interesting sights as well. One morning, fortified with tea, we went for a stroll before breakfast. We wandered down by the pool where one of the groundsmen quietly pointed past us. Beyond a very flimsy chain link fence was one of the largest elephants I would see during my stay in Africa.
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