Offices


Despite the festive holiday (for some people), the rains, slow deliveries and financial constraints, we have made some progress on the new offices at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone as witnessed from this photo taken this morning.

We’re expecting delivery of roofing materials this week and if this happens, and weather permitting, in a week’s time there should be some more progress to report, but don’t hold your breath!

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High Water White Water Rafting


We had this e mail from Safpar, the company we use for our Guests at Chanters Lodge who like to go rafting.

“Happy New Year to you!

It’s that time of year again when the rains have been falling and the river levels are rising meaning that we need to go onto high water rafting. We will be starting from rapid 7b from Thursday 7th January.

Itinerary

7.30am pick up from town accommodation (this varies slightly depending on which lodge clients are staying at)

8.00am – meet at Waterfront for safety talks and breakfast

8.45am – depart to rapid 7b for a walk down into the gorge to commence rafting

Raft to rapid 25 and get the Jet Extreme cable car lift out of the gorge where the Safpar truck will be waiting with ice cold beers, soft drinks and some fruit to snack on for the journey back to The Waterfront

14.30 / 15.00 – Arrive back at Waterfront for a late lunch and to watch the DVD of the day’s rafting

16.00 – Transfer provided back to town accommodation”
Still an awesome experience!

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The Benefits Of Being Young And Clueless!


I’m lucky to have a lot of young friends on Facebook, a young family and young employees. Here’s something to inspire them all:

Via Inc Staff Blog

“The benefits of being young and clueless. Experience may be the best teacher, but on his blog Quick Sprout, tech entrepreneur Neil Patel argues that “the less you know, the more money you’ll make.” Granted, first-time entrepreneurs are bound to make their share of mistakes, but Patel explains that there are a number of advantages to not being a know-it-all.

Among the benefits of being a new entrepreneur is that you’re more willing to listen, more likely to try new ideas, and less likely to waste time trying to create an absolutely perfect company. Perhaps most importantly, first-time entrepreneurs are hungry for success. “You have that fire in your eye and it isn’t because you want it there, it’s because you are broke and have no choice but to figure out a way to make some money so you can put some food on the table,” says Patel.”

Now, a picture. Well I could post a photo of one of the youngsters mentioned above but they might think I was calling them ‘young and clueless’ so let me think…….got it – a relatively young and definitely clueless lot partying on the edge of Victoria Falls! Have a nice weekend!

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Strobinos And Blue Nile Falls


I had this lovely e mail this week from previous Guests at Chanters Lodge:

“Hi Richard !

We hope you are well.

We wish you and your family a great 2010 hoping to meet you again some day.
As you know, we are regular readers of your blog. Congratulations for the great extension works you have undergone in your lodge !

Here are some pictures taken during our last trip to beautiful Ethiopia and specially some of the lovely Blue Nile Falls, nothing to compare of course with your mighty Victoria Falls !

With our warmest regards.

Hélène and Jean-Michel Strobino”

They sent that lovely photo too!

The Blue Nile Falls are a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. They are known as Tis Issat in Amharic, when translated, means “smoking water” They are situated on the upper course of the river, about 30 kilometers downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and Lake Tana. The falls are considered one of Ethiopia’s best known tourist attractions.

The falls are estimated to be between 37 and 45 meters high, consisting of four streams that originally varied from a trickle in the dry season to over 400 meters wide in the rainy season. Regulation of Lake Tana now reduces the variation somewhat, and since 2003 a hydro-electric station has taken much of the flow out of the falls except during the rainy season. The Blue Nile Falls have isolated the ecology of Lake Tana from the ecology of the rest of the Nile, and this isolation has played a role in the evolution of the endemic fauna of the lake.

A short distance downstream from the falls sits the first stone bridge constructed in Ethiopia, built at the command of Emperor Susenyos in 1626. According to Manoel de Almeida, stone for making lime had been found nearby along the tributary Alata, and a craftsman who had come from India with Alfonso Mendez, the Catholic Patriarch of Ethiopia supervised the construction.

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TOURISM ZAMBIA 2010


This from African Manager

As 2009 came to a close, the Zambian leadership was upbeat that tourism will play a pivotal economic role for this landlocked country in the coming year, when investments sunk into the sector begin to bear fruit.

“The tourism sector continues to rank high on my government’s development agenda, as it holds great potential in the diversification of our economy,” Zambian president Rupiah Banda told his nation in a published message Thursday.

Indeed, the diversification of the Zambian economy from mining to agriculture and tourism is part of initiatives that were started by late president Levy Mwanawasa and which attracted financial support from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Banda built on these initiatives and it is now expected that his commitment to the dream will significantly yield results in 2010.

Specifically, more tourists are expected to visit Zambia’s wildlife sanctuaries in the South of the country, the Eastern parts of the country and the relatively central Kafue National Park. Building on the original plans, Banda has shifted focus from Southern Zambia, he art-throb of Zambian tourism, to the new area of Kasaba Bay where he intends to commercialize parts of Mbala airport which presently is an Air Base, so it can handle civilian air traffic as well.

