Where the Smoke Thunders and the Big Five Roam

4 MINUTE READ

There is a moment, gin and tonic in hand, watching the sun dissolve into the Zambezi River in a wash of copper and rose, when Africa stops being a destination and becomes something altogether more elemental. That moment arrived on the African Queen, drifting through the golden hour somewhere upstream of Victoria Falls, and it rendered every logistical indignity of getting here entirely beside the point.

Our overland African adventure began in Cape Town, where we disembarked the Azamara Onward and checked into the Southern Sun Cullinan for the night. It was here we met Mr T, our guide for the entire journey. His value would become apparent quickly. By morning we were airborne to Livingstone, Zambia, where the David Livingstone Safari Lodge awaited on the banks of the Zambezi River.

The lodge sits within easy reach of Victoria Falls and delivers solid four-star comfort. Breakfasts were genuinely excellent. Evening meals, which we did not get to sample, may tell a different story, but mornings set us up well for what proved to be a full programme.

Royal Livingstone Express: Dinner on the Rails

Our first excursion set a high bar. The Royal Livingstone Express is a beautifully restored steam locomotive with carriages dating from the 1920s and 1930s, and it delivers something that modern rail simply cannot replicate: theatre.

The train rolls out onto the Victoria Falls Rail Bridge, a feat of Edwardian engineering prefabricated in Britain and opened in 1905. At the time of its construction, it ranked among the highest rail bridges in the world. Today it still commands respect, straddling the gorge at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

We proceeded only halfway across, which is as far as Zambian jurisdiction permits, before turning back to be served a delectable dinner as the locomotive steamed through the heart of the Zambezi valley. The combination of colonial-era elegance and genuinely dramatic scenery is hard to fault.

Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya): The Smoke That Thunders

No visit to Livingstone is complete without Victoria Falls, and the walking tour the following morning confirmed why it is counted among the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The local Kololo name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, translates as “the smoke that thunders,” and it earns every syllable. The mist rises high enough to be visible from several kilometres away, soaking walkers who draw too close and filling the air with a constant low roar that seems less like sound and more like atmosphere. 

It is, without qualification, magnificent.

That afternoon brought the river safari aboard the African Queen, and the gin and tonic moment described above. Recommended without reservation.

A Word on Getting There

The flight from Livingstone to Johannesburg deserves an honest mention. South Africa Airlink operates the route on an Embraer E90, a regional jet with a business class section of just six seats. The airline was, shall we say, diligent in enforcing its baggage policy, requiring us to pay USD24 for being three kilograms over weight before bags could even be checked. On board, cabin service was provided by crew in face masks and surgical gloves who appeared to regard conversation as an optional extra. 

Functional transport, competently delivered, warmly forgotten.

Pilanesberg Game Reserve: Into the Bushveld

From Johannesburg, a three-hour bus transfer delivered us to Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge within the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. The reserve covers nearly 57,000 hectares, and supports virtually the full complement of Southern Africa’s game species, including the Big Five and rarer sightings such as wild dog and cheetah.

The Leopard, the most elusive of the big five, caught here!

The game drive structure was well considered: departures at 6am returning around 9:30am for breakfast, then out again at 3pm returning by 6:30pm for dinner. Drives are conducted in open safari vehicles, which means proximity to lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo is genuine rather than filtered through glass. Our assigned guide, Herman, a senior ranger with a decade of experience in the park, proved exceptional. His knowledge of the reserve and its residents was encyclopaedic, his storytelling generous, and his ability to locate species that other guides might have missed was remarkable. A great guide transforms a game drive from tourism into something approaching natural history fieldwork.

The lodge itself was a more mixed proposition. Evening buffets were functional rather than memorable, while breakfast buffets redeemed the dining programme considerably. The accommodation showed its age, and the beds were among the firmest this traveller has encountered in some time. These are the kinds of details one notices when the adrenaline of a dawn game drive has worn off.

A Final Night in Johannesburg

Three nights at Pilanesberg concluded with a return transfer to Johannesburg and an overnight stay at the Peermont D’Oreale hotel before the journey home.

One structural observation about the Imagine Cruising itinerary is worth passing on to anyone considering a similar programme. The group did not gather as a collective until Cape Town, after twenty nights of travel. Introductions were only made with nine nights remaining, which meant friendships were forming precisely as the tour was ending. A single group meeting in the Seychelles or aboard the Azamara Onward early in the journey would have meaningfully improved the social dimension of the trip. It is the kind of detail that costs the operator nothing to fix and would add genuine value for guests.

The Seasoned Traveller’s Verdict

The African overland component of this Imagine Cruising itinerary delivers its headline experiences with considerable impact. The Royal Livingstone Express dinner is genuinely special. Victoria Falls lives up to every superlative. The Pilanesberg game drives, particularly with a guide of Herman’s calibre, offer encounters with wildlife that remain vivid long after the safari dust has settled.

The supporting infrastructure is uneven. Accommodation quality varies, some meals underdeliver, and the airline interlude between Livingstone and Johannesburg added friction that a premium tour operator could reasonably smooth out. The late-stage group introductions are a structural flaw worth flagging to Imagine Cruising directly.

On balance, the experience earns its recommendation. Africa, in this author’s assessment, justifies the occasional rough edge. The continent has a way of insisting on its own terms, and that, ultimately, is what makes it worth going back for.