The first thing you’ll notice is the silence, then slowly, as your eyes and ears become attuned to the surroundings, the orchestra of Africa’s bush comes alive.

Sitting on the upstairs terrace of the Stanley & Livingstone Boutique Hotel, I look down on a lush garden filled with an assortment of tall Fever and Mopani trees and bedded with agapanthus, peace lilies, elephant ears, and white hibiscus. I’m speaking with Head Gardener, Thomas Muleya, who’d just escorted me around his life’s work, introducing me to each plant. I’m deservedly sipping a glass of Amarula, a cream liqueur made from the fruit of the Marula tree.

About 50 metres from the main lodge the landscaped garden ends abruptly and is given over to Mother Nature who grows wild and free. In the towering Sweetgum trees adjacent to the waterhole, a troop of baboons are taunting a herd of zebra standing underneath. A dozen or so impala drift into view, and to one side stands a solitary giraffe, surveying it all from up high. Something startled the birds who all fled in a flurry of hysteria. The kudu heard it too and plunged darkly into the bush.

Other than incessant birdsong, the Stanley & Livingstone is whisper quiet. This is because, unlike other lodges, it’s further away from the Victoria Falls which is a massive plus as you don’t have the constant whirring noises of helicopter tours overhead. But it’s still close enough for a quick visit as it’s a short 20-minute drive to the Falls.

The main building houses the 1871 restaurant, bar, and lounge, which is lit by a roaring fire every night. The interior design is that of a gentrified colonial home filled with artefacts harking to that era – Victorian antiques, first edition book-lined nooks, historical paintings, sketches, prints, and newspaper clippings detailing the early exploration of Africa, combined with bold bespoke wallpaper, crystal chandeliers, wood panelling, and touchable textures. It’s all utterly inviting.

It’s Victorian in spirit and décor, but up-to-the-minute in wi-fi facilities and amenities, which include a kidney-shaped pool in the garden; an inventive array of in-room spa treatments using organic Africology products; and twice-a-day game drives around the reserve, which is home to the Big Five, including the critically endangered black rhino.

There are 16 suites which comprise of low hanging thatched roofed rondavels arranged in a half-moon around the show garden. Rooms are bright and light with a canopied king-size bed; an en-suite bathroom with walk-in shower, roll-top bath, robes, and Africology products. Each has a lounge with a complimentary tea and coffee station, a pay-for minibar, and a private terrace – for the best view of the waterhole ask for rooms eight to 12. One of the luxury suites has wide doorways and plenty of space for guests in wheelchairs.

The world’s most indulgent hotels all have one quality that makes them stand out from one another. Sometimes it’s the faultlessly attentive staff, sublime comfort, or the right whiff – the Stanley & Livingstone has it all, including a Chef that’s put them on the culinary map.

A temple of great food and ambience is to be found in the 1871 restaurant. Here Sous Chef, Victoria Nekatambe, produces a seduction of courses using color, emotions, and history, which translates into a story and plays tricks on the palate. There is magic in this process and a sense of theatre as every course has its very own special production. Rock Star service delivers gourmet fusion food, which arrives in degrees of excellence.

Chef Victoria prepares dishes that are full of honesty and freshness, her ingredients have been given time to grow and express themselves, and in the kitchen, they get to know one another- and they come from soil that hasn’t been messed with.

I asked that Chef Victoria prepare me her favourite main course – a flavoursome beef oxtail stew cooked just long enough till the meat fell off the bone. After a moment of startled delight, I began to emit a series of involuntary rapturous noises of an intensity sufficient to draw stares from fellow diners.

The restaurant was full, and not all were hotel guests. People come here and leave thinking they’ve connected with nature. The role of Chef Victoria’s menu is to put the pieces back together with what the land provides. That’s the gift of nature. Treat it well and it gives you the gift of great food.

Then I wrapped my mouth around the Viagra of all pastries – a lemon meringue pie. The exquisitely flavoured and fragrant cream cheese oozed out of its delicate casing and coated every one of my taste buds, forcing me to savour every morsel by chewing as slowly as possible. It was an emotional and religious experience, and where my fragile love affair with pastries began.

Later, with a coffee on the verandah, I contemplated the night sky filled with the sparkling stars of the Milky Way. I can’t speak for anyone else about what makes a hotel extraordinary. Often, it’s the barman, the doorman, the concierge – the keepers of secrets, but for me it’s always emotional. Often its funny, occasionally seductive, but sometimes, just sometimes, sweetly melancholic. Tonight, I decided, it would be melancholic as, like David Livingstone, the great African explorer, my spirit will remain in Zimbabwe. It is, after all, the land that grew my ancestors.

W: Stanley & Livingstone Hotel

Written by Cindy-Lou Dale for Luxury Safari Magazine