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The Kingdom Hotel is a 4 star themed resort within walking distance of the Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi. This massive centre is home to a large hotel; an entertainment centre with a casino, restaurants, bars, a bank, a beauty parlour, shops, an internet caf', a pharmacy and an attractive man-made lake.
As its name implies, the hotel was designed to look like a royal palace, with architecture based on the Great Zimbabwe Monument in Masvingo. The Kingdom is the sister hotel of The Lost City at Sun City in South Africa, and the themes are very similar with rope bridges, lagoons, waterfalls and African fantasy-themed structures. The hotel was formerly known as the Makasa Sun and hosted Southern Africa's best-known casino for 35 years. In 1999 the resort was rebuilt and transformed into The Kingdom as it stands today.
Upon arrival we were greeted by the friendly staff in their smart uniforms - and offered a complimentary welcome cocktail. Our room had a great view of the lake and we were really grateful to have air conditioners and overhead fans in our rooms, as the area can get really hot!
The resort's large entertainment centre, The Enclosure, is quite popular amongst guests and locals alike. Its main attraction, the Makasa Casino is set under a large domed skylight and has been rated one of Zimbabwe's most attractive casinos. It offers a selection of Black Jack, Roulette and 170 slot and poker machines.
The Kingdom also has a beautiful pool area with two swimming pools, a pool terrace and one of the resort's many bars. A great deal of attention has been paid to the smaller details such as the cast iron 'seed-pod' bar stools and the hand sculpted statues on the lawn ' all adding to that 'magical kingdom' effect.
The hotel is a family-friendly resort with tons of activities for kids and adults. They have a creche and children's playground which offers lots of fun things to keep the little ones busy. Many of the rooms also come with extra bunk beds. The rooms are exceptionally clean and stylish and offer that little something extra to make you feel completely at home.
For those guests who like to go 'exploring' - the town centre and shops, the train station and the bus station are really close by and easily accessible. We recommend a ride on the Victoria Falls Steam Safari Express!
While the Victoria Falls are situated on the Zambian side of the river, the best views can be seen from the Zimbabwean side ' making The Kingdom's location ideal. The falls are reached by a short path leading from the hotel and it takes only a few minutes to reach the gates to this awesome sight. Beware of the many hawkers who try to sell you their goods on the way though! They can be very irritating and hard to get rid of, albeit harmless. If you think this might put you off, we suggest you take a taxi instead.
At The Kingdom you'll simply have no excuse for being bored. Not only can you swim, shop, gamble, dine, dance and watch sports at the resort, but outside of the property you'll be spoilt for choice with the selection of activities on offer including bungee jumping, white water rafting, helicopter flights, jet boarding, game viewing, fly fishing, river cruising, museum visits and many more.
The Kingdom doesn't restrict its guests to only one option of entertainment, dining, accommodation, activities or leisure. You choose how you want to spend your time. As far as resorts go ' this one is right up there with the best!
The Kingdom Hotel has 294 rooms. These are situated in separate two and three storey units, built around the hotel's artificial lake. Of these rooms, 102 have twin beds, 112 have king size beds, 34 have king size beds and bunk beds, 40 have twin beds and bunk beds, 4 are Standard Suites with king size beds and 2 are twin bedded paraplegic rooms with interleading bedrooms. These disability-friendly rooms have ramps for easy wheelchair access. The hotel also has elevators and friendly helpful staff to assist guests with special needs.
The rooms are crisp, bright and quite spacious and decorated to an African theme. They are all equipped with modern facilities such as air-conditioners, overhead fans, radios and satellite televisions, telephones with voicemail functions, data points and multiple adapters, hairdryers, safes and a coffee and tea station. All the rooms have balconies and a selection overlooks The Kingdom's lake, while others look out onto the property's green vegetation.
Good news for families is that many of the rooms have extra bunk beds for the kids. And if you're after even more space and luxury, the 4 suites each have a separate lounge and extra bedroom, as well as a mini bar.
The Kingdom Hotel is one place where you never need to go hungry. The resort offers many options for all tastes.
