Reviews of Kapani Lodge
(95%) From 72 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Good place to start, fantastic animals
Food and staff excellent, friendly without being overrbearing. The guide, Brian was excellent, personable, knowledgeable.
Animal sitings were excellent for our first day - lions (cubs and male), Elephants, Hippos, Zebra, Kudu, Warthog, Eagles, Baobab tree (personal ambition of mine). Slightly overshadowed by our later experiences at the bushcamps.
Kapani Lodge review
As before - the room overlloking the lagoon made it a bit special
Read more about the whole safari
Kapani Lodge review
Kapani is an excellent lodge for some game drives pre or post going to the bushcamps. For a 7+ day holiday in the Green Season it provides a good mix of drives then walking/boat trips. The lodge was very busy over Easter weekend but never felt crowded and generally there was an excellent atmosphere.
The rooms were bright and spacious. Being fed by mains electricity meant that the pool was larger than normal for a safari lodge, very clean and excellent for spending afternoons reading books.
The food is probably the outstanding feature of Kapani with excellent variety and choice.
Kapani Lodge review
What a wonderful setting and excellent staff who were always there when you needed them but not "in your face". We felt as if we were very welcome and almost part of a family.
When we came back to Kapani after going into the bush for a few days we had a pleasant surprise - a room upgrade looking over the lagoon, and just perfect
Kapani Lodge review
This was a couple of nights stay after Mchenja and prior to leaving for Lake Malawi. The same comments apply as stated previously. If we visited in the wet season again I think we would prefer to spend more time at Mchenja primarily because of the availability of going on boat and foot safari which is a really good combination for close-up bush experience.
Norman Carr Safaris do have a consistent and well tuned 'product' which includes not cramming too many bodies onto the vehicles which we have often observed with other camp safari vehicles in Luangwa and the Lower Zambezi park.
Kapani Lodge review
We specifically visited Luangwa at the end of rainy season on this trip in order to experience and contrast the gorgeous greenery of the bush and the full river with the scorched but open bush of July. It was excellent fun and very worthwhile; plenty of game which kind of strolls out of a clump of bush unexpectedly. Wonderful bird life - whatever you do take a good pair of binoculars. Our guides Abel and Aubrey were of course excellent and amazing at spotting the birds - we can spot a Hammerkop at 10 kilometres now!
We were, through choice, at Kapani for a total of 5 nights which on reflection was perhaps a bit too long for the wet season since many vehicle tracks are impassable thus preventing the Landcruisers to range far and wide as in the dry season. It would make for interesting variety to drive out as far as possible and go walkabout as at Mchenja. Do visit the school.
Even though staff do change over at Kapani there is the same delightful ambience. Rosie was a wonderful hostess to us and everyone else. Thank you to Mr A Banda who expertly runs a very first rate operation.
Enjoyed our stay at Kapani
South Luangwa National Park is a wonder and Kapani Lodge is a good place to stay. The staff here were thoroughly accommodating. Our guide Shaddy had a remarkable knowledge of birds as well as mammals.
The bungalows are huge. We had more insects and "Doom"-defying large spiders here than any of the other 12 or so places we stayed during our holiday. We even had a scorpion. The rooms could use a bit more sweeping out of spider webs and the like. Or, maybe that's just how the bush is!
The food was especially good. The pool was of an ample size--not just a plunge pool.
A sensible choice for the green season
On arrival we had a poblem which the Lodge manager (Steve) sorted quickly efficiently and to our satisfaction without making us feel uncomfortable.
Read more about the whole safariKapani Lodge review
Rooms, food and all facilities were good. The only minor point that disappointed me slightly was that I was not allowed to go on a walking safari on the first morning as they couldn't get a scout and they were asked at lunchtime the day before.
It was sorted out for the following days but I expected to be able to go walking when I wanted because that is how they market themselves, as experts in walking safaris.
Great setting, but needs improvements
Unfortunately, Kapani was a disappointment.
Yes, the lagoon lodges were more spacious than our previous accommodation, but they weren't very clean, and very much needed sprucing up. We had to ask the staff to clean the bathroom before we used it. The toilet seat was dirty, and parts of the shower hadn't bee cleaned for weeks, and the bath mat clearly hadn't been changed since the last occupants. Also, some of the seat cushions were dirty. Admittedly, they took these away very promptly, but never replaced them!
The food at Kapani was nowhere near as good as the other lodges, and the staff much less attentive. Our guide was not as good either.
To us, it seemed as if no one was in overall effective charge at Kapani. This may have been the case, as we heard from a reliable source (his mother and father!), that, David, the current manager at Flatdogs would soon be taking up the position of general manger at Kapani. Hopefully he can make a difference.
Don't get us wrong, Kapani wasn't bad, but we wouldn't go back there and wouldn't recommend it to anyone - at least not without being assured that it had improved.
We have always believed that acting responsibly is the only way to approach tourism and we're one of
the few companies to hold AITO's original coveted 5-star status for responsible tourism. It's a lead
that others are now following.
