An eight-minute walk separates Ilala Lodge Hotel’s entrance from the Victoria Falls rainforest gate, closer than any other hotel on the Zimbabwean side. The lawns border Victoria Falls National Park directly, with no boundary between hotel grounds and bush. Warthogs graze on the grass most days, and elephants walk in from the treeline to feed. From the terrace, the plume of spray is visible rising above the trees.
Strath and his son Keith thatched the original roof themselves
Strath Brown was a local crocodile farmer, and in 1989 he and his business partner Rob Gee bought the old Sprayview Restaurant site meaning to build a bar and restaurant. Plans grew instead into a hotel. Strath and his son Keith thatched the original roof themselves, hauling gum poles 700km from the family farm in Darwendale. Strath’s wife Beryl planted the gardens that still frame the entrance today.
The hotel keeps its own fleet of Ra-Ikane cruise boats, which sets it apart from hotels that book third-party river excursions. The three monohull vessels, Ra-Ikane I, II and III, were built to replicate David Livingstone’s exploration boat, the Ma-Robert, and named for his guide, Ra-Ikane. They travel further upstream than most river cruises, through shallow channels that bring guests close to hippos, crocodiles and elephants along the Zambezi.
Mist drifts across the restaurant deck on the breeze while guests eat
In high water, the volume plunging into the gorge can set the glass in suite windows vibrating gently. The constant sound is the one the Kololo named Mosi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders. Mist drifts across the restaurant deck on the breeze while guests eat, a cooling sensation that comes and goes with the wind off the river.
Old maps and explorers’ journals line the public areas, giving way to lawns, a pool and an open-air bar. The furniture is hand-crafted from salvaged railway sleeper teak, dark-toned against neutral walls, and the low-rise blocks are arranged across three wings around the gardens Beryl Brown established. At the entrance, mature Cassia fistula trees stand heavy with yellow blossom, and it was these that gave the restaurant its name. It is a house that wears its history rather than displaying it.
An on-site activity centre coordinates the guest day, booking Falls tours, river cruises and adventure activities across Victoria Falls. Guided and self-guided walks lead directly into the rainforest, and helicopter flights trace the gorge and the width of the water. For the adrenaline-inclined there is white-water rafting, along with bungee jumps from the Victoria Falls Bridge, gorge swings and zip-lines. Game drives and walking safaris run in the national park, all under licensed Zimbabwean guides.
Breakfast on the terrace, watching wildlife on the lawn with the spray rising in the distance
At the heart of the place is the Cassia Restaurant, renamed from the Palm in 2022, where contemporary French technique is built on local ingredients. Crocodile and mushroom risotto is among its best-known dishes, and the wine list is drawn from South African boutique vineyards. Meals are served in the fan-shaped indoor dining room, on the patio under the Cassia trees, or as light plates at the poolside bar. Breakfast on the terrace, watching wildlife on the lawn with the spray rising in the distance, is a fixture of any stay here.
Children of all ages are welcome, with interleading rooms and suites configured to keep families together and babysitting arranged through the concierge. Victoria Falls town sits at roughly 900 metres above sea level, and the walkable location makes short outings between activities straightforward. Ilala Lodge Hotel works well as the Victoria Falls chapter of a wider Zimbabwe or Botswana itinerary, close enough to the river to feel it, removed enough on its garden lawns to feel calm.
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accommodation
Ilala Lodge Hotel has 73 rooms and suites across three levels. Classic and Deluxe rooms open onto lawns or private balconies facing the national park, while suites add sitting rooms and elevated spray views. The Strathearn Suite has a private balcony with an outdoor spa bath overlooking the rising mist.
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activities
The on-site activity centre books guided rainforest walks, helicopter flights over the gorge, white-water rafting, bungee jumping and gorge swings from the Victoria Falls Bridge, and canoeing on the upper Zambezi. Game drives and walking safaris run in the national park with licensed Zimbabwean guides. The Ra-Ikane cruises can be booked by guests staying in Victoria Falls.
