The Victoria Falls Hotel is a historic luxury hotel at

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe Victoria Falls, popularly known as Vic Falls, is a resort town and city in the province of Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. It lies on the southern bank of the Zambezi River at the western end of Victoria Falls themselves. According to the 2022 Po ...

, dramatically situated with a view of the Second Gorge and the

Victoria Falls Bridge The Victoria Falls Bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below the Victoria Falls and is built over the Second Gorge of the falls. As the river forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bridge links the two countries and has border post ...

from its terrace. It is a member of

The Leading Hotels of the World The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. (LHW) is a marketing organization, representing more than 400 hotels in over 80 countries. Established in 1928 by European hoteliers, LHW is headquartered in New York City. History The company was establ ...

marketing organisation and managed by African Sun Limited and Meikles.

History

The hotel was opened in 1904 to accommodate passengers on the newly built

National Railways of Zimbabwe The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system. It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...

railway, part of the planned

Cape to Cairo Railway The Cape to Cairo Railway was an unfinished project to create a railway line crossing Africa from south to north. It would have been the largest and most important railway of that continent. It was planned as a link between Cape Town in Sout ...

. Later it was a staging post for the BOAC flying boat service between

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The hotel has accommodated royal visitors on several occasions, including King George VI and his family in April 1947. The hotel has been the site of a number of important political meetings. In 1949

Roy Welensky Sir Roland "Roy" Welensky, (''né'' Raphael Welensky; 20 January 1907 – 5 December 1991) was a Northern Rhodesian politician and the second and last Prime Minister of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Born in Salisbury, Southern Rh ...

organised a conference there to discuss the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and in 1963, the Victoria Falls Conference at the hotel led to the breakup of the federation. It hosted the 1975 Victoria Falls Conference to try to sort out

Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that Southern Rhodesia or simply Rhodesia, a British territory in southern Africa that had governed it ...

that followed the break-up of the Federation.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1904 establishments in Southern Rhodesia Buildings and structures in Matabeleland North Province Hotels in Zimbabwe Hotels established in 1904 Hotel buildings completed in 1904 The Leading Hotels of the World Victoria Falls Hotels in Victoria Falls