Victoria Falls is more than just a quick stop on a safari. These two properties prove it’s worth staying longer

The main falls at Victoria Falls with a rainbow in front. (ottoduplessis via Getty Images)For years, Victoria Falls was the place you squeezed in between safaris. Maybe you'd spend a night or two, snap a selfie at the edge of the gorge, take a helicopter ride over the spray, or try white-water rafting before catching your next flight. It was a quick stop, not somewhere you'd linger.

There are now clear indications that Victoria Falls is being geared up to cater to a different type of tourist who will stay longer.

Albida – Victoria Falls opened on 1st September 2026 as a new 13-villa, all-inclusive retreat in the Victoria Falls Safari Collection, just 2.5 miles from the Falls. Rather than simply increasing the number of hotel rooms, the property was designed with private villas, package experiences, and stays of three nights or more in mind. This setup suits tourists who want Victoria Falls as a destination rather than an extra night on a safari.

The opening is set in the context of broader progress. Between January and September 2025, Victoria Falls International Airport had 463,848 passengers, which represents an increase of 13.57 percent compared with the corresponding period the year before. The Hyatt company has said that the 245-room Grand Hyatt Victoria Falls The Kingdom is expected to open in late 2027 after undergoing a major refurbishment. Victoria Falls will also gain even more international attention in 2027, as Zimbabwe will co-host the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup with South Africa and Namibia.

Albida is an example of the more refined and personally attentive stage of the destination, whereas Tsowa Safari Island is the opposite since it has a small tented lodge on an island in Zambezi National Park and, instead of having your room ready for you when you are transferred directly from the airport to the hotel lobby, you have to go there by means of a 4×4 and a boat.

The modern living space in the luxury villa located at Albida – Victoria Falls features a warm, African-inspired design, includes contemporary seating, and offers a private, intimate comfort just a few minutes from the Falls.

The more recent of the two properties is Albida – Victoria Falls, which opened officially on September 1 as the flagship property of the Victoria Falls Safari Collection and is operated by Africa Albida Tourism; the importance of its arrival lies in part in what it does not do – it is not another typical safari lodge based on fixed meal times, communal areas and a rigidly scheduled itinerary.

Albida's 13 villas can accommodate up to 32 guests: 10 one-bedroom Deluxe Villas and 3 two-bedroom Family Villas. Each villa features a private terrace and a plunge pool, thus providing couples, single travelers, and families with considerably more private space than is usually found in a standard hotel room.

Its pricing also encourages longer stays. For the season running from September 2026 to March 2027, Albida offers separate "Extended Stay" rates for stays of three nights or more, alongside its rates for one- and two-night visits. Although this difference is minor, it is significant; Victoria Falls has always been easy to market as a short extra trip, whereas Albida has been designed to give tourists plenty to do and enough privacy to make it worthwhile to settle in.

The name also links to the surrounding landscape, as Albida comes from the native Albida tree, known for improving soil quality under its canopy. Africa Albida Tourism has used this idea of enrichment as part of the philosophy guiding the retreat, extending the villas' narrative to include conservation and community activities in Victoria Falls.

This involves providing continued support for the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit, and the new lodge has also been designed with an off-grid solar system – a significant aspect in a destination where rising tourism must accommodate the conservation value of the surrounding Zambezi landscape.

What makes Albida stand out most is the range of facilities and services included in the rate. The package combines the villa with all meals and drinks, butler service, transfers to and from the airport and for activities, laundry, and a selection of specially arranged experiences. These experiences include guided tours of Victoria Falls, game drives, spa treatments, the Boma dinner experience, and helicopter flights over the Falls.

Rather than arriving, booking three of the main attractions, and then leaving the next morning, the resort lets visitors spread these activities over several days. The day could start with the Flight of Angels over the gorge, then later include spending hours at a private plunge pool instead of another organized excursion. On another day, you can focus on the wildlife or the river.

This flexibility is especially important for multi-generational families and similar groups. Albida's three two-bedroom villas can accommodate up to four guests and, unlike many safari camps, welcome children. For tourists who are visiting Victoria Falls and at the same time staying at more strictly organized safari camps in other parts of Zimbabwe or in neighboring Botswana, this degree of freedom means that the property can act as a decompression point rather than simply being another stop that is controlled by early morning wake-up calls and set game drives.

