Author: Focus Online Team

Ilala Cares – November 2021

Linen donations to Victoria Falls District Hospital’s Maternity Ward

On 2nd November 2021, Ilala Lodge Hotel received a request by the newly-established Hwange District Residents Association (HDRA) to assist with resources for the Victoria Falls District Hospital.

The hospital was in desperate need of linen donations which would be used to dress the beds of the Maternity Ward of Victoria Falls District Hospital. In swift response, Ilala Lodge Hotel sourced 120 pillowcases and 71 duvet covers and sheets that no longer met the hotel’s standards, though were still adequate for use.

120 pillowcases and 71 duvet covers and sheets were donated

Working alongside the Hwange District Residents Association the hotel delivered the donations to the hospital. Sister Patience Lagube received the linen on behalf of the District Medical Officer, Head Sister.

The linen will be used across the ward to dress the beds that are available to the high number of mothers who visit the hospital. New and expecting mothers present during the donation were also delighted to see the arrival of the linen, knowing this would make their stay, and many mothers to follow, more comfortable during their prenatal, delivery and antenatal care at the hospital.

The linen will be used to dress the beds of the Victoria Falls District Hospital Maternity Ward

The dedicated team of midwives at the Maternity Ward of Victoria Falls District Hospital work tirelessly to safely deliver over 100 babies per month. As part of our #IlalaCares initiative, we look forward to continuing to support the Victoria Falls Hospital and other worthy causes wherever we can.

November 16, 2021
Ilala Lodge Hotel celebrates 30 years!

Our family hotel in the heart of Victoria Falls has bloomed into a popular accommodation choice for tourists from across the world, amounting from decades of combined expertise, passion and determination.

To honour 30 years of Ilala Lodge Hotel, we hosted an intimate event at the hotel on Monday 4th October, to share our appreciation to our travel industry partners who have kept Ilala flourishing over the decades.

The evening event saw the Ilala Lodge Hotel pool side lounge decorated with 60 of our long-standing travel partners made up of agents, Destination Management Companies (DMC’s) and industry providers who have been part of the hotel’s great journey. Guests travelled from locations across the region including Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Livingstone, Maun, Harare and Victoria Falls to join the celebrations.

Opening the event, hotel owner Jim Brown expressed his gratitude to guests for their contribution to the on-going success and longevity of the establishment, in particular for their loyalty in the past 18 months during Covid-19.

Jim continued to express his appreciation to the commitment of the Ilala Lodge Hotel staff, as he commented, “Our most important cog in the machinery of a successful hotel is its staff. Hospitality is a people business, but the staff and management are by far the most essential ingredient in making for a prosperous hotel.

During the event, two of the hotel’s longest serving members of staff were praised for their loyal service, having been with the company since it began in 1991. Peter (Front of House) and Basil (Barman) have worked at the hotel and watched it develop through the past three decades overcoming good times and bad. In recent Covid-19 times, the pair showed admirable willingness to adapt and diversify their job positions, taking on new roles as builders assistants, gardeners and painters during quieter times of Covid last year.

An evening of networking and reconnecting with fellow colleagues unfolded and guests expressed their excitement to Ilala for providing the opportunity for industry partners to be reunited after months of separation due to travel restrictions.

In addition to delicious canapes and drinks, the evening was filled with much laughter and joy – in honour of the grand milestone Ilala has achieved in the past 30 years. And on that celebratory note, we thoroughly look forward to entering the next chapter of the Ilala Lodge Hotel legacy.

30 years of Ilala Lodge Hotel

The hotel’s history dates back to 1991 where it first began as a boutique hotel with 16 rooms, owned by the Brown family. Since then, the hotel has grown from 16 rooms to 32 in 1994, and then in 2015 it expanded to a total of 56 rooms with the newest Deluxe wing. In 2018 we welcomed the latest expansion bringing the hotel to a total of 73 rooms made up of standard, deluxe rooms and suites.

Front of Hotel – THEN

Front of Hotel – NOW

Due to a global social media blackout, the livestream shared with travel colleagues around the world was interrupted, however we were able to capture the joy and excitement of the event in the images included here.

October 8, 2021
5 Romantic Things to do in Vic Falls

The most romantic day of the year is just days away and if you are looking for a special place to celebrate, be sure to check out our most luxurious offering, the Strathearn Suite. And if you are looking for things to do in Victoria Falls, we have 5 ideas that will appeal to the romantic in you, whenever you visit Victoria Falls!

