By Marianne Betts
Africa Albida Tourism chairman Dave Glynn and chief executive Ross Kennedy sat down to pull together a few of their memories of the hospitality group’s flagship property Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, in the lead up to its 25th anniversary on December 14.
From these memories emerged the intriguing story of one of southern Africa’s most iconic hotels …
1. Dave Glynn discovered the location of the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge whilst on a run. “I was at an industrial congress,” says Dave, “and I was so frustrated. I went for a run and stumbled on this site, and I thought, well, I should build a hotel here.”
2. Ross Kennedy brought in the hotelier expertise. “Ross and I had known each other since 1960,” says Dave. “I needed a hotelier for the project, and he had been operating bars and hotels in the UK, but he wanted to come home. I wrote to him that I had found this land in Vic Falls and needed a hotelier. So he and Karen (his wife) joined me – it was the signal they had needed to come home. We have been partners since 1992.”
3. Victoria Falls Safari Lodge set out to be a celebration of Africa. “When people are coming to Africa, they don’t want Europe in Africa … so we went to great lengths to provide an authentic African feel,” Dave says. “We incorporated thatched buildings, lots of timber … and we built all of the rooms facing outward so they are completely open to the wilds, and visitors can hear the sounds and see the sights of Africa. As well as being on the doorstep of the Victoria Falls, an iconic destination, guests enjoy the wildlife, incredible sunsets and unspoilt views to the horizon,” he says.
4. Inspiration for the design of the lodge came from Kenya. “There was no culture of ethnic style hotel design in Zimbabwe in 1991,” says Dave. “Kenyan hoteliers were the masters. Ross and I took Josh Ward, the architect, to Kenya for a week. We visited 29 lodges and coastal hotels in 7 days. From that experience the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge design was formed.”
5. One of the challenges of building the sewer line. “We had to build the sewer line through a hill, which meant blasting a 4-metre deep trench through solid rock for 60 metres,” says Dave. “We were in deep trouble with the community as the blasting would chase away all the game. It was a six-week job and the volume of game just grew and grew. They were so curious to find out what was happening!”
6. That time a lion was a little too close for comfort. “We needed to get endorsement for the project from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism,” Dave says. “I took the Permanent Secretary and his team to walk the site, which is effectively in the game park with lion, buffalo and elephant frequently visiting. But we were poor, so I decided not to take an armed guide with us to save money. Standing by the waterhole I looked down and saw pugmarks from a huge lion, still oozing a bit of moisture. I quietly whisked them away up the hill, quite sure lion eyes were fixed on us very close by.”
7. When the model of Victoria Falls Safari Lodge was smashed to pieces. “Designing such a large structure out of thatch was complex. Computer generated designs did not exist back then, so we employed two architectural students to build a miniature, so that they could work out exactly where each pole went. It took two months to build. The contractors but it in the back of a pickup truck to drive it up to the Falls. On the way it blew out of the back of the truck and was smashed to pieces.”
8. Victoria Falls Safari Lodge was the first project in the country to use an environmental architect. “We were well ahead of our time in 1992 … nobody had heard of such a skill at that time, but we found a newly qualified youngster and from an aerial survey we marked every main tree and he contoured all the roads and services and mapped the entire site before we put a brick in the ground.”
9. The acts of conservation we did were plentiful and manifest. “To me it made no sense to remove natural habitat, some of it hundreds of years old, and then landscape it with new,” Dave says. “So we fenced the contractors in, we fenced every mature tree, designed layouts to avoid existing trees, dumped building materials in parking areas, had trees protruding through thatched roofs, translocated trees, and generally preserved whatever we possibly could. The day we opened it looked like we had always been there.”
10. The swimming pool was delayed by four months because of a tree “I refused to allow Josh and his team to cut it down,” says Dave.” Eventually they came to me and asked if they could transplant the tree, then put the swimming pool there. And I said ‘yes, you can’. And that tree survived for a very long time.”
11.Victoria Falls Safari Lodge won the prestigious international Green Globe Distinction Award. “In recognition of our efforts, we were awarded the Green Globe Distinction Award in 2000 for outstanding environmental practices in its construction,” says Dave.
12. The apex of Victoria Falls Safari Lodge’s central building is lined up with the Victoria Falls. “A little known fact is that the architect lined up the apex of the central structure with the Victoria Falls,” Dave says. “If you go up to the landing (balcony) of the first mezzanine over the reception you will see the floor panels in a “V” shape pointing east directly to the Falls, and you can see its spray clearly on a good day. Josh was incensed – the final line up was out by two degrees!”
13. The roof of Victoria Falls Safari Lodge main building nearly caught on fire during construction. “In the main building of the lodge, as they were thatching, the plumbers were welding the very top of the central block, and the apex caught on fire. Fortunately, it was smouldering and it didn’t actually burst into flames. We were only about two months away from opening.”
14. How did the Buffalo Bar get its name? “The Buffalo Bar at Safari Lodge is christened thus because every night when we finished construction we would go for sunset drinks at the current site of the Buffalo Bar,” says Dave. “Every evening a herd of buffalo would arrive before heading off to enjoy the newly planted grass on the Elephant Hills golf course, which was being built. The herd grew and grew to 800-1000 per night. We could see the dust trail coming in the sunset and the buffalo would come through for up to an hour. A wonderful nightly sight.”
