Ellies! Hippos! You’re on a “Zambezi Queen” River Cruise!

“See the hippos!”

Gilbert, our Zambezi Queen guide, points to a jumble of large round boulders in the mud flats.

One boulder moves.

We make out red-rimmed eyes and little piggy ears.

Sure enough, it’s a hippo.

It stands up, waddles sideways, and then plops down on top of other boulders, creating a grey ripple of hippo flesh.

Zambezi Queen review

These enthralling sights are just part of the rich game viewing and bird watching experienced on an African river cruise aboard the Zambezi Queen.

And the Zambezi Queen boat delivers all of this in style!

Zambezi Queen houseboat

Part of the Zambezi Queen Collection, the Zambezi Queen is 138 feet (42 meters) long.

Built in the early 1990s, the luxury Chobe houseboat was taken over by the Mantis group in 2012 and reinvented for today’s river safari guests.

(The Mantis Group manages a collection of five-star boutique hotels, eco-lodges and yachts around the world.)

Two- and three-night Chobe river cruises can be booked on the Zambezi Queen. And it offers one of Africa’s most unique safari experiences.

African safari river cruises

Normally on safari, you stay on land in a lodge or tent.

On the Zambezi Queen, however, you float on the water, soaking up the life of the floodplain.

Staterooms on this Chobe houseboat

Resembling a houseboat, the Zambezi Queen has 14 spacious staterooms on the lower two of its three decks.

Ten standard staterooms range from 215 sq. ft. (19 sq. meters) to 235 sq. ft. (218 sq. meters), while four master suites are a generous 300 sq. ft. (28 sq. meters).

All staterooms have air-conditioning to keep you cool at night too (but you don’t really need it between May and September).

The only thing you have to be careful about on this Chobe houseboat is closing your balcony doors and outside metal shutters when it gets dark.

(After leaving the doors open and lights on one evening, we returned to find a bug party in our cabin – hey, this is Africa. But the staff kindly cleaned our room all over again.)

At 10 pm, the main lights are turned off, and the boat’s power is switched to back-up.

Getting to the Zambezi Queen river boat

The journey to get to the Zambezi Queen is quite the adventure in itself.

The Zambezi Queen awaits in the Chobe River on the Namibia side of the river.

Following our lion-oriented South African safari, we flew from Johannesburg to Livingstone, Zambia, where we were driven to the banks of the Zambezi River and ferried across to Kasane, Botswana.

You may fly directly into the new Kasane International Airport in Botswana.

After getting your passport stamped, you’re guided to a vehicle for transfer to the Kasane Immigration Office.

There, Zambezi Queen staff help you through passport control to exit Botswana and board a motor boat to cross the Chobe River to the Namibian Immigration Office.

Keep your eyes peeled, as you could spot ellies or other wildlife!

After getting your passport stamped from the Namibian office, you clamber back into the boat for a high-speed ride to the Zambezi Queen.

Going through passport control and immigration has never been so much fun!

Welcome! An elegant Chobe river cruise boat

Once we were onboard, smiling Namibian staff (mostly women, wearing bright orange turbans and long dresses) greeted us with African songs.

Then we were ushered upstairs to the top deck for a glass of champagne.

And what a view awaited us up there!

The entire top deck, consisting of the lounge, library and dining room, is one open room.

As it’s completely open on three sides, you have unobstructed views of the African scenery. (At night, staff roll down see-through screens and turn the air-conditioning on.)

Sipping our champagne, while reclining against zebra-striped cushions on a cream sofa, we watched an amazing tableau of perhaps 20 elephants munching away on a grassy river island.

Occasionally, they’d splash each other with water.

The setting sun cast a golden glow over the scene, a refreshing breeze kept us cool and the travel rigors of the day just melted away.

Game viewing and more on the Zambezi Queen river cruise

Water-based excursions

We saw plenty more elephants on “water game drives” throughout our three-night African river cruise.

These small boat excursions brought us even closer to the river-based wildlife.

Crocs, comical-looking warthogs drinking from the river, mother and baby elephants, hippos galore (as promised by Gilbert) and an Audubon-worthy abundance of birds that would make serious birdwatchers swoon – we reveled watching all.

Chobe National Park excursion

A half-day is also devoted to a game drive on land in Chobe National Park.

The second biggest park in Botswana, Chobe has one of the largest populations of wildlife on the African continent.

Climbing into a six-person open Land Cruiser with a shade roof, we set off along red-sand tracks through the park.

We kept an eye out for lions.

But we didn’t see any. (Lions usually sleep during the day and hunt at night.)

Rural village visit

You also have the opportunity to visit the rural Namibian village from which the Zambezi Queen staff are hired.

You learn how the local people live in clay huts and cook on open fires, and you can buy hand-beaded jewelry, wood carvings and other souvenirs from them too.

Not much cruising on the Zambezi Queen cruise

With all the activities, the Zambezi Queen doesn’t do much actual cruising.

It mostly just glides along at a leisurely pace between two moorings about 15+ miles (25 kilometers) apart. In this sense, it’s more like a houseboat than a river cruise.

Indeed, we wished our Chobe river cruise was longer – so we could chill out more on a lounge chair or soak in the outdoor hot tub on the upper back deck, watching the wilderness scenery slowly unfold.

We also still hanker for another slice of the heavenly lemon meringue pie served for dessert one day.

Focusing on quality not copious quantities, the food is delicious, with salads, quiches and fish for lunch and international specialties for dinner.

The last night is a special buffet of typical African foods – like spicy lamb stew and creamed spinach in peanut sauce and oxtail.

And the staff, dressed in grass skirts, coax all the guests to join them in traditional singing and dancing.

Still, for us, the river life stands out the most.

We couldn’t get enough of the elephants on the riverbanks, the rainbow-colored birds strutting in the grasses and the hippos, waking us up with their ho-ho-ho grunting – only in Africa…

If you prefer an even more intimate Chobe houseboat, you can book one of the three smaller Chobe Princesses.

After refurbishment, they joined the Zambezi Queen Collection in 2015.

They also underwent another facelift in 2019, with upgrades to the bathrooms and pool decks installation of new beds and furnishings.

Two of the Chobe Princesses are 60 feet (19 meters) long and have four staterooms.

The third Chobe Princess is slightly bigger and has five staterooms.

Like the Zambezi Queen, staterooms have king-size beds and air-conditioning.

Staterooms also have large sliding windows overlooking the ever-changing river views.

And each houseboat has a plunge pool too.

The Chobe Princesses also have their own smaller “tender” boats to take you out on daily river excursions.

Things to know about a Chobe River safari

Other Zambezi Queen reviews

Zambezi queen luxury African river safari

For more information about the Zambezi Queen and Chobe Princesses, see the Zambezi Queen Collection website.

Visit Victoria Falls

When in the area, be sure to also visit nearby Victoria Falls, one of the world’s seven natural wonders.

On the Zambia side of the falls, the top-rated Royal Livingstone Hotel is just a 10-minute walk from the thundering waterfalls.

On the Zimbabwe side, the lovely Victoria Falls Safari Club offers an exclusive hotel-within-a-hotel experience.

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Photo credits: 4, 12, 14 to 16, 18 © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcase | Remaining photos the Zambezi Queen Collection

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