 Why would you bring tourists all the way from Australia to Zimbabwe? Why Zimbabwe? I've been coming to Africa for 32 years and in all the countries I've been into in Africa, this is my favourite. They're friendly, they're educated, they're intelligent. The nation is beautiful, look at this and the variety of landscapes and the variety of cultural items you can look at is vast, plus we have real wilderness here, real wilderness. You go to Wangi, Wangi National Park has no fences, then there's the Forestry Commission, no fences. That area is the size of the country of Belgium, with just wildlife and no people. That's why I come. But the people, they're great. And they can drink vodka like no one else on earth. It's a beautiful brand new morning and I just want to say good morning to each and everyone watching me right now. I love and appreciate each and every single of you, yeah? Look around me. Where do you think I am? I'm actually in a replica of the great Zimbabwe ruins. I mean if you watched my previous episode, I took you guys along with me when I went to explore the great Zimbabwe ruins which was built and designed by our ancestors. I wanted to ask you where did they get the stones from? But after coming in here, I think they got it from the rocks up here. Not up here only, look at the landscape. Oh, I was looking for a place that looks like the great Zimbabwe to spend a night. Because when the guy was telling me the story, I was imagining how I wish I was there in those days. But I mean, I asked them, can I sleep there? They said no. And I'm like, is there anywhere with the same design that I could spend a night? They said, yeah, we got a lodge at Asian City which is just 800 meters away from the great Zimbabwe ruins. And I'm like, you know what, I'm going there. And if I'm going there, I need to sleep there for a night. I was here last night just to come and check out the lodge at Asian City. I think this was supposed to be called the Great Zimbabwe because after hearing the history of the Great Zimbabwe, this is the exact replica on how our ancestors used to live those days. So when you go to the Great Zimbabwe, it's actually built on granite outcrop. And this resort is also built on granite outcrop. I mean, I think it was inspired by the Great Zimbabwe ruins, but I don't know who built this. But I think this has mortar. Yeah, I think this has mortar. I don't know. I wish you guys can see what my naked eyes are seeing because this beauty is unexplainable. This beauty, the camera cannot do justice to it. I just want to encourage more people to visit Zimbabwe because after coming in here, I feel like this country is on top. Look at that. Look at that huge granite. Whoa. Whoa. Look at that. Look at that. Just have a look at that. Yeah. And I think the person who really designed this is really genius knowing that it gives you the exact feeling if you have ever been to the Great Zimbabwe. So I believe that after this video, some of you want to go experience the Great Zimbabwe. You want to go visit. You want to go check it out. And after checking it out, I think this will be the perfect place for you to stay. Oh my goodness. Look at that. Yo, yo, yo, yo. I hope what I'm seeing is correct. Just, I don't know if this camera can go straight. Can you see the great enclosure? So that is the Great Zimbabwe enclosure right opposite there. But yo, yo. It gives you the view of Great Zimbabwe ruins right from here. That is amazing. Jeez. Look at that. Look at the view. Look at the view. And I found myself in the woods, man. It's a blessing to be from Africa, man. I always tell Africans that it's time for you to explore your own continent. Go discover the hidden gems in your countries. Listen, it's just that Africans are not marketing Africa enough. That is why Africans don't know that Africa is the place to be. But I have taken upon myself together with so many YouTubers. We are on a journey to change the negative narrative about Africa. We want to let you know that for you to go and spend your holidays in Iroh, for you to go and spend your holidays in Asia, for you to go and spend your holidays in Dubai and the rest, hold that money. I know it's so expensive to travel within Africa. I know it. But don't forget that when you spend your money in Africa, it boosts the economy of the continent. It also, I mean, help the people living on the continent. Whoa. Look at the sunrise. This is free vitamin kill in Africa. Whoa. I got a feeling. First of all, I want to say it's a pleasure meeting you. You know, I was not expecting that warm reception yesterday. I want to give a big shout out to Asian City Lodge. I was broke. But the man was broke. Really? That moment. That moment. There was no money coming from Ghana. Right. I was so broke. We spent, I think, a night in the hotel in Masingo. I think I got three rooms. We paid over 200 and something dollars. I was broke. So the second day, because we couldn't get a drone shot, I'm like, what am I going to do? I want us to get this drone shot. But I don't have money for hotel that night. So I told everybody, let's go to any hotel here and just tell them that we want to promote them in an exchange of... Right. So the first hotel that we went to... That's very creative. Because I didn't have money, but I'm like... We have to make it happen. We have to make it happen. We are not leaving Masingo. Or else we'll get the drone shot of Grayson Barboy. So we went there. I went there. I met the reception. So who are you? I said, my name is Wadamai. I'm from Ghana. I'm here to promote. I promote destinations. Can I promote your hotels? And then get... In return, you know, the marketing team is not around. But