I first heard about Tongabezi from the staff at JSI’s SHARe project. They are a partner in the tourism public-private partnership initiative and some of their staff have been through SHARe’s HIV peer educator training. In fact, many of their staff attended the community event in Simonga and were proudly sporting the yellow wrist bands that were given out after one was tested for HIV.
The Tongabezi driver picked us up on Monday morning after our lovely Breezer breakfast on Livingstone Island (which Tongabezi organizes, so we’d already had a taste of what their level of quality is!). The driver, Raphael, talked proudly of being tested at the VCT tents in Simonga and how easy it was to be tested there as opposed to the hospital, where one needed to stand in line for hours, then wait for the test results. The immediate results and the convenience of the VCT tents was a big plus in getting folks there.
When we got to the lodge area and were checked in, we were led on a long path near the river to our cabin. I assumed we’d be in a smaller one, as we were there on a reduced rate because of the SHARe partnership, but instead we were taken to the very last cabin, “the Dog House.” It took our breath away—and none of my photos do it justice, so do check out the ones on their website. After entering a gate, we walked along a short concrete path, with the river 5 feet or so below on the left, to the house. The central feature was a large bed, surrounded by a wide bed net canopy (to keep the mosquitoes — and wasps — away).
I’d read on Trip Advisor that the wasps were an issue, so we quickly closed the canopy to keep them out. It turns out they’re everywhere, but tend to leave one alone and go back from whence they came at night. At any rate, they didn’t really worry us.
Tongabezi gives a list of activities guests can choose from and we selected the sunset boatride and the morning game drive — knowing we had less than 24 hours there, which was clearly not enough time!
Colin took a nap while I read in the hour or so we had free before the boatride. The trip paired us with a lovely couple from Florida, Richard and Eric, and 2 newlyweds (well, we suspect they were newlyweds!) from Bristol, England. Another boat took other lodge guests out, too. We crossed the river and immediately came across a pod of hippos just waking up from their daily nap. We didn’t see any out of the water, but several yawned widely for our benefit!
We then followed the river south, keeping along the far shore line — which was Zimbabwe, in fact. We saw several crocodiles and lots of interesting birds, and it was just nice to be out on the water.
Photo: On No man's land with G&T in hand!
The sunset was lovely and before it was all the way down we pulled onto a small island (one of the many so-called “No man’s land” islands) where we were served gin & tonics and nuts.
We had also made plans to have drinks at our new friends, Judi and Arthur’s house as they live near Tongabezi. We’d met Judi and Arthur at the Simonga community event — they’re the owners of Zambezi Nkuku and supplied all the chicken at the festival. They are also a SHARe partner. Judi hails from San Francisco and Arthur’s from South Africa (though they’ve both lived here for about 15 years), and after we’d hit it off on Sunday, they’d suggested we stop by. I’d heard their house was lovely, but nothing had prepared me for how great it was. Apparently Judi had designed it herself and it had a lovely mix of an open front veranda with a cozy bedroom and kitchen. Hippos wallowed in the background while we chatted, and apparently they have one that comes up on their yard every night.
Colin, on the other hand was much more interested in their 6 dogs, in particular the 2 big rotweillers. Clearly he’s been missing Bella!It was fascinating to hear about Judi and Arthur’s life there—not always easy, clearly, but always interesting! After about an hour visiting with them, Arthur kindly took us back to Tongabezi for dinner.
The food there is also amazing—I don’t know where the chef trained, but everything we tasted (but for the papaya sorbet, which somehow missed the mark!) was fantastic. Chicken tikka masala for lunch with salad from their garden, beef tenderloin for dinner. It was all delicious. We sat with Richard and Eric, which was also nice. Eric’s a former architect who now teaches architecture in high school, so he was interested that Colin was looking at colleges and had some good advice for him.
After dinner, we made our way back to the dog house, accompanied by our valet, Charles, who was on the lookout for hippos (we were warned NOT to walk alone at night!). While it’s very hot during the day, it does get very cold at night this time of year, but Charles had been by earlier to turn on the electric blankets on the bed!
I will admit that it was a bit disconcerting for me to sleep so out in the open, hearing the lowing sounds of the hippos and occasional chatter of monkeys. I kept myself awake for some time worrying about animals visiting us in the middle of the night!
In the morning, Charles awoke us with coffee before we made our way to the breakfast area prior to our morning game drive. The small park isn’t far away—in fact I’d driven by/through it several times going between Simonga and town. Colin had told our guide that he was most interested in seeing elephants. I’d seen one earlier in the week, so I mentioned a rhino would be nice—particularly as I’d heard that there were 5 in the park.
We drove around a bit and saw plenty of impalas(the “McDonald’s of the game park,” our driver said!) and then came across about 8 giraffes eating. They are such lovely animals—so unusual and graceful, until they run, when suddenly they just look awkward with those long legs! We also saw buffalo, warthogs, and zebras. After an hour and a half, I was getting a bit worried about time as we had a noon flight to catch (and I still wanted a bath in the Dog Houses tub overlooking the water). Our guide picked up speed, but after we passed another truck, he turned around and followed them. They finally pulled over as 2 game wardens with guns slung over their shoulders emerged from the bush. Apparently they’d located a white rhino and were prepared to take us on a “very special walking safari” to see it. Though time was running short, we plunged into the bush and walked for about 5 minutes before happening on the rhino calming chomping away on grass. The wardens had us squat near the rhino and took our photos for us—clearly this is something they do as a salary supplement and I assumed they knew it was safe!
It was a very satisfying end to our morning game drive. We rushed back to Tongabezi, threw our stuff in our bags (yes, I missed my bath), and high-tailed it to the Livingstone airport.
The final glorious cap to a great few days was having the plane fly past the falls, for a view I’d not anticipated—the water from the wide Zambezi cascading down the face of the gorge, but not being able to see the bottom because the other side of the gorge rose up again so quickly. (Of course, we’d been on both sides, but until I’d seen it from above, I didn’t quite realize the topography!
We were sad to leave, but on to Lusaka to write-up all the good work SHARe is doing!
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