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Re-Visiting Livingstone’s Maramba River Lodge
By Glenda Thompson
It’s always good to pay a return visit to a well remembered spot.
We had stayed at Maramba River Lodge six years ago when it was
fairly new and pretty basic. In those days it was mostly self
catering and only had a few chalets up and running. The most
stunning and memorable fixture was the beautiful natural rock pool
overlooking the Maramba River. The Lodge is within spitting
(walking) distance of the Falls and Livingstone Town, so very easily
accessible to everything that’s happening in the vicinity.
We
had family from Ireland staying with us and as this was their first
visit to Africa – and, of course, the Falls, we wanted to get out
and about as much as possible so needed to stay in an affordable,
conveniently situated spot. Maramba Lodge was a good choice.
From a rather threadbare, insignificant little place, Maramba has
grown into an attractive, and popular establishment. The swimming
pool is still very much a focal point, fringed with palm trees and
surrounded by vibrant bush. The thatched bar and dining boma and
shop are close to the pool and the chalets are cool and spacious,
all ensuite and with overhead fans and canopy style mosquito nets.
Each has its own little veranda and an outdoor bench and table.
Managing Director, Russell Young pointed out that Maramba was very
much a family orientated lodge and with this in mind there are
several four bedded chalets that cater for families. In total,
with their tented chalets, Maramba has a sixty eight bed capacity.
There is also a small campsite with clean, neat, ablution
facilities. Russell mentioned that this would be moved from its
central spot and scaled down in size over the next few months.
Another focal point at Maramba is their newly erected airy and
rather striking (brightly coloured and beautifully thatched)
conference centre. It has become a popular meeting place in the
Livingstone area, seating twenty six and with state of the art
conference facilities. An impression gleaned from our stay is
that Maramba is probably one of the most suitable and inexpensive
venues for a conference in the Livingstone area. The centre
overlooks the river and the only down side to this is that
mosquitoes tend to make a meal of delegates in the evening. Masses
of repellent and a few well placed mozzy coils would put a stop to
their feast.
The dining area was being revamped during our stay. After
contracting out catering at the Lodge, Russell recently appointed a
catering manager to run the Maramba Restaurant and extend the
existing facility.
Maramba has its fair share of wildlife, with vervet monkeys that
play regular games of hide and seek and chase each other through the
branches of towering water berry trees, the odd hippo that
lumbers up the bank for a leisurely evening meal on the lodge lawn,
and many varieties of riverine birdlife.
We
had a fun packed weekend with Maramba as our base. It began with a
float down the Zambezi on the elegant and rather colonial Africa
Queen and ended with a walk in gentle rain with six Safari Par
Excellence elephants at their boma near Thorntree Lodge. This was
the highlight of the trip for the Irish, especially as there was a
new calf in camp! Because of the rain we couldn’t do the elephant
ride and opted for the “walk with elephants” option which was to
help feed and then walk with them to their grazing spot. Other
activities included a 20 minute micro light ride over the falls,
dinner at the Ocean Basket and the Waterfront, a trip to the Mosi Oa
Tunya National Park where we spotted the resident herd of buffalo
right on the road, and of course the walk past the now copper
coloured statue of Livingstone, through the rain forest beside the
thundering Victoria Falls.
Russell informed us that Maramba’s rates will probably go up by
around 20% in the not too distant future. Despite this increase,
Maramba will still probably be one of the best “value for money”
spots at the Falls. Contact them on
maramba@zamnet.zm to book. |
March
2006