Despite what
some guide books say, Livingstone, Zambia is not a tourist town. Sure, it has a few backpacker hostels, but
these are basically self-contained units, that provide everything a traveller
needs. Even then, a vast majority of
tourists who come to Livingstone skip the town altogether and head ten
kilometres down the road to the swanky hotels that line the banks of the
Zambezi river near Victoria Falls.
(Although these people are missing out on a lot, I don’t judge them too
harshly. Culture shock would soon hit me
like a sledgehammer, and shake my confidence as a traveller).
My wife and
I, however, had chosen to stay at the Guest Mate Inn, which had been booked by
my wife’s friend who lived in Livingstone.
According to what little literature I could find on the place, it had
once served as home to British Army officers back during the days of Empire. The walled compound consisted of the main
house, with an opened walled bar at the back and five or six detached
dwellings. One of these had been
reserved for us.
Upon check-in, we were told that we must pay for the room in advance. It was only then that we learned about the recent law forbidding the use of any currency except the local kwacha. Bad news for my pocket full of US Dollars. Thankfully, in true Zambian style, the woman behind the desk, just smiled and told me I could pay tomorrow, or the next day. I did managed to pay the next day – 2,140,000 kwacha (about $400) for the nine-nights we stayed there.
Our little
dwelling consisted of a comfortable bedroom, containing a mini-fridge, an air-conditioner/heater, and a television that received three channels. We also had a bathroom, with a nice, hot
shower. Although the room looked a
little tired and worn, at the time, we didn’t realize what kind of luxury this
represented. As near as we could tell,
very few tourists stayed at the inn; its main clientele appeared to be passing
businessmen.
Our room
also came with a complimentary ‘continental’ breakfast. This consisted of Roos tea and toast with
butter and jam. The butter and jam came
on a plate, four rough lumps of butter around the edges, with a plop of jam in
the middle. A couple of mornings they
were out of jam. Sometimes, the toast
was only toasted on one-side. For $4 you
could order a ‘Full English’ breakfast.
We tried this once, and although they made a valiant effort at
sausages, eggs, bacon, and baked beans, we decided to just stick with the toast
from thereafter.
In the nine
nights we stayed at the Inn, our room was never cleaned. One morning, one of the women who worked their
asked if ‘today we wanted our room cleaned’.
Somewhat caught off-guard by the question, we replied that it wasn’t
necessary. ‘Maybe tomorrow, then’, she
replied, and that’s the last we heard of it.
We did, once, have to ask for more toilet paper, and our bin was a bit
overflowing by the end, but it was fine.
With all of
its little quirks, the Guest Mate Inn quickly became a little home to us. It was a wonderful retreat when the busy
chaos of Livingstone town became too much for us. At night, when we would wander in from the
pitch black road outside, we would say good-evening to the gate-guard, and he
would respond, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you.’
Should you
ever find yourself in Livingstone, and there are many reasons to go, consider
staying a night or two at the Guest Mate Inn.
No comments:
Post a Comment