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February 8, 2020
A Series of Sunrises Over Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls has an abundance of beauty – from magical rainbows, incredible sunsets and thundering sheets of water, it is a truly spectacular sight. What the Victoria Falls also does really well is show-stopping sunrises! However, these are a little harder to see in person as our beds are so super comfortable, we completely understand if you want to lie in them for a little longer! That is why we are putting together a year-long series showcasing the spectacular sunrises of the Victoria Falls so you can watch the changing of the seasons…and all captured by drone just for you.

April

The dawn of a new video series!

May

See a stunning rainbow and a tower of rising pink spray in this month’s sunrise

June

At the mid-point through winter, the majestic Victoria Falls continues to cascade with its mighty grandeur

July

July In this month’s sunrise video ☀️ you will notice a lot less spray AND less water falling over the edge of Victoria Falls. This is because the Zambezi River has recorded its lowest water levels for July 2019, compared to previous years!

Low water levels mean you’ll experience spectacular sightings of the rock formation behind the falls, as well as the perfect conditions for many water activities such as white-water rafting!

August

August marks the midpoint of the dry season in Victoria Falls! Months without rainfall result in the lowest water levels of the Zambezi River in decades! Wildlife, such as the buffalo seen in this video, scour the dry landscape in search of water to drink. While the Falls are at their lowest, this Natural World Wonder is still an incredible sight to behold!

September

We thought that August would be the lowest point of the year, but the Zambezi River has dropped further this month, but it is still as impressive as ever in September!

October

The mighty Victoria Falls waterfall is flowing at its lowest since 1996! Even during the driest season of the year, the Zimbabwean side of this World Wonder is still a breathtaking sight to see. Water levels are expected to drop further until the rains begin to fill the catchment areas upstream, so keep watching our monthly videos to see these dramatic changes!

November

This month, the water levels of the Zambezi River are starting to increase ever so slightly with the first rains arriving!

December 4, 2019
Ilala Cares – November 2019

At Ilala Lodge Hotel, we like to try and do “our bit” of good where we can for our staff, community and environment.

VFAPU Pop-Up Dinner

For the last five years, Ilala Lodge Hotel has been part of the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit’s fundraising dinner. This is quite the event on the local calendar, as all the top chefs from all of the top restaurants in Victoria Falls team up together to do a combined dinner at different locations. This year, around 140 people who were taken to various secret locations around Victoria Falls, each reflecting travel and various countries e.g one location they were on a plane, then arrived in France which was hosted by Ilala Lodge Hotel, hen Mexico, then Afro Asia and finally Italy for dessert which was by The 3 Monkeys.

Tree Planting

As part of a Greenline Africa initiative, we have been busy planting mahogany trees around Victoria Falls this month.

November 28, 2019
The Highs and Lows of Victoria Falls

During the month of November, there is always much speculation over how much water is flowing over the Victoria Falls – especially so this year, after a particularly long dry season. In this post, we try and answer some of these questions on the highs and lows of Victoria Falls.

How is the Water Flow over the Falls Measured?

The Zambezi River Authority was established in 1987 and is the body that monitors water flow along the Zambezi River to Kariba, through its hydrometric network. There are thirteen stations along the river where water levels are monitored daily – one being the Victoria Falls/ Big Tree station.

What are the Annual Variations of Water Flow?

In Victoria Falls, there is the high water season from March to May when the Falls is at the highest and the low water season from September to December when the Falls are at their lowest. How much water is flowing over the Victoria Falls is due to the rainfall in the catchment areas further upstream in Zambia, Angola and Botswana.

If you take a look at our sunrise series videos from 2019, you can tell the difference in water flow during high and low water season. Here is a comparison between April and November 2019.

April Sunrise 2019

November Sunrise 2019

What do the Historical Records say?

The maximum flow recorded at Victoria Falls was during the early construction phase of Kariba Dam in March 1958 at 10,000 cubic metres per second. The lowest flows recorded to date at Victoria Falls were during the 1995/96 season which had an annual mean flow of 390 cubic metres per second, whereas the Long Term Mean Annual flow at Victoria Falls is 1,100 cubic metres per second.

This year has been one of the driest on record, but not the lowest as the water flow was an estimated 3cm higher than the lowest level recorded back in 1995. As you can see from the table below, the water level has started to rise with the first rains, and this trend should continue for the rest of the season.