I think the lodge manager is around. Yes. I was just there and then the lodge manager appeared and he said, Wadamaiya! It's going down. Wadamaiya. Watch your videos. How long have you been watching my videos? Yeah, I've been watching your videos. I think since 2020, during the start of the COVID, you know, so in everything, there was nothing much to do on YouTube. Generally, so this guy is doing something good about Africa. Trying to bring a new narrative to how people perceive Africa. And I've been a good follower for you. It was a pleasant surprise to see you at Lodzier Denshin City. This is more like a replica of Great Zimbabwe. Yes. This is more of a replica of Great Zimbabwe where if you go to the Great Zimbabwe monuments, this has been designed. As a replica, you come here. You get your accommodation, luxury. Enjoy Zimbabwe. Enjoy machine go. And this is the place to be, especially when you have seen the Great Zimbabwe monuments. This is the place. It's everything about it. Is this the Great Enclosure? Yeah. This is like almost a mini Great Enclosure at Lodzier Denshin City. But inside the Great Enclosure, there lives only one queen. How many queens do you have in here? The queens. We have plenty. I'll show you the queens. In the restaurant area, there are a lot of queens that you would see. Plenty, plenty, plenty. Is there anything that you want to tell us? Yes. You can come through. I want to show you the designs, this architectural masterpiece. You're now entering the kingdom of the Great Zimbabwe, the replica. So you see everything about this Lodzier, the designs of the charlots and everything. They represent the culture. They represent all the designs of the Great Zimbabwe. Which generation built this? This was built by the fourth and fifth generation. And it's only the people from around this place who are able to design this. If you call, this is pure granite. But I want to come closer. I don't know. You just come closer because pure granite. Yeah, pure granite. But I want to ask a question. But unless we get closer. Ghana is awesome. He even knows that I'm from Ghana. Hey! Have you subscribed? No, I haven't subscribed. I watch all your videos. All most of your videos, I watched them. Then you are doing a great job. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. You know what? Since you are from Zimbabwe, we have a lot of Africans watching us. What would be your message for Africans? Africa is good. And it's a beautiful continent. And we are glad you are taking our name to a greater height. And keep it up, man. Thank you. Africa is a great continent. We have great potential. This is one of room number one. And I'll tell you the previous president, Robert Mugabe, there was a conference in 2017 where he had his birthday in Mashingo. It was done here. This is where he stayed. He stayed actually in this room. We accommodated him. We have accommodated Royality here. Wow. But this has mortar. Yes. This has mortar because it's more modern. But what was done at the great Zimbabwe, there was no mortar. And that was early civilization. How they did it, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. And that was built by Africans? Africans, Zimbabweans, Tiroji. That's amazing, man. How does that make you feel? It makes me proud to be Zimbabwean. I'm proud to be Zimbabwean. I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to be part of running this facility and also to be part of the history of our great Zimbabwe. Because that's early civilization. We're talking about the 1400s and already we're being able to design. That's why you find Zimbabweans in any place in the world. They're making it. They're making it. We've been intelligent from then on. And this proves it all. Especially helping structures like this without mortar. Now we need cement. No. But we're in the 22nd century. So here, the former president, Robert Mugabe, this is the Charlotte you used to stay in. You see, it's totally enclosed. Exactly like the great Zimbabwe monuments. Wow. How many rooms do you have in here? We have 19 charlots and they're all designed in this way. Third, replicating our hearts. That's how we have the Zimbabweans. If we go to Kokum Musha, this is the structure. This is the structure that we live in when we go to our rural areas and stuff. So we want foreigners wherever it comes through to come and enjoy the way we live. And though we've made it modern, but you imagine enjoying the coolness of the church. Exactly. But let me tell you something. You won't enjoy this place if you have never been to the great Zimbabwe. So I'm just going to tell you something. When you come to Zimbabwe to explore the great Zimbabwe, this is the only place for you to stay. Because when you stay in here, you will feel like, oh my goodness, it feels like I'm living in the great Zimbabwe ruins because I was there. And coming here, I can connect. I can see the entire story in here. It's just that I'm not dead. I'm not dead. I'm alive here. So I'm not your ancestor. This was designed deliberately to mimic the great enclosure. When you're walking in the great enclosure, going to the conical tower, and voila, you get to room two. What is so unique about this lodge? The fact that it still maintains the African theme. Like most lodges and most hotels, they are more modern now. So we still maintain the traditional aspect but still have a bit of modern twist to it. So this place is gorgeous. Yeah, it is. But I hope it's not expensive for Zimbabweans. It's not. Are you sure? Yes. Wow. I mean, I'm from Ghana. If you want to tell somebody from Africa to come here, what are you going to tell them? That this is the best place to be. If you don't come