Matetsi Private Game Reserve, Zimbabwe

Matetsi Victoria Falls

Price per night from$1,640.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD1,640.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Lion’s lair

Setting

Up the river

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight – and you can join him with a stay at Matetsi Victoria Falls. This luxe riverside lodge runs along the banks of the mighty Zambezi River in Zimbabwe, close to its namesake cascades of water, but it’s also perfectly placed to explore this game-rich reserve. The camp is divided into two sides, East and West, with a private four-bedroom villa in between. Days are spent on safari drives or visits to the falls; Mosi-oa-Tunya, aka ‘the smoke that thunders’ – where so much water falls that rainbows are pretty much guaranteed – is under an hour away by car.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

One 30-minute African footprint ritual treatment a person a stay

Facilities

Photos Matetsi Victoria Falls facilities

Need to know

Rooms

22 suites.

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £1493.86 ($1,886), including tax at 15 per cent.

More details

Rates usually include all meals and most drinks (excluding premium picks), laundry, activities and transfers from Victoria Falls town and airport.

Also

Food just keeps on coming at regular intervals throughout your stay, including a helpful caffeine drop with your pre-dawn wake-up call: just let a butler know if you’d like tea or coffee (snacks included).

At the hotel

Free WiFi throughout and a gym. In rooms: free bottled water; a Nespresso coffee machine tea-making kit; air-conditioning; Bluetooth Bose speakers; iPads on request and Healing Earth bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Each room has a similar classic-safari-lodge look, so it’s more a case of how much space you want or if you’ve got little Smiths in tow: some have two bedrooms. Groups will love the four-bedroom River House, which has its own ranger-led private safari, four-wheel drive, butler, chef and pool, along with plenty of indoor and outdoor living space.

Poolside

Each suite has its own plunge pool, but there’s also a lengthy infinity one running along the banks of the Zambezi.

Spa

The spa is in an outdoor sala, where Africology rituals are carried out to some bush beats (as opposed to the regular whale music); treatments can be in your room, if you prefer.

Packing tips

Serious, sensible packing is necessary: no bright or fluoro colours or loud patterns if you want to successfully ward off the wildlife; stick to standard-issue safari neutrals (but no camo). Binoculars and a decent camera will come in handy as well, obviously.

Also

The communal areas are mostly accessible for wheelchair users, but there is a step to navigate.

Children

All ages are welcome, but a safari is better suited to older kids who will be able to fully appreciate the wondrous wildlife. An extra bed can be added for children under 16. Babysitting is available with a day’s notice; rates start at US$10 an hour.

Sustainability efforts

Run by a local team, this hotel uses locally sourced materials and ingredients throughout including handcrafted furniture from Zimbabwe. The 55,000-hectare reserve has 16 solar-powered boreholes acting as a water supply to the wildlife neighbours to come and drink from, and the hotel are pioneering initiatives to eliminate poaching.

Food and Drink

Photos Matetsi Victoria Falls food and drink

Top Table

Stake out the wine cellar for private meals, or go for a table right on the banks of the Zambezi River. Breakfast-cooking tips can be learned if you sit near the open kitchen and watch the chefs.

Dress Code

This is a safari stay, so it’s outdoor gear all the way, with lots of layers – the evenings can get more than a little nippy.

Hotel restaurant

Matetsi doesn’t so much have a restaurant situation, as it does a constant-catering one. Staff will help to facilitate private dining in your suite, a table in one of the communal areas and regular boma (barbecue) nights, as well as sundowner and snack stops on your safari drives, and afternoon tea before your evening activity. There’s a small menu to choose from, with a meat, fish and vegetarian option; we loved the arancini followed by local beef fillet. Every few nights it’s boma time, where a fireside barbecue feast is laid on for all of the guests. Breakfast is a Continental-style selection of house-made muesli and muffins, with hot items cooked to order.

Hotel bar

Each side of the camp (East and West) has its own copper bar, where you can guzzle Zambezi beers, expertly muddled G&Ts and rich South African reds from across the border. Antipasti platters and tapas-style plates can be ordered while you drink.

Last orders

Meal times (and locations) are flexible, based around your daily activities. If you’re not out on a morning drive, breakfast is available from 7am to 11am. Staff will stick around until the last guest does (usually around 11pm).

Room service

All meals can be eaten in the comfort of your suite if you prefer – just let a butler know.

Location

Photos Matetsi Victoria Falls location
Address
Matetsi Victoria Falls
Matetsi Private Game Reserve
Victoria Falls
Zimbabwe

Matetsi Victoria Falls is, unsurprisingly, close to Africa’s famous falls, on the Zimbabwe side and along the banks of the Zambezi.

Planes

The waterfalls have their own handy namesake hub: Victoria Falls Airport is about an hour’s drive from the hotel; transfers to and from this airport are included. You can also land over the border at Zambia’s Harry Mwanga Nkumbula Airport; from here, hotel transfers cost US$60 a person and take two hours. International flights tend to connect in Johannesburg, or other larger African hubs, such as Addis Ababa.

Automobiles

It’s not common to self-drive in these parts; plus, transfers from Victoria Falls airport or town (40 minutes away) are included in your room rate.

Other

There’s a helipad on-site if you’ve got a spare chopper.

Worth getting out of bed for

The famous Victoria Falls are probably going to get you out of the canopied king-size bed in your vast riverside retreat, but there’s plenty more safari-based adventure on offer, too. That’s after you’ve settled in to the outdoor spa sala for a treatment by the Zambezi, chosen a book from the lodge library or spied the wild animals that like to wander in and out of the grounds (mostly monkeys, antelope and elephants, but this is Africa and anything is possible).

Zimbabwe has great game potential, and so your twice-daily safari drives around the Matetsi reserve could well take in lions, leopards, elephants and more. The lodge boat is ready and waiting to whisk you on sunrise or sunset sails down the Zambezi (watch out for those hand-snapping hippos and crocs). The hotel can also arrange activities including white-water rafting, bird-watching, helicopter flights over the falls, horse-riding, canoeing, fishing and bungee-jumping for the brave.

If you’re booking a stay somewhere with ‘Victoria Falls’ in its name, chances are you’re signing up for a glimpse of the world’s biggest cascade of water – Victoria Falls, aka Mosi-oa-Tunya (‘the smoke that thunders’) is under an hour by car from the property. 

 

 

Local restaurants

The hotel is full-board, with scheduled stops on your safari drives for more snacks and drinks, so you’ll be spending most of your stay on-site (and literally never going hungry).

Reviews

Photos Matetsi Victoria Falls reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this luxury lodge in Zimbabwe and unpacked their binoculars and sun-tan lotion, a full account of their safari break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Matetsi Victoria Falls…

With a Gatsby-style East (Egg) Camp and West (Egg) Camp, Matetsi Victoria Falls is a lodge of two halves that forms a perfect whole. This riverside reserve spans a 15-kilometre stretch of the Zambezi – 40 kilometres up-river from Victoria Falls. There’s no fence around the enclosure, so keep watch for wandering wildlife, though there’s nothing to fear: braver-than-you-are guides will escort you to and from your room. Meals are based around the day’s safari drives, with snacks before you set off in the morning, brunch when you get back, afternoon tea before you go out again at sunset, and dinner when you return each evening. There are frequent food and sundowner stops on the go, too; the feeling of hunger will be a distant memory for the duration of your stay. Luxurious it is, but any Gatsby references stop at ‘East Egg’: this lodge is less Roaring Twenties, more roaring lion. Awimbawe

 

 

Book now

Price per night from $1,640.00