15. The arrival of the first elephant at the waterhole. “On my 40th birthday I gathered a bunch of friends at the Falls and on the one evening we had a campfire night on the ridge where reception now sits,” Dave recalls. “The waterhole was an old road making gravel pit from the 1950’s which held rainwater for five months of the year. We brought water from the river and turned it into a permanent waterhole. As the sun set on my 40th birthday seven elephant arrived at the waterhole, my first time to see them. They have been coming to visit me ever since.”
16. It was a feeling of immense pride and relief to see the first guest check in on December 14, 1994. “I was on my hands and knees, scraping paint off the Buffalo Bar floor, when the first guest checked in,” Ross recalls. “She was an American interior designer called Trisha Wilson.”
17. I thought we’d lost everything. “Two weeks after we opened the lodge, on December 28, (my wife) Julie and I took a badly needed break and went skiing in France,” Dave says. “Once on board the plane I confessed to Julie that I thought we had lost everything. Our forward bookings stood at 2 per cent. But in January our occupancy closed at 45 per cent, and we were never below 70 per cent every month for some while after that.”
18. An elderly lady lost her two front teeth whilst looking at the view. “There was a tree that was outside the ladies and gents’ toilet,” Dave says. “I refused to allow it to be removed, so a patio and walkway was built around the tree, and it was there for many years. We called it ‘Two Front Teeth’ because there was an elderly lady who was so enthralled by the view that she was walking along the passage way, looking at the view and turning, and she walked straight into the tree and knocked her two front teeth out.”
19. The fence surrounding the property was only put up in the beginning to keep people out (not animals). “I was called on site to a meeting with the entire board of National Parks at The Boma,” says Dave, “because they were incensed that we were putting up a fence along the back of our property. It transpired that they thought we were going to put a fence around the property and keep animals inside. And in fact the reason we were putting a fence up was to keep people out. And allow the animals free access.”
20. The baobab outside Victoria Falls Safari Lodge was brought over from Hwange. “24 years ago we found this amazing baobab tree in an open cast mine in Hwange area, so we decided to bring it to Victoria Falls. It was 18 metres tall and needed a low-loader to transport it over 100km to Victoria Falls. It was a mammoth task and we encountered various problems trying to transport this big tree over such a long distance. About halfway along, we hit a power line, electrocuting the baobab and singeing two metres off its top. In another twist of bad luck, we got badly stuck on the Masuwe bridge coming into Victoria Falls, holding up dignitaries from flights for three hours! The tree was a mission to replant, but because there is no tap root, the transplant was possible. Thankfully, it survived the electrocution and is still thriving.”
21. The time the Italians wandered down to the waterhole to see what this “lake” was all about. “The one thing we could never get was a decent marketing shot of the lodge with game at the waterhole because to get that shot you have to be on the side where the game comes,” Dave says. “I set up a hide which was a little dangerous as it was effectively in amongst where the animals came. I waited for hours one day when suddenly I heard voices, Italian voices, very close to me. I emerged from the hide to find six of our guests in fine leather shoes and fashionable clothing, who had decided to take a walk down to see what this “lake” was all about.”
22. The moose at the waterhole. “I was standing at the Buffalo Bar waiting to meet someone for a 10am meeting,” Dave says. “It was troubled times for Zimbabwe when few tourists were arriving. A group of 22 Canadians were waiting for a tour and Bob, one amongst them, peeled off and kindly came to join me. “We’re on a three-country tour of Africa” he told me. “We’re going to Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa”. At which point his wife turned to him and said “Hey Bob, there’s a moose at the waterhole”. There were two elephants.”
23. 53 of our staff have been with us for 20 years or more. “I remember presenting the first ten-year service awards to employees – and now presenting 25-year awards to the same people. It is amazing,” says Ross. “Many of today’s management started with us as young trainees, and over the years many of the staff have left us to travel, grow careers, get wider experiences, and later returned in more senior roles.”
24. The tragedy of losing our brave guide Tendekai Madzivanzira in a terrible accident with an elephant whilst he saved a guest’s life in 2011. “Tendekai was our professional guide, and one day he walked a New Zealand tourist from the lodge to the Siduli Hide for a sit,” Ross says. “There had been stroppy bull elephant around for a few days. After the hide sit, Tendekai checked that it was safe to leave, and called his guest. They hadn’t moved 10m and this bull came out of the bush from 70-80m behind the hide, and Tendekai knew from the elephant’s behaviour it was going to be an unpleasant situation. He fired a shot into the ground, but the elephant kept coming. He told the guest to get behind a tree, and he moved away so the elephant went for him. He fired another shot over its head, but this may have been his mistake – he should have just hit him. The elephant got to him and attacked him in front of 60 to 70 people at the Buffalo Bar. After the elephant had moved off two staff members rescued the guest.”
25. A male bushbuck who joins staff for morning tea every day. “There is a big old male bush buck, called Lameck, who goes to Lynn’s (Group Operations Manager Andy Conn’s PA) office every morning from 8am to 10am to get his morning tea, and again at around 4.30pm for his last titbit of the day,” says Ross. “Lynn feeds him with game nuts and now and then he gets a special treat from the kitchen, a selection of lettuce, banana peel, pawpaw peel and other soft fruit or veg. When she’s away Lameck can sometimes be found looking for her in her office. He has an injured back leg, which cannot be fixed. He is one of 17 wild bush buck on the property.”
