Our Story
We are independent and owner-run, designed, managed and operated by a truly international team from the UK, Germany, Italy, Zambia and South Africa, working to the objective of giving this little part of rural Zambia an economically sustainable future for the community involved. Choosing to be in the wild, but close to Victoria Falls, we bought a farm upstream nearly 20 years ago, renamed it and reimagined it as a lodge with a difference.
Being different is Waterberry’s unique charm. We reinvented the existing group of cottages scattered around the garden and pool, rebuilt the farmhouse and introduced forest tents amongst the trees – using Zambian skills and an imaginative combination of materials to create a home from home that is genuinely different from everywhere else you will find on your safari. All run with the unbeatable 5-star Zambian charm and service that is our signature.
To fulfil our ambition to use the many skills in our community we trained managers, guides, drivers, household and kitchen staff and the gardeners who maintain the little paradise around the lodge. We have the first female head chef of any major lodge in Zambia.
At our school project the dedicated volunteers who started out with us are now qualified teachers (their holiday-time college studies funded by kind donors and happy guests), and the entire community project is now managed by our talented Zambian team.
So it’s no surprise that nothing is too much trouble for our Zambian staff, whose ambition is to make your holiday perfect. We have harnessed unique talent from our community and created a team with a deep personal interest in Waterberry, because this is the place where their careers began and where their livelihoods lie.
During the pandemic we bought land to establish a community farm to help feed our schoolchildren and our local community and to raise money by selling surplus crops. Our fenced conservation area helps small wildlife, particularly birdlife, thrive along our glorious riverbank.