November 25, 2019
Ilala Cares – October 2019

Ilala Lodge Hotel have once again been supporting the good work and enthusiasm of organisations and people trying to raise funds for worthy causes.

Watch a Video and Win a Prize!

Ilala Lodge Hotel has teamed up with Pangolin Photo Safaris in their bid to conserve Pangolins. Pangolin.Africa is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the survival of the most highly trafficked wildlife species on the continent – the African Pangolin.

They have a three-pronged approach of Publicity, Participation and Protection and work with partners in the tourism, conservation and corporate fields to increase education and awareness around all four African pangolin species; contribute towards much-needed research; and implement protection and rehabilitation projects on the ground. Pangolin Africa have created a short film, and simply by watching it you could win a prize of a 10-day safari in Africa to Victoria Falls and stay with Ilala Lodge Hotel, the Chobe River and Okavango Delta . Take a watch the 45 minute Eye of the Pangolin film below and then follow the link to take the short quiz and enter the competition.

Walking for Those with Cancer

The Chili Pepper Marketing Team in Bulawayo hold an annual fundraising walk in conjunction with SPAR Bonsa to raise funds for Island Hospice and their palliative care, and we donated an accommodation prize for their raffle. This won by Mr Dudley Keefer, who was blown away by the fact that he won such an incredible prize. On winning, Dudley said he had never won a raffle prize, and was going to treat his wife to a second honeymoon – we can’t wait to have them with us!

School Fundraiser

The Victoria Falls Primary School held a golf day to raise funds for their school, and we were happy to help out with refreshing drinks for all the golfers!

October 30, 2019
Zambezi International Regatta 2019

Ilala Lodge Hotel were delighted to be a sponsor of the 5^th Zambezi International Regatta held in September 2019, as part of the Livingstone Sports Festival in Zambia.

This year, the main teams were The Oxford, Cambridge and South African alumni teams – many of whom it was their first time to Africa. They spent a few days before the event rigging up three 30feet long boats, which had been specially brought up from South Africa, as well as eying out some new obstacles for their rowing race – that of hippos, crocodiles and swimming elephants!

The regatta course used in 2019 was actually used over a hundred years ago in 1910 as Africa’s first ever world championship venue to host the World Professional Sculling Championships. In more recent history, previous regattas have been held 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010 and attracted alumni fields from around the globe.

His Majesty Litunga Lubosi Imwiko II raised the flag on the regatta on Saturday 14^th September. The Litunga of Zambia is the king or paramount chief of the Lozi people. The Litunga resides near the Zambezi River at the town of Mongu oon the floodplain during the dry season, and on higher ground at Limulunga on the edge of the floodplain in the wet season. There is a ceremony done to mark the moving between homes, which is called the Kuomboka ceremony. However this year due to the low water levels, there has been no need to move residency and as such, no ceremony will be conducted. Instead a Kupuwana ceremony was held which was last performed in 1947.

This year’s Kupuwana ceremony was a riot of colours and movement, as the warrior-powered boat was paddled with speed, agility and chanting along the river. They disembarked at the River Club to wild clapping of the crowds – a memorable moment for everyone.

The actual regatta event consisted of eleven races, four of which included Zambian teams. Of the 12 South Africans rowing, 8 were former Olympians so unsurprisingly they won every race they entered into, except the rafting challenge which was proudly won by the Zambian team. It was a fantastic day, watching and enjoyed by crowds of people and intrigued wildlife, more used to the sedate meanderings of the Ra-ikane and other boats!

The regatta ended with a prizing giving presented by His Majesty Litunga Lubosi Imwiko II – a very special occasion as this was only his third time to be in the town of Livingstone. Ilala Lodge Hotel were proud to be part of this fantastic day.

September 25, 2019
Five Reasons to Visit Victoria Falls

Here are five reasons to visit Victoria Falls by guest blogger, Roxanne Reid. Victoria Falls, on the boundary between Zimbabwe and Zambia, has long conjured an element of old-world Out of Africa romance. To visit the falls is a bucket-list expedition into the heart of Africa to see one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, and here are 5 great reasons to visit:

1. UNESCO World Heritage Site

Victoria Falls and the ‘rainforest’ that surrounds it are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. That means that they have been recognized to have outstanding universal value. One reason for this is that the main falls form the highest, widest sheet of continually falling water in the world – twice as high as Niagara Falls and around 500m/1,640ft wider. The volume of water is impressive too: it is said that the whole annual consumption of New York City goes over the falls in just three-and-a-half days during peak flood season in March and April. The force of the water as it thunders into the gorge drives spray into the air and covers everything in mist. For this reason, the locals call Victoria Falls ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’, meaning the smoke that thunders. You can see this ‘smoke’ up to 50km/31mi away.