Consequently, while legislation is being changed in parliament to accommodate this economic necessity, the Zambian government has already gone ahead and increased the overall allocation for tourism to K77.6 billion from the K26 billion of 20 0 8. [US$1 = K4, 680]. Of this amount, K24 billion has been allocated towards rehabilitating the road c onnecting Mbala Air Force base near Lake Tanganyika to the resort area of Kasaba Bay. A further K11 billion has been allocated towards the construction of a terminal building at Mbala Airport and an airstrip at Kasaba Bay on the banks of Lake Tanganyika.

PITY THEN, THAT THE ZERO RATED VAT ON ACCOMMODATION IN LIVINGSTONE HAS APPARENTLY BEEN WITHDRAWN, MEANING EITHER A 16% PRICE INCREASE TO BE PASSED ON TO GUESTS OR AN EQUIVALENT SLASHING OF PROFIT, AND THAT NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO REINTRODUCE VISA WAIVERS FOR BONA FIDE TOURISTS.

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Feeling Older?


JUST IN CASE YOU WEREN’T FEELING TOO OLD TODAY EARLY IN THIS NEW YEAR OF 2010:

THE PEOPLE WHO ARE STARTING UNIVERSITY THIS YEAR WERE BORN IN 1991.
THEY ARE TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER THE SPACE SHUTTLE BLOWING UP.

THEIR LIFETIME HAS ALWAYS INCLUDED AIDS.

THE CD WAS INTRODUCED EIGHT YEARS BEFORE THEY WERE BORN.

THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD AN ANSWERING MACHINE.

THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD EMAIL, CELL PHONES AND THE INTERNET.

THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD VCRS, AND VIDEO CAMERAS.
THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD CABLE.
POPCORN HAS ALWAYS BEEN MICROWAVED.

THEY NEVER TOOK A SWIM AND THOUGHT ABOUT JAWS.

MCDONALD’S NEVER CAME IN STYROFOAM CONTAINERS.

THEY DON’T HAVE A CLUE HOW TO USE A TYPEWRITER.

The picture – another reminder of age – my youngest Henry, 7, about to take his first flight on 1Time Airlines earlier this week!

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It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This!

“Can we check our CD to make sure the pictures we’ve got are ours?” A Guest asked me yesterday – a not infrequent request. “Sure!” I replied being a helpful kind of chap. Well I passed by as they were doing it and saw this must have stunner on the screen!

As far as pictures of Victoria Falls are concerned it doesn’t get much better than this, does it? A great photo taken by the Safari Par Excellence photographer for the Andersen Family from Denmark, currently our Guests at Chanters Lodge Livingstone.

The picture was taken from the Boiling Pot just above Rapid No.1. as the Andersens started their full day white water rafting – which they loved too!

Amazing! Thanks to all concerned!

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The Sea in Spring



I was delighted to see Kirsty Birkholz and Rory Gaddin on New Year’s Day! Remember them? They guested on the Chanters Lodge Experience, our radio show, around this time last year when Kristel was appearing in cabaret at the Royal Livingstone Hotel. They subsequently stayed a few days at Chanters as well.

Kristel and Rory were back again at the Royal last New Year’s Eve and stopped by to drop off a copy of Kristel’s latest album ‘The Sea In Spring’. It’s classical but features Thula Thu’ on which Kristel plays her famous Tin Can Violin. The album is from Cherry Pill Music and check Kristel at www.kristelbirkholtz.co.za

There’s last year’s photo of Rory and Kristel and a photo of the new album cover!

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Livingstone Hotel University?


This from the Times of Zambia:

The Hotel and Tourism Training Institute (HTTI) will next year invest US$50 million in constructing a tourism complex that will house a 150-room hotel, university and establishing a game reserve in Livingstone.

The project, which will be done in three phases, will take between three and five years to complete.
HTTI executive director, Moses Sakala said in Lusaka yesterday that Senior Chief Mukuni had availed 163 hectares of land to the project and that title deeds were still being processed. Mr Sakala, who did not state the month when construction will start, said there was no land available in Lusaka for the complex, but the chief offered traditional land in the tourist capital.

The project will be done in three phases, with phase one concentrating on putting up a road network, water facilities and electricity for easy access to the site. Phase two will focus on construction of the university, which includes administration offices, lecture rooms, computer laboratories, and student hotels, at a cost of $20 million. The last phase of the project will involve construction of the hotel and establishing a game reserve.

“Since we are a special institution, we will set up a hotel and game reserve on the site and be able to train our students in how to look after our guests and the environment,” Mr Sakala said in an interview.
The funds for the project will be raised through a consortium of local and foreign financial institutions, whose names Mr Sakala withheld as discussions were yet to be concluded.

“We have not yet started the construction works but we will start during the course of 2010 because this is a big project where we have to put up a road network, water and connect the area to power,” he said. The university will be the first in Zambia to offer degree programmes in tourism and hospitality. “Currently, the courses being offered only reach diploma level and one cannot advance to a degree programme because there is no institution offering degrees in tourism and hospitality,” he said.

Mr Sakala also said HTTI had refurbished the conference room, restaurant and acquired new laundry machines for Fairview Hotel in Lusaka, which is being expanded to add two more storeys.

My opinion? Too much, too late. The picture? Chief Mukuni riding one of his recently acquired elephants.

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