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MATETSI WATER LODGE
- 3 intimate safari camps
- Exclusive Zambezi River frontage
- Near the mighty Victoria Falls
- Game-drives, boat cruises & canoeing
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The establishment of Matetsi, up-stream of the magnificent Victoria Falls in the mighty Zambezi River, was a conservation coup, consolidating 50 000 hactares of former hunting land into one of Africa's most inspiring natural retreats.
The lodge is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Here you can enjoy the best of two worlds: at the lodges, an experience reminiscent of the early days of the famous explorer David Livingstone, and at Victoria Falls, only 40km away, many thrilling adventures like white water rafting and bungee jumping.
Occupying 50 000 hectares adjacent to the mighty Zambezi River, Matetsi represents a triumph for conservation, consolidating former hunting concessions into one of Africa's most magnificent game viewing sanctuaries where wildlife can thrive under protection.
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Here, just 40 kilometers west of Victoria Falls, 50 000 hectares of unspoilt paradise is home to vast herds of buffalo, elephant and sable which range freely between Botswana and Zimbabwe throughout an unfenced area of immense size.
With its 15 kilometres of Zambezi River frontage, Matetsi offers a river experience of both adventure and great tranquillity - and it is here, overlooking these mighty river waters, that Matetsi Water lodge is sited. Inland, the Matetsi wilderness embraces a vast seasonal wetland where great herds of buffalo, zebra and elephant congregate alongside waterbirds of every description.
On the lush banks of the spectacular Zambezi lies Matetsi Water Lodge - a sophisticated yet sensitive harmony of teak, slate and thatch reflecting the themes of ancient Zimbabwe and the river sweeping past.
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Shaded by Mangosteen and Waterberry trees the lodge consists of three individual and intimate camps of six air-conditioned suites, each with private plunge pool, en suite bathrooms and river deck.
Each camp also has its own private, elegantly appointed dining and sitting areas, and river-viewing decks. |
The vast teak doors of each room swing open to command breathtaking views of the extraordinary watery vista outside where hippos rupture the burnished surface of the Zambezi. Pan-African cuisine is served on the intimate riverside dinning decks under the giant trees that envelope the camp or in the red dawn halo of a bush breakfast. Situated along Matetsi's private 15km river frontage, Water Lodge is unparalleled on the contact it affords guests with the Zambezi. Morning and eveningboat cruises, canoeing, fishing and dining at the water's edge are unforgettable experiences, and for bird-watchers - this is pure magic.
Guests may enjoy twice-daily game-drives in open safari vehicles, guided bush walks, boat cruises and canoeing. If requested the Lodge can arrange excursions for those wishing to participate in the many optional activities in and around Victoria Falls.
VICTORIA FALLS:
"Vic Falls": World Heritage Site - one of the Seven Natural Wonders - Africa's "Adventure Capital" - largest curtain of falling water on earth...
Don't be mistaken by the hype
- 20 years ago Victoria Falls had just less than 100 permanent European residents
- 100 years ago it had just less than 30
- historically "Vic Falls" was only discovered by David Livingstone 5 generations ago
[November 1855].
Today, Victoria Falls remains as evocative a destination as it did to the hunters, surveyors, explorers and missionaries of the 19th Century. Today, the wanderlust is the same, the pursuits are slightly different
- it serves as southern Africa's primary safari gateway
- it has the wildest one day white water rafting trip on the planet
- until recently the highest commercial bungee jump on earth
THE ORIGINS OF THE FALLS:
The Zambezi rises in Northern Zambia near Kalene Hill. This watershed is also the origin of one of the tributaries of the Congo. The Zambezi flows south-west into Angola, returning the Zambia where it flows south through the Barotse Plain and on to the Caprivi swamps where it is joined by the Chobe River. From this point it takes an easterly course, forming the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and on through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. Its total length is 2 700 kilometres, and it is Africa’s fourth longest river.
At several places in its course it encounters sudden bands of comparatively hard rock through which it must excavate its bed, and at these points, rapids and sometimes waterfalls are formed, marking the uneven erosion of th underlying rock surface. In other areas the river bed is formed of a uniform type of rock and therefore erosion is comparatively even and the river flows smoothly. Usually in such peaceful stretches of the river, the bed is wide, and deposition of material such as sand or gravel, carried along by the river from further up-stream, forms bars or islands. In places where hard rock is encountered, the river tends to narrow and deepen, cutting the easiest course through the barrier, and here erosion rather than deposition is the rule.
In the Victoria Falls area we find both these varieties of river “character” exaggerated to a unique degree. Up-stream from the Falls is a stretch of about twelve kilometres where the river is smooth-running, depositing sand which forms islands, such as Kandahar and Long Islands. About three kilometres up-stream from the Falls, there is a sudden southward bend in the river, the current, becomes faster and more uneven and finally, after a short stretch of rapids, the whole river, here 1 700 metres wide, plunges into a chasm of 108 metres deep which cuts right across its course. Thus a river of nearly two kilometres (over a mile) in width becomes one of only a fraction of that width in a matter of seconds. The river continues through a series of steep, narrow gorges which form a zig-zag pattern for the first eight kilometres and then straighten out into the Batoka Gorge which runs in an easterly direction for about 100 kilometres to the Gwembe Valley where the river has been dammed to form Lake Kariba.
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