Royal Livingstone Hotel Dining Fiasco

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One cannot imagine finding something quite this beautiful in the middle of the bush. The Royal Livingstone Hotel is absolutely exquisite and caters for the traveller with a flow of cash. On our Anniversary celebration evening - which was a month after our anniversary - we decided to dine on the Zambezi River Back by sunset and lantern light at the Royal Livingstone Hotel. The waiter was fluent in English, by which I later learned, Zambians are educated in English - the Queens English, not American. We ordered a light dinner to go with the champagne (for me) and Beer for my hubby. A few minutes after our order was placed a waiter approached us and mentioned that our meal would only be HALF Portions?? HALF PORTIONS? my hubby enquired . . . to which he said - we only have half portions to serve our guests! We were dumbstruck, but because we didn't want to spoil the ambience nor mood of the evening, we thought "well half portion, half-price?" The portions were meagre! The bill was Full price! We left Hungry! That night my hubby and I giggled at the whole incident but shrugged it off as maybe the up-and-coming-lockdown issue as we had heard that the trucks with supplies were stuck at the borders. Two days later when it was time to hastily check-out, the General Manager brought us some farewell coffee and asked us about our Anniversary stay as we were the last to leave before they locked down the resort. We mentioned the strange meal plan at the RLH and he was appalled and immediately set in motion the credit of the meal ($150) from our bill - Happy Anniversary - he said and when you can, come again. We were very surprised but also very pleased that our Anniversary dinner went from being a "costly half-portion dining fiasco" to a very strange "Gifted hilarious fiasco" if I may put it that way. Apparently there was PLENTY of food still at the RLH, (air delivered from SA Woolworths) and the reason for a HALF portioned meal, has still not been explained, and maybe never will. Maybe they thought retired couples celebrating 39 years did not need too much food??? My hubby and I have adopted the phrase "half-portion" when we feel like a light meal and I am sure it will stay with us forever. A good travel memory, in a very uncertain time in the world. be safe and stay well.