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conservation
Ilala Lodge Hotel funds the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit monthly, supporting scouts, snare removal and injured-wildlife rehabilitation. It has installed baboon-proof waste bins through the rainforest, belongs to the Victoria Falls Recycling Project, and runs a staff-led Green Team that filters water on site to cut single-use plastic. Donations support St. Bakhita School locally.
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.
Victoria Falls has its own international airport, with direct flights from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Harare and Bulawayo, and long-haul routes through Addis Ababa and Nairobi. The hotel stands in Victoria Falls town, a drive of around twenty-five minutes from the airport, and we arrange the transfer so a driver is waiting when you land. There is no light-aircraft leg on this one, and no soft-bag weight limit either, so hard suitcases are no problem here whatever the rest of the safari demands.
Many guests arrive overland instead. From Kasane, the gateway to Botswana's Chobe, the road transfer takes around two hours including the border crossing at Kazungula, and Livingstone airport across the bridge in Zambia is an alternative about an hour away, again with border formalities on the way. Tell us where your trip runs before and after Victoria Falls and we will pick the cleanest routing.
Yes, and it should be planned for. The town sits at around 900 metres, below the 1,200 metre line under which the UK's official travel health advice rates Zimbabwe's malaria risk as high from November to June, when antimalarial tablets are usually recommended. The risk drops through the dry months from July to October, though the CDC recommends tablets for travel anywhere in Zimbabwe at any time of year, so many visitors take them regardless of season.
Guidance is reviewed regularly, so confirm the current position with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel, and keep up the simple defences either way: repellent, and long sleeves and trousers once the light goes.
There are really two Victoria Falls. The river peaks between March and May, fed by rains that fell months earlier over the Angolan highlands, and this is the Falls at full power. It throws up so much spray that the face of the waterfall can vanish into its own mist from the ground, and everyone on the rainforest path gets soaked, so a light raincoat earns its place in the daypack and a helicopter flight becomes the one reliable way to see the whole curtain.
By September the river is dropping, and from October to early December it runs at its lowest. The mist clears, the light reaches into the gorge and the sheer basalt walls show themselves, which is why photographers tend to prefer it. The trade-off is that the eastern cataracts on the Zambian side can dry to bare rock, while the Zimbabwean side, the side the hotel stands on, carries water all year. Low water also opens the seasonal doors, among them Devil's Pool on Livingstone Island, which runs from roughly mid-August to mid-January. June to August sits comfortably between the two extremes, which is partly why it is the busiest time of year.
The experiences with fixed capacity are worth securing before you fly. Helicopter flights over the Falls run all year, weather permitting, as a short circuit of twelve to thirteen minutes or a longer twenty-five minute version that adds the gorges downstream, and the day's slots go quickly from July to October. Livingstone Island and Devil's Pool take small groups only inside a seasonal window, so they sell out furthest ahead.
White-water rafting is governed by the river: the classic low-water run, starting directly beneath the Falls, operates from around August to December, and rafting stops altogether at peak flood in April and May. Tell us what you have your heart set on and we will hold the slots when we confirm the trip, leaving the gentler things, the guided walks and the river cruises, to fit around the mood of each day.
Stays are bed and breakfast: a full breakfast is included in the rate, and lunch and dinner at the Cassia Restaurant are ordered from the menu and charged as you go, so nothing ties you to a set dining plan. Airport transfers and activities sit outside the rate, and we build both into your quote from the start so the real cost of the stay is clear before you commit.
For evenings further afield, the restaurants of the town centre are a few minutes' walk from the front door, and The Boma, the dinner and drum show on the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge estate about ten minutes away by road, makes a lively night of Zimbabwean dishes, drumming and storytelling. Tell us which evenings you would like arranged and we will book the tables and the transfers before you arrive.
Yes. Wifi is free for guests, with an access voucher handed over at check-in. This is a town hotel rather than a bush camp, with the centre of Victoria Falls a few minutes' walk away, so staying in touch, backing up photographs and making calls over the connection is straightforward, and if you would rather switch off, we will save the disconnection for the wilder camps either side of Victoria Falls.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
