Saturday 27 February 2010

Chanter’s Lodge, Livingstone – A good choice for budget travel

It is a week since returning from Zambia, but it has been difficult to do posts up until now. During the Zambia part of the trip our base was Chanter’s Lodge, which is a short walk from the town of Livingstone and owned by a British guy called Richard Chanter. It has ten rooms of varying sizes. The family room with its two double beds and bunk beds suited us (two friends who wanted a bit of personal space, but happy to share a room). It also has a restaurant and pleasant pool area. We only paid $79.00 a night and got good service and a nice breakfast. It would have been better if there had been a little more attention to detail here and there, but for the money we paid we were satisfied. Chanter's is located in a suburb of Livingstone which has a mixture of homes owned by local people and budget accommodation. Some of the properties are very desirable, others faded and in need of restoration. We have been to local bars, seen people going about their business and it has been good to get a sense of life in a Livingstone suburb.

We loved the facilities at the Zambezi Sun, David Livingstone Safari Lodge and most of all at the Royal Livingstone. The trouble with these places is that you are in a sanitised tourist bubble (albeit a very luxurious one) and are far away from the people whose country you are visiting. Having said that I like a bit of luxury and think it is good fun to mix travel styles. To find out more about Chanters Lodge see http://www.chanters-livingstone.com/

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