Royal Livingstone..

Scooter, enjoying a cocktail at the Royal Livingstone...

Today while Marc went rafting and micro light flying I headed up river to inspect some of the top lodges along the river.  My first stop was at Toka Leya lodge which is fairly new Wilderness Safaris property.  One of the nice features was the full service spa (wish I had time to try a treatment).  


Next I was off to Tongabezi Lodge which is one of the original lodges that really set the standard for architecture and interior design that many lodges now emulate.  We used to book the Tongabezi in the early 1990's when I worked at Sobek and this was my first visit.  The lodge was everything I had heard and more!  My favorite room was the "dog house" which was anything but....The manager, Gary, arranged for me to visit their island bush camp called Sindabezi which was a great little gem hidden on an island in the midst of the river. 


 My final visit was at the upscale and beautifully decorated Sussi and Chumi Lodge which is part of the A&K private collection of properties.  The lodge was gorgeous and the rooms even had air conditioning - wow!  This property also featured a spa with products from Africology, one of my favorite lines of spa products...  The manager, Analt, was gracious and a great host.  We dined on grilled quail kebabs after a very nice spicy tomato soup. Desert was a lovely mango cheesecake...yum! 

I then returned to our wonderful sanctuary at the Royal Livingstone and lounged by the pool before joining my group for a beautiful sunset at the river deck where we enjoyed cocktails and heard Marc's story of rafting and micro lite flying.  We topped off the day with a great meal at the dining room where I had a local specialty of oxtail stew.  We enjoyed a nice shiraz and pinotage from South Africa....now sitting by the roaring fire before heading off to bed.  Tomorrow we are u early and off to Botswana - yeah!

Nikki at the terrace of Royal Livingstone...

Tea time...

Marc and Perry