here, you're wasting an opportunity. It is an amazing place. No, she's right. Yeah, it is an amazing place. So don't waste an opportunity. Only live once, and you should definitely come to the ancient city lodge. So I'm going to show you the rooms that we have inside the rooms now so that you guys can see the luxury that we have. After seeing the monument, the great Zimbabwe, you now come home. Yes. Let's get into it. Oh, wow. Yeah. So these are the rooms. So they're all designed with an African context, an African background. You see here, this is what we call a harry. A harry. It's used to contain maybe water, even beer, et cetera. So those are sort of thwanda. We've just put it there. Here we now use it for laundry. But in the past, it was used to put various items in there. And then these are thick chairs made of thick hardwood, which we just put so that there's this African feel. And then these are the beds. We have twin beds and there's a traditional headboard. One thing I'm just going to tell you guys, when you come here, you don't need the TV. All right? You don't need the TV. You have a lot to see in this place. Yeah? So when you come, don't switch it on. This is too modern for you. You can't just go out there. There's a lot of interesting things to see in here. I mean, you can't even find the BBC because there are monkeys out there. Hi, buddy. How are you? And funny enough, when I came to the Great Zimbabwe, we came very early in the morning. I couldn't see a single monkey. When it was one o'clock, all the monkeys came out for lunch, like came in their numbers. Can you believe, like, thousands of them coming out and I'm like, these guys are on their way for lunch. Doesn't mean that the people of Zimbabwe got that ideology of having lunch at one o'clock from the monkeys. Then originally, when the lodge started around 1997, 1998, there were no TVs. The TVs are now a recent thing because, you know, people are now used to social media, to being on TV every time. But originally, there were no TVs. I think for the first 10 to 15 years of the lodge. When was this established? 1997. You live in the UK at the moment. I've just come for a visit. Whoa. That's amazing. I mean, someone come from diaspora, definitely watch my channel. Oh, yeah, yeah. I did watch it. What would be your message for Zimbabwe's living in diaspora? Well, I would like to say Zimbabwe's you need to come back home because it's absolutely gorgeous. Come and see this place. It's called the Ancient City. Lodge. Yeah, it's really, really lovely. Is your first time here? No. I've been away for more than 20 years now. So this is my third time coming. I haven't been here for nine years, basically. Wow. And how does it feel anytime you come back to Zimbabwe? Oh, I feel like I'm at home and I'm just really loving it. Now let me show you something unique about the bathroom. There's a culture everywhere. So this is the bathroom. It's huge. It's huge. What do you have? A modernized bathtub. Modernized bathtub. Infuse it. Olden. Recognize something here? How? It's a stonework everywhere. Wow. They're in the tub and we have a couple of the great night that the muscle and the continuous everywhere. Wow. Everything is about the stoneworks and the bathroom, the stoneworks. And I want to show you another culture. That picture is there just to reflect the Malian culture. Oh, Malian Empire. Yeah, the Malian Empire. It's not only about great Zimbabwe, but we're just trying to encompass all the African history from the northern part of Africa to southern part of Africa. Man, that is the first ever university built in Africa. Yeah, the first ever university. And the richest man who I've ever lived is also from here. The way this planet's rock is huge, I can't believe that it's just the small stones or rocks are the one holding it. Can you guys see it? God is wonderful, man. I don't know if you ever believe in God, but the more you travel in Africa, the more you explore in Africa, the more you realize that God took his time to create Africa for Africans. It's just that Africans don't know how to manage this continent, but just look at this giant rock in these two stones. See, is there any girl who is a billionaire? I know you're a billionaire, yeah? But yeah, I'm small, but also mighty. I can hold you tight like this rock. I always want to put myself into trouble, yeah? The concept here is if you've been to the great Zimbabwe monuments and you're going to the king's place where it's uphill. So this is what we're doing right now. This has been designed in such a manner that it replicates what used to happen. You're going up here, and you're going to the pool area, you're going to the restaurant. And when you're going up, you see this huge granite too? Yes, it looks as if it's going to fall on you. And then these are the Zimbabwe beds. Yeah. I think you went, it's called Hungwe. So this is the Zimbabwe bed. Check it on your national flag. Yeah. It's there. Let's go to the restaurant. Come in one day. Now this is the restaurant area, the bar area. So this is the lounge where people can just sit around, relax, enjoy themselves, have drinks. And one feature that I want you to look at is how the granite has been preserved. The architecture has been built around this magnificent granite boulders come through. Look at them. All of them have been left in their natural. And the architecture has built around the boulders, the granite boulders. Yeah. So this is the bar area where you can have your drinks, enjoy some whiskeys, enjoy some wines. And everything has been left like that. Imagine, look at that. That's a boulder, that's a granite boulder that has been designed around it just to preserve