Reynard Road is a quiet residential street a kilometre from the centre of Victoria Falls town and just over two kilometres from the rainforest gates. Twenty-seven ground-floor rooms are set through mature gardens, each with a private veranda opening onto the lawns. The walk to the Falls takes about half an hour.
On still mornings the Falls register as a low rumble beyond the trees.
The lodge was built around its garden rather than a view. Lawns, indigenous trees and flowering shrubs cover the site, with shade enough to see out an afternoon. On still mornings the Falls register as a low rumble beyond the trees. Two pools sit within the gardens, a main one off the central veranda, edged with loungers, and a smaller, more secluded pool beside the Flame Lily wing.
Bruno De Leo and Brent Dacomb opened Batonka Guest Lodge in 2016, and they continue to run it as owners. Rae De Leo led the interiors. Between them they settled on a colonial-era bungalow brought up to date, all clean lines and pale walls, with a veranda that runs the length of the main building and looks out over the lawns.
In the cooler months a fire is lit in the main lounge.
Furniture came from a Zimbabwean hardwood workshop: oiled bedframes and mosquito-net posts, teak dining tables, heavy timber mirror frames in the bathrooms. Against white linen and pale walls, the wood does most of the talking. In the cooler months a fire is lit in the main lounge. Dressing tables on white painted legs are the one flourish, and nothing else shouts or is fussy.
The walk into town takes ten to fifteen minutes on flat, low-density streets, and a shuttle runs there twice a day, at ten and at three, with taxis handling the rest. Everything else is booked through the lodge and arranged with local operators. Some of it is gentle: walking routes through the Zimbabwean side of the rainforest, and helicopter flights over the gorge. Some of it is not: bungee jumping and gorge swings from the Victoria Falls Bridge, ziplining and canopy tours. When the moon is full, the Falls are opened for lunar rainbow viewings.
Rafting is the big day out here, and it is a full one. Below the Falls, the Zambezi drops into the Batoka Gorge as grade V rapids. The walk back out of the gorge adds to the effort, as does a morning spent in the humid rainforest at the Falls. A lodge a kilometre from town proves its worth at that point. Rooms are air-conditioned, bathrooms have walk-in showers, and dinner is a three-course set menu with a choice at each course, served along the open veranda overlooking the lawns. Lunch is lighter, from a short à la carte menu, with sandwiches available through the afternoon.
When the moon is full, the Falls are opened for lunar rainbow viewings
Breakfast is a continental spread of cheeses, cold meats, fruit and pastries, with a hot English breakfast cooked to order and taken outside as birds move through the surrounding trees. Afternoons settle onto the veranda, with coffee from the bar or a gin and tonic once the light softens and the day’s noise drops away. Children are welcome at any age, and one garden-view room has a small annex with two single beds and its own bathroom. There is no children’s club; the pool and the gardens do that work instead.
Large game does not pass through a residential suburb, and Batonka does not claim otherwise. Birds do: the gardens and surrounding trees hold a steady resident population, and mornings begin with them. For game viewing, the boundary of Zambezi National Park is a short drive away, with guided game drives, walking safaris led by licensed guides, and horse-riding safaris. Sunset cruises and canoe trips work the upper Zambezi. Chobe National Park, across the border in Botswana, is a full but manageable day trip.
accommodation
Twenty-seven ground-floor rooms are arranged in small blocks through the gardens, split between pool-view and garden-view categories. The lawns start at the step. Each has a furnished veranda, air-conditioning and a ceiling fan, satellite television, a mini-bar, a safe, and an en-suite bathroom with a walk-in shower.
activities
Guided walks through the Victoria Falls rainforest, helicopter and microlight flights over the Batoka Gorge, white-water rafting on the Zambezi's grade V rapids, bungee jumping and gorge swings from the Victoria Falls Bridge, sunset cruises, canoeing, fishing, and guided game drives, walking safaris and horse-riding in Zambezi National Park. Day trips cross the border to Chobe National Park in Botswana.
conservation
Batonka donates five dollars from every guest night to wildlife conservation in the region and is a partner of the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust. The Trust runs a wildlife rehabilitation centre and a disease and forensics laboratory, and its vets are on call to dart and treat animals caught in wire snares. Alongside it the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit, founded in 1999, patrols the bush around the town on foot, on horseback and by vehicle; it has removed more than thirty thousand snares and works to move former poachers into paid work so the pressure comes off the wildlife.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
You fly into Victoria Falls International, which takes direct flights from Johannesburg, Nairobi and Addis Ababa, and the road transfer to the lodge is about twenty minutes. We arrange that transfer with the booking so somebody is holding a board when you walk out.
The lodge also sits within walking distance of the town centre, which is unusual here and genuinely useful: you are not dependent on a vehicle for a meal or a wander. Crossing into Zambia at the bridge is straightforward if the trip takes you that way.
Yes, and it should be planned for. The town sits at around 900 metres, below the 1,200 metre line under which TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates Zimbabwe's malaria risk as high from November to June. The risk eases through the dry months from July to October, but the CDC recommends tablets for travel anywhere in Zimbabwe at any time of year, so the two read the same country differently.
That difference is what a travel clinic or your doctor should settle for you before you fly. Whatever they advise, repellent and long sleeves once the light goes are worth the habit.
Yes. All ages are taken, the rooms are on the ground floor with the lawn starting at the step, and cots and extra beds can be arranged when we book.
The pool is not fenced and has no lifeguard, so young children need an adult with them. The town setting also makes this an easier first or last night with a family than a bush camp, because meals, shops and a short walk to the Falls are all close by.
Hot for most of the year and properly hot from September to early November. The rains fall between November and March, usually as heavy afternoon storms rather than all-day grey, and the cool dry months from May to August bring cold mornings and warm afternoons.
Pack light clothes, a hat and strong sun protection, plus a warm layer for winter mornings. A light waterproof matters more than people expect: the spray off the Falls soaks everyone on the rainforest path when the river is high.
There are really two Victoria Falls. The river peaks between March and May on rain that fell months earlier over the Angolan highlands, and that is the Falls at full power, throwing up so much spray that the face of it can disappear into its own mist. A helicopter flight becomes the reliable way to see the whole curtain.
From October to early December the river runs at its lowest, the mist clears and the basalt walls of the gorge show themselves, which photographers prefer. June to August sits between the two and is the busiest stretch of the year for that reason.
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