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Property Of The Month

River Queen

It’s an incongruous vision – a five-star luxury hotel floating on the Chobe River. The three-deck-high Zambezi Queen riverboat gleams as sunlight glances off the glass sliding doors of the cabins and entertainment deck, which open up to the river like an enchanted doll’s house. However, hippo-shaped shadows along the banks remind us that we’re not in an urban metropolis, but the middle of the African  wilderness.

For many years the riverboat languished alongside King’s Den, a derelict safari lodge on the shores of the Caprivi Strip, moored close to the point where Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia converge and the Chobe River meets the Zambezi, its true potential as yet untapped.

Then, in 2008, the Zambezi Queen was brought to the attention of Tony Stern, a plastics engineer turned property developer who is well known for his development of luxury homes in Bakoven, as well as for several industrial and commercial properties around Cape Town.
Against the background of a faltering real-estate industry, Tony had decided to step back from property development and seek other ventures. It was at this juncture in his life that Brett and Jacqui McDonald, his partners in the Zambezi Queen venture, approached him with a plan to revive the riverboat.

The idea appealed to Tony, but he would only join on one condition.

‘My first reaction was that the new Zambezi Queen had to be something special and completely different to what’s been done all over Africa, which is game lodges with heavy orientation towards the Out of Africa look. I wanted to create something ultra-contemporary in the African Bush, something which had never been done before.’

‘Ultra-contemporary’ translates into a linear elegance, one where the stylish furniture, furnishings and fittings are appropriate to this extraordinary setting, yet resist the temptation to slide into ethno-bongo cliché. The super-modern design is also practical in that it maximises the space in the living areas, giving guests that understated sense of quiet luxury.

The upper deck comprises an uncluttered, trendy, open-plan entertainment area with dining room and lounge/bar.

The lounge is divided into five clusters, each with a Marconi two-seater sofa and two club chairs set around a coffee table. All the furniture on board was modified to fit the dimensions of the riverboat, explains Julius Burmeister van der Merwe (featured in our August 2006 issue; see www.thepropertymag.co.za), one of the architects involved in the project.

‘Jenni Button assisted with the interiors so that the sofas feel plush, welcoming and warm. This is countered with the cleaner, more modern look of the bar and tables,’ adds Julius.

Here, tranquillity is the watchword: house rules require guests to switch their cell phones off or to silent mode in public areas so that everyone may experience the sounds of the wilderness: hippos breaking the river surface, the calls of Chobe National Park’s myriad bird-life, the chirupping of insects, the splash of leaping fish. Aboard the Zambezi Queen, no particular vantage point is required for game spotting – the animals come to you as they make their way to the riverbanks.

At 45m by 8m, the Zambezi Queen sleeps 30 guests in total. Its middle and lower decks incorporate 14 sumptuous guest cabins, four of which are inter-leading master suites that can accommodate extra beds. Each cabin leads off through glass sliding doors to a private balcony that affords intimate views of the river and the surrounding nature reserve. There’s a deluxe double bed (it can be converted to two singles on request), a lounge chair and a built-in wardrobe with a leather curtain instead of a door. Above the headboard, magnificent prints by acclaimed wildlife photographer Horst Klem, as well as other artworks capture the untamed soul of the terrain.

Responsible tourism is integral to the Zambezi Queen experience, an approach that is as much appreciated by guests as it is adhered to by staff.

On the foredeck, for instance, is an inviting plunge pool that is refilled daily with tannin-rich water from the river. Like the rest of the water on the boat, it’s clean and safe, having gone through a triple-phase filtration process, down to the level of one micron.

‘We tell guests we can make the water blue if they want, but that would involve adding chemicals that would then have to be pumped into the river,’ Tony comments. ‘So far, they’ve always declined.’

In the bathrooms, the Hansgrohe EcoSmart range enables guests to save water and power without sacrificing a drop of luxury, while solar panels from Austria generate more than enough hot water for all guests to enjoy a long, refreshing shower at any time of the day, explains Julius.

Dinner in the opulent dining room is a five-star experience, followed by a drink at the bar or coffee and tea in the lounge.

At 10p.m. the Zambezi Queen switches over to energy-saving lights that run on battery power, to eliminate any noise from the diesel generators and allow guests to enjoy the African night sounds undisturbed.

The battery is wired separately to specific fixtures on board. In the cabins, these include two tiny yet incredibly powerful wall-mounted LED reading lamps (select a best-seller from the reading room on the lower deck) and in the bathrooms, soft blue downlighters.

Another major difference from nearly all other boats is the Zambezi Queen’s lack of propellers. She has a water-jet drive that does not damage the riverbed or injure wildlife, plus it allows the riverboat to travel in less than 1m of water.

Apart from the reading room, says Julius, the boat isn’t air conditioned, which saves further energy. Guests stay as fresh as a water lily, however, thanks to floor-to-ceiling aluminium shutters that can be drawn against the sun, and a stylish Russell Hobbs fan in each cabin, which also runs off the marine battery. Another feature unique to the Zambezi Queen is floor-to-ceiling sliding insect screens (complimentary citronella spritz is supplied to ward off any intrepid goggas that do manage to break through.

In addition to all its planet-saving initiatives, the resurgence of the Zambezi Queen has helped significantly with the economic upliftment of the local community.

‘The majority of our staff members were untrained and unemployed,’ says Tony.

The waiters are a case in point: most of them hadn’t even eaten in a restaurant before, says Tony. So, he brought in Fasie Malherbe, of the Roundhouse Restaurant fame, who turned the situation around within 72 hours. The faultless table-side service is proof of the project’s success.

Tony says the Zambezi Queen Luxury African Safari shouldn’t be confused with a river cruise. Guests may choose from a two-or three-night itinerary and the riverboat stays anchored at one point for the majority of that time. River safaris are undertaken in tender boats (‘tinnies’ in the vernacular – they’re made from aluminium). These make for better game viewing because the animals don’t feel as threatened, Tony comments.

The itinerary also includes bream and tiger-fishing expeditions on the Zambezi, while excursions onto dry land include a 4x4 game drive through Chobe National Park and a stopover at the boma on the opposite bank, where picturesque little huts, a wood-fired pizza oven and a well-stocked bar cleverly constructed from an upturned makoro (traditional dugout canoe) make the time off the vessel worthwhile.
Tony’s biggest challenge, and thus his greatest achievement in building the riverboat, is that the rebirth of the Zambezi Queen took place in the middle of the bush.

The closest signs of civilization are to be found in the dusty town of Kasane, 8km upriver on the Botswana side of the border. For the rest, it’s pure wilderness…

All building materials had to be transported from source to Kasane, then from Kasane to King’s Den, where construction took place. But in Kasane there’s not even a stable pier to work off, just a steep, muddy riverbank.

To add to these burdens, in 2009 the Zambezi River broke its banks, rising by 7m and unleashing the worst flood in living memory.
‘It would be impossible to build a riverboat of this sort again. It is unique,’ Tony says proudly.

The Zambezi Queen opened to the public in September 2009, and the response has been very satisfying, says Tony.   
For a full list of rates and itineraries, visit
www.zambeziqueen.com.