the beauty of the area. And this is the conical tower that has been used as a way to leverage the roof. If you come to Zimbabwe, you will see the con in so many places. I think the reserve bank of Zimbabwe, which is the tallest building in Harare, has the same shape. It has the same shape. The airport has the same shape. Why do you think it's so important for Africans to preserve their history? It is very important to preserve our history for identity. Like you look at the civilization that already existed in the 1400s to the 1500s, that shows as Africans already, there was engineering because of the structures, of the beautiful architectural prowess that already existed then. So it gives us an identity. It gives us the courage and it gives us confidence that we were already as a people, we had the civilization of our own before other things then happened to us. So I'm proud to be a Zimbabwean. I'm proud to be part of the monuments. I'm proud to be a descendants of the people who created such a legacy that we still have to do that we put in our history. If you had a chance to change one thing in Zimbabwe, what would it be? I think if I had one, it's for us to have a legacy mentality. What the decision that we make today should be able to make a better future for the next generation. So I believe if we could have that mentality that we are only Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe, we make Zimbabwe a beautiful country for all of us and we enjoy everything. I would have wanted a scenario where people in the diaspora and all those who have left Zimbabwe for greener pastures all would be able to come back or enjoy their country instead of being second-class citizens. So hopefully into the future we manage to tap into all the skills and the intelligence that Zimbabwean and are using in many other countries and we use it here to build our own country. I love the fact that it touches on second-class citizens. No matter where you go, this is the only place you will feel as a first-class citizen. It was a very deep point. Thank you so much and if you see the civilization that already existed in 1400s, they were trading and they were doing business in Zimbabwe, you see. So the history, I think, I take particular consent to it and I hope one day we'll have many Zimbabweans building their own country in Zimbabwe. What do you think it will happen if Zimbabweans come together to build their own country? Zimbabwe will be like the next to Dubai in a year or two if all those skills that have been lost due to brain drain are utilized in Zimbabwe. Have you ever been here before? Let me know in the comment section how you felt when you came in here or is it your first time seeing this? Let me know in the comment section or do you plan of coming here because of seeing this video? Let me know in the comment section. This is so beautiful, so gorgeous, a stunning place and it's so calm, yeah? This place is so calm, oh my god! So this is now the restaurant area where you can enjoy your breakfast. You've been at the Grey Zimbabwe there was something that you told us that there was a place where the king lives, right? When you go there they used to have functions and stuff but it's only executive that comes in there. This is exactly the same thing here. So if I'm having my breakfast here my brother, I'm an executive because I can see probably maybe the king will be sitting over there. That's how the king would have been seated and you know, royalty Zimbabwe in reality. Where can people find you guys? Yeah, people can find us at number one Shepard's plot from Mashingo. We are next door to the Grey Zimbabwe monuments about three kilometres from the Grey Zimbabwe monuments. After seeing the magnificent structures you come through we take care of you if we are accommodation and meal needs we take good care of you in luxury and thank you for coming through. Is it affordable to stay in here? It is affordable. It is affordable. Our rates are very affordable to the local market and even to the international market. You're the chef in the house. I want to come and cook for you in your meal at the house. Oh no, you watch my videos. Yeah. Really? That's amazing. I would invite you to come and cook in the million dollar house. No. Thank you for coming to see us. Thank you. I made an early message for Africans. It was just happy that you came to visit us and then we can see the world. The world can come to ancient city and we cook for them good food. Yeah, but trust me I really love the food in here because yesterday I wanted fried rice and I got a fried rice with Umbusi. I think I'm a big fan of Umbusi right now. My final message is Africa is beautiful. Let's support in this quest to show a different view a different perspective, a different narrative of our country. I'm proud to be African and I would want Africa to be the next. We should be having people coming from Europe to look for jobs in Africa. We have the resources. We have everything. What do you mean by Mr. Gayle baby? I've been watching your videos all this time. Really? You Mr. Gayle. Thank you. I'm so sorry. Nice to meet you man. Oh, you still here too? Yes, I stayed here last night. I arrived real late. Man. You wash your own case in our country. Thank you. This is so cool man. I just came to spend a night here and met so many people who watch my videos. Wow. My Zimbabwean farm base is really huge. Now I feel like I'm at home. It's time to continue the trip to Bulawayo. Once again, thank you so much for watching. Like, subscribe and if you ever get a chance to visit the great Zimbabwe choose the lodge at the Asian city as your preferred destination because you're going to love it.