If you visit during March to May, when there’s enough spray, you may see a lunar rainbow during the full moon. Just like a normal rainbow, the moonbow appears when water particles in the air refract light. Victoria Falls opens at full moon for three nights. For the best effect, try to be there in the first hour or so after the moon appears.

2. Zambezi River

The Zambezi is one of Africa’s major rivers. It forms the boundary between Zimbabwe on one side of Victoria Falls and Zambia on the other and is the lifeblood of the area. Blood-red sunrises and sunsets along the river are dazzling in their beauty. Don’t miss a Ra-Ikane sunset boat cruise on the river to see hippos, elephants, crocs and birds, as well as to toast the setting sun.

3. Adrenaline Activities

If spiking your adrenaline is something that turns you on, you’ll be spoilt for choice at Victoria Falls. Most famous of the many adrenaline activities is probably the 111m/364ft bungee jump from the bridge above the falls into the gorge. White-water rafting is also popular. If you want to do this, make sure you visit at the right time of year. White-water rafting is only available from around the end of August to December when water levels are lower and therefore safer.

Another thrilling activity during the low-water months is to cross the old iron bridge to the Zambian side of the Falls for a swim in Devil’s Pool. You might call this the world’s most spectacular infinity pool. The experience will have you floating right to the very edge of the pool where the water plummets into the gorge below. A guide will come with you to keep you safe.

With a gorge swing, flying fox and zipline over Batoka Gorge as well, it’s no wonder this is known as Zimbabwe’s adrenaline capital.

4. Wildlife

Victoria Falls National Park and Zambezi National Park, both in Zimbabwe, and Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park in Zambia are all in easy reach of the falls. They provide a wealth of wildlife-watching opportunities, from elephant, buffalo, lion and leopard to a host of antelope species like sable, eland, kudu and impala.

If you’re really keen on wildlife and safari experiences, ask about a day trip to Hwange National Park. Zimbabwe’s biggest national park, it’s only an hour’s drive away from the Falls. Chobe National Park in neighboring Botswana, is 80 minutes away, and is known for its huge elephant and buffalo herds. Each park delivers some of the best wildlife viewing in southern Africa.

5. A Different Perspective

Once you’ve seen Victoria Falls from close up on the ground, take to the air in a helicopter or a microlight. You’ll get aerial views that will have you marveling at the sheer scale of the Falls. If you choose the heli-flip, the chopper will make a few passes over the falls so everyone gets to photograph them, no matter where you’re sitting. If you choose the microlight, hang onto your camera or phone. Even better, attach it to your body with a cable so you don’t lose it if you drop it.

August 19, 2019
Ilala Cares Community Football Event

Over the years, we have had the pleasure of hosting many famous people at Ilala Lodge Hotel, and this month we welcomed Celtic FC Goalkeeper, Craig Gordon and his girlfriend Summer Harl. This was Craig’s very first time to Africa and Zimbabwe, and he was blown away by the beauty of our country, and of course, the smiles and hospitality of Zimbabweans.

When we heard that he wanted to come and stay with us, we suggested that we put on a community football event for the schools, as it is not often that someone of Craig’s athletic ability visits Victoria Falls. We were delighted when Craig agreed to put on a small coaching session as one of the #IlalaCares initiatives. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, over 40 children gathered at a local school for some football tricks and inspiration from a world-class footballer – children came from Victoria Falls Primary School, Chamabondo Church Of Christ; Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Baobab Primary School, Jacaranda Montessori – Victoria Falls and Chinotimba Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

The afternoon was a delight for both the children and Craig, and the highlight was a penalty shoot-out where the children, and the coaches, tried to get the ball past Craig. A few balls did manage to make it into the goal which resulted in the crowd erupting with cheers and giggles! Craig had donated some of his balls and kit, which were gratefully received by the children. Craig ended with an inspiring talk, asking the children to keep on practising and enjoying the game, and then there was a delicious football cake for all to enjoy!

Watch the video of the afternoon here.

June 25, 2019