The hotel has its own buffet restaurant, White Waters, which seats a whopping 370 people. It overlooks the Pool Island and offers hearty breakfasts and dinners with a selection of creative dishes such as Mopani worms. They also have after-dinner floor show of traditional music and dancing.
We were astonished to see all the different foods on offer for breakfast. Most of the hotels we visited have limited supplies of fresh fruit and other difficult to acquire products, but at The Kingdom we were absolutely spoilt for choice. They had fresh fruits, including melon, oranges, watermelon, pears, peaches (both in fruit and salad form), cold meats, cheeses and biscuits, fabulous pastries, and of course ' everything your heart could desire in a cooked breakfast (pancakes, omelettes, bacon, egg, sausages etc!). They also had four different kinds of juices.
The resort has an entertainment area called The Enclosure which hosts a large selection of restaurants and bars. Their Spur steakhouse, aptly named the Thundercloud Spur, seats 325 people and is ideal for families. Their burgers are really tasty!
For the pizza and pasta lovers there's Panarotti's ' a great Italian Trattoria-style restaurant with big hearty dishes. We opted for the 'bottomless pizza' special and were surprised by the humungous servings on offer!
Panarotti's also hosts a coffee shop with good speciality coffees and decadent pastries. A cool thing about Panarotti's and Spur is that guests can order from both simultaneously ' which is great if one of you feels like ordering a steak, while someone else would prefer pasta.
There's also a food court for light lunches and snacks such as sandwiches, hotdogs and cooldrinks. Their many bars include Quartermains - a stylish Edwardian-themed bar, Wild Thing ' an Action bar with live entertainment and live sports broadcasts, The Rapid Pool Bar ' on and island surrounded by a rapids water feature, serving light snacks, and The Pit ' the casino bar.
Location: The Kingdom hotel is situated within the Victoria Falls National Park, a mere 5 minutes' walk from the falls. It is approximately 20km from the Victoria Falls Airport and a few minutes' walk from the town centre.
General facilities:
Four swimming pools including a toddler's pool
Pool Bar
Entertainment complex
Casino with blackjack, roulette and slot machines
A supervised cr'che and children's play area
Bank - Barclays bank with an Auto Teller Machine
Shopping - Pharmacy and variety of up-market shops and curios
Action Centre
Internet cafe
Beauty Parlour - hairdresser, masseur and manicurist
Foreign exchange facilities
Open secure parking
Car hire and touring desk
Packed lunches
Hair dressing salon
Food court
6 restaurants
Cafe offering a wide selection of sweets and ice creams
4 bars
Business centre: photocopying, typing, facsimile, e-mail, Internet facilities
Room facilities:
Every standard room has the following:
Tea and coffee making facilities
Air conditioning and overhead fans
Radio and taped music
Satellite televisions
Direct dial telephones with voice-mail facility
Data points and multiple adapters in every room
Showers and baths
Shaving socket outlets
Hairdryers
Electronic safes
In addition to the above, all the Suites have the following:
Separate lounge and bedroom
Mini-bar
Activities:
18-hole Championship golf course at The Elephant Hills Hotel
Africa spectacular (traditional dance show)
Canoeing
Zambezi river boarding
Bungi jumping
Flights over the falls by helicopter (6-seater), ultralight and microlight
Horse trails
Zambezi wine route
Bird watching trail
Morning cruises and sundowner canoe cruise
Game drives (including full day game drives to Hwange and night drives)
Walking safaris and tours of nature sanctuary
Elephant back safaris
Victoria Falls Steam Safari Express.
Services:
Same-day laundry service
24 hour room service
Evening Turndown Service
Open: The Kingdom Hotel is open all year round.
Contact African Encounters on 0861 114 645 or
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African Encounters is a tour operator run by travelers like you. We know & love Africa and believe that the African continent is there for everyone to exerience. From the rural townships to the lap of five star exclusive luxuary, our partnerships in Africa are unrivaled. We guarentee you the best holiday deal. Booking your honeymoon, holiday, safari, dive or beach holiday. We will make your dream vacation happen.