At Tsowa Safari Island, there is a luxury tented suite that provides direct and private views of the Zambezi River, a place where eco-friendly living in the wilderness combines with.

Albida is all about comfort and convenience close to the Falls. Tsowa Safari Island, on the other hand, is for those who want to leave civilization behind and dive straight into the wild.

Located about 35 to 40 kilometers upriver from Victoria Falls within Zimbabwe's Zambezi National Park, Tsowa sits on a private, uninhabited island. Just getting there feels like an adventure: you drive to the park border, hop into an open 4×4 for a bush ride, then take a short boat trip across the Zambezi to reach the island's sandy, forest-fringed shores—where the pioneer era inspires the tents. The individual tents are positioned about 20 meters apart to ensure complete isolation and are set among century-old baobab trees, wild jackalberry forests, and huge termite mounds. Inside, guests enjoy stylish, organic interiors with indoor and outdoor showers, offering the option to bathe under the open sky while hearing hippos wallow in the water below.

Tsowa keeps things light on the environment, running mostly on solar power and candlelight. There's no single-use plastic, food waste is recycled for local creches, and meals are farm-to-table, overseen by chef Carl Moller.

Here, you stop rushing and start moving at the river's pace. Days are filled with canoe trips, nature walks to spot rare owls, fishing for tigerfish, and game drives to spot lions and elephants. Stay three nights or more, and you get a full-day trip back to Victoria Falls, so you don't have to choose between wild isolation and seeing the sights.

A safari guide takes a visitor on a guided walking tour beneath the huge, century-old baobab trees at Tsowa Safari Island, showing them the natural beauty, untouched by human presence, in this wild part of Zambezi National Park.

Albida and Tsowa aren't aiming to be the same kind of luxury, and that is precisely the reason why they work together so well.

Albida is the best choice for tourists who would like to make Victoria Falls their base of operations. The resort offers private villas, Butler service, family-sized accommodations, and package activities, taking much of the planning out of a longer visit. It is especially suitable for multi-generational families, couples seeking privacy, and those who want to experience safari activities without sacrificing the independence of a villa.

Tsowa offers the opposite option: it has eight tents, accommodates a maximum of 16 guests, and does not allow children under the age of 12, making it ideal for travelers who genuinely wish to maintain a physical distance from the town by arriving by boat, waking up next to the Zambezi, exploring on foot or by canoe, and finishing the day in a setting where the wilderness, not a long list of facilities, is the main luxury.

For an even more intense experience, the two options can be seen as complementary rather than rivals. After spending several nights at Albida, visiting the Falls and other nearby attractions with almost all the logistics taken care of, one should move upriver to Tsowa and gradually make the itinerary less busy. Then the waterfall becomes the starting point of the Zambezi experience, rather than the whole of it.

At Albida – Victoria Falls, guests can enjoy all-inclusive dining in an open-air thatched lodge, enjoying far-reaching views of the surrounding African wilderness.

The way Albida's opening unfolds matters because it reflects a broader trend. Although the new luxury villa resort would be noteworthy by itself, when combined with the growing volume of airport traffic, Hyatt's proposed 245-room Grand Hyatt and the international attention that is anticipated around the 2027 Cricket World Cup, it serves as another sign of the investment being made in Victoria Falls as a destination capable of accommodating stays that last more than one or two nights.

The geography has always supported that argument, since Victoria Falls sits in a tourist area that enables travel between Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana. The KAZA UniVisa now allows eligible visitors to make multiple entries between Zambia and Zimbabwe for up to 30 days and to take qualifying day trips to Botswana via Kazungula. The change, however, has been in the infrastructure and accommodation on offer, which have made it more attractive to stay longer.

Albida has given that accommodation a new address. Tsowa shows what is available to people who go further up the river; one option includes a private plunge pool, a butler, and a helicopter flight from one of the world's most famous waterfalls, while another requires you to reach an eight-tent island camp by boat across the Zambezi.

They make a strong case for altering the conventional Victoria Falls itinerary. You should see the Falls, no doubt about that; but you shouldn't automatically opt for the flight the following morning.