Royal Livingstone Hotel by Anantara

My wife and I stayed at the hotel and loved every second of our stay. The hotel is ideally situated for the Victoria Falls and is situated within the national park so you see giraffes, impala’s, monkeys and zebra’s around the grounds. The staff are very attentive, our butler Kennedy was always on hand to assist us. Other members of staff such as Chola, Dorothy and Lupendo made our stay memorable and pleasant and we can’t wait to return for our next visit.

2nd visit disappointing. The greeting from the dancers at the entrance is too delightful for words!! A welcome of note!! Then a man dressed in an African Outfit ushered us to a table with a drink for registration. He was kind enough to book a table for dinner and let us know that is we need anything we just need to dial 9 for our ‘butler’ !! We duly went for dinner .. I sent my fish back was inedible my husband’s meal was also 2nd rate. Breakfast was magnificent with an opulent display and choice. After a booze cruise and highly recommended, we ordered a toasted sandwich in the bar as the Terrace restaurant was fall. The bar is reminiscent of times gone by beautifully appointed and to add to the ambiance a pianist with amazing talent. But this bar was empty of guests for our entire 3 day stay. I remember the music and dancing last time we were there, it was such a vibe!!! The bedrooms are well appointed and our ‘butler’ reminded us that we just needed to call and he would be there to sort out any problems. TV did not work.. butler told us he would need to get maintenance the next day which never happened! In the morning we had a new ‘butler’ the spray bottle for mosquito repellent was not spraying. She never brought a replacement! The man in the bright African garb was there every morning doing what he does, delegating everything to our ‘butler’. This is not a cheap holiday for South Africans and therefore there is an expectation. Unfortunately The Royal Livingstone Hotel is just not the same and overpriced in comparison. We had a great dinner at the Terrace restaurant as a finale… don’t bother to book at the fine dinning restaurant the food and views are a lot better. Two things to do are Devils pool and an up close and personal experience with feeding elephants.

Had a beautiful time at the Royal Livingstone. Awesome place just next to the Zambezi River. The hotel is super clean and serene. I loved the attention to detail right before our arrival. Breakfast was always a delight with Zebras and giraffes walking on the grounds. Thank you for the hospitality. A1.

Amazing location and a lovely room. Food was very good but the service really doesn't match the price tag. Unopened drinks brought to the table, incredibly slow service. Wrong drinks brought to the table to name just a few issues. Sadly the service is such a long way from 5 star, given the price of the stay it's quite disappointing.

My husband and I stayed at Royal Livingstone Hotel for 4 days in May to celebrate my birthday. Every aspect of customer experience at the hotel is highly curated, although it comes across natural and effortless. This means that guests can simply relax and enjoy their stay. African choir welcomes guests on arrival, check in is prompt, we were taken to a side room to relax, hot towels and welcome drinks were brought in. We were then taken to our room where a happy birthday message was made up of flowers on our bed and a birthday cake was gifted by the hotel. Our travel agency mismanaged our itinerary the first two days and the hotel stepped in to help us resolve the issues and make sure we made the most of our Zambia/Zimbabwe and Botswana itinerary. They simply set us at Sundowners Deck with drinks and they dealt with the tour operator on our behalf. Their kindness and care was exceptional. Breakfast is served at the Old Drift and covers hot dishes station, charcuterie, cereal, fruit and nuts and sweets section. Freshly squeezed juices are also available. Food selection was great and the view of the Zambezi river from the tables makes for a lovely setting. We ate at the hotel 2 nights, once at Old Drift which was more formal but wonderfully cooked food, second night at Kudu where we tried Zambian food. Both restaurants were very good. On the last day at the hotel, I celebrated my birthday, the African choir came over to our breakfast table, sang happy birthday and danced around us. It was truly wonderful. Overall, this is a fantastic hotel, that doesn’t use COVID as an excuse for poor service. All staff behave as if they really want to be there, management introduces themselves to guests and is always present. If you are thinking of booking Royal Livingstone Hotel, do it, you won’t be disappointed.

We absolutely loved this hotel and wished we had chosen it over The Victoria Falls Hotel. We were advised by Kensington Travel who we did not use for our trip that it was best to stay in Zimbabwe. We were told Zambia was behind the falls and Zimbabwe had a much better view. Since I heard this property was so beautiful (another reviewer had said it was well worth seeing) we decided to go for lunch. I must say it wasn’t the easiest trip crossing from one country to the next. We had someone from the Victoria Falls arrange it for us. He was great and went inside the immigration offices with us, that expedited our experience greatly. I am not sure how much all this cost, but it was more than the $10.00 I had read. Our mistake was not getting a visa at the airport for both countries. Our driver could only take us to the border so we walked over the bridge and were received by someone on that side. The drive to the hotel was short. I did communicate with the hotel by email prior to our trip. I was told US passport holders “crossed without trouble”. I wish that had been true. The border crossing offices are packed with people. We were lucky we had the local person with us as language was an issue. Also when we were left off to cross the bridge we were told not to touch any item that the vendors were trying to sell. Just wave them off and keep walking. We were accosted , but did what we were told and they left us alone. All that said, we arrived to the see the most beautiful property. We walked around and it was just fabulous. I wanted to know where the animals were and if we could see Victoria Falls from the Zambia side. The most wonderful man, I think his name was Ben, not sure, but he was at the front desk area. He said come with me and took us in a golf course to view the property. We met Bob one of the 5 giraffes and saw the zebras wandering around. He also took us to the Zambia entrance to the falls so we got to see that too. He waited for us and took us back to the Royal Livingston. We had a delicious lunch out on the restaurant patio. We then took our arranged car back to the border to get back to Zimbabwe. None of this was easy, but I am so glad we did not miss this experience. In hindsight we would have stayed at this property instead of the VF hotel. The pool area was beautiful. Like night and day compared to the VF. Hotel, which is NOT good.

Very special hotel in a beautiful setting with lovely restaurants and friendly staff. So surreal to have Zebras; Giraffes and monkeys wondering around and the views of the Zambezi and sunsets are to die for.

We have already been to Anantara in tangalle Sri Lanka which was outstanding but this took our breath away being so close to the animals and beautiful surroundings. The only little let down was the breakfast when asking for the pre set menu on the wall it never came with what was requested tried 3 times but still unable to get what was clearly stated on the menu . But other than that loved every minute of our stay. Zifa from maintenance was very kind and showed us where the animals were .really nice helpful man

amazing hotel, setting and staff that work there. the staff were impeccable in every sense, the setting amazing and the food was out of this world. waking up in the morning, opening the curtains and having a giraffe walk past while zebra graze was surreal