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Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali

Reviews of Nkwali

Wildlife sightings and reviews

238 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Nkwali and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Apr-2018, 60 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Nkwali.
Lion

88% success

Leopard

93% success

Wild dog

63% success

Hippo

100% success

Elephant

98% success

Giraffe

98% success

Zebra

98% success

Buffalo

86% success

Spotted Hyena

84% success

Wildebeest

27% success

Eland

9% success

Roan antelope

6% success

Aardvark

5% success

Sable antelope

5% success

Pangolin

0% success

Showing 41-50 of 238
Duration
Arrival date
Dr S.
Melvin Village

"Nkwali Camp - Unbelievable start to safari"

2 nights Arrived 29 Sep 2019
"Sept 29+30: Well organized pickup at Mfewe airport then 40 minute drive to Nkwali Camp in time for dinner at 8pm. Delicious food, lovely accommodations, dinners served by small lagoon where resident hippo sleeps or chomps on vegetation. Baboons and monkeys wander around as well as mongoose families and all sorts of birds.

Small pool overlooking the lagoon was perfect. Rooms are beautiful with an open air feel to the bathroom area, which was well stocked with amenities, insect repellent and bug spray. Breakfast served overlooking a bend in the Luangwa River where hippos lounge in the water and elephants can be seen crossing over.

My first game drive greatly exceeded my expectations - lion pride resting under tree after kill, hyenas and vultures at the kill, pack of wild dogs resting after their kill, plus large herd of water buffalo crossing the road, elephants, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, impalas, puku, crocodiles, hippos. Spectacular!" See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

2 sightings

Elephant

6 sightings

Giraffe

3 sightings

Hippo

6 sightings

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

3 sightings

Mr & Mrs S
Oxon

"Nkwali Review"

4 nights Arrived 22 Sep 2019
"How nice to return to Nkwali (visit No.5) and to be greeted by Kiki and so many familiar faces. We were expertly guided by Perry and Wilson, our spotter, was as wonderful as ever at locating wildlife!

We particularly liked our palatial room at the camp and the river views. It was well worth spending time in the afternoons by the lagoon and watching Humphrey the hippo and all the other visiting animals, retiles and birds.

Thanks to everyone on the staff for making this such an enjoyable stay." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr & Mrs E
Devon

"Nkwali review"

4 nights Arrived 14 Sep 2019
"Great staff, food, room and location, tho' the latter not as breathtaking as Nsefu. Enjoyed a walk with guide Prius, who an encyclopedic knowledge of all things bush. Our young guide, Perry, was great company and it was good to transfer between camps with him by a 4 hour game drive.

The camp Manager, 'Keke' was a delightful worldly man.

Still short of coat hangers!

Re. Wildlife Survey:

Waterbuck - 5 sightings
Leopard - 4 different individuals sighted
Lion - 12 individuals
Wild Dog - One sighting of a pack of 13 active individuals
Highlight - At dusk two lions up one tree and a leopard up another, both in clear sight at the same time and just 60m apart." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

4 sightings

Lion

4 sightings

Spotted Hyena

8 sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

10 sightings

Ms L & Mr A
London

"Nkwali review"

2 nights Arrived 24 Aug 2019
"I think the only sadness is being so close to the entrance of the park there are quite a few other vehicles around, however, the Robin Pope guides adhere to only 4 vehicles near any sighting, sadly other don't in particular the self drive" See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr & Mrs C
Cambridge

"Nkwali"

3 nights Arrived 15 Aug 2019
"A friendly, welcoming camp easily accessible from the airport (should you have a later flight) - being just outside the park is not a drawback. The short boat ride across the river afforded additional photo opportunities.

Obi was an excellent guide and a fount of knowledge who helped us see so much." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

3 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

8 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

AFRICA
UK

"Fabulous sightings at Nkwali"

4 nights Arrived 7 Jul 2019
"We were lucky enough to have the honeymoon suite again this trip which was lovely.

Our guide Pious was amazing his ability to track and find the wildlife was incredibly, we had the most amazing sightings here.

The location of Nkwali is also lovely
Again all staff were great." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia; 3n in Malawi
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

10 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

8 sightings

Lion

2 sightings

Spotted Hyena

6 sightings

Wild dog

2 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Drs L & B
Scotland

"Wonderful Nkwali"

2 nights Arrived 25 May 2019
"Staff were very friendly, relaxed and professional . Kiki was a perfect host supported by new arrival Ben ( who happened to come from 10 miles up the road from us at home!)
Perri , our guide was extremely knowledgeable and approachable. He made us feel at ease and relaxed about asking questions.
Our tented accommodation was luxurious and food “ top class”." See all these reviews: 6n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Roan antelope

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr & Mrs C
Cornwall

"Returning for a 6th time to Nkwali"

6 nights Arrived 9 May 2019
"Nyambi was an excellent guide and we had some very good sightings, particularly of wild dogs, leopards and lions.

Staying at Nkwali was a pleasure." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Excellent
D & M
Munich

"Nkwali fantastic as always"

10 nights Arrived 22 Mar 2019
"We just love everything about Nkwali. The people, the location, the guiding, the food, the chalets..... This was our 4th stay in 4 years time and we always stayed a longer period at least 7 nights there, which we would highly recommend. Then you can experience all the secrets of the area. For example during the dry season it is possible to explore the game management area around the camp where we had very special sighting exclusively for us because only RPS cars are allowed to drive there.

We enjoyed this time the Emerald season when the park is green and you have the feeling to have the park for yourself. The bird life is amazing and we found other wildlife sightings like leopards, wild dogs, lions with cubs, lots of elephants etc. The game is maybe a bit more difficult to spot in comparison to the dry season but in a park like the South Luangwa there is always still more that you could wish for. The high levels of the river and the morning boot drives into the park at sunrise have been out of this world. Just stunning!

We have to say a special thank to everybody from Nkwali. The whole team made this stay again unforgettable and it was so hard to leave. The atmosphere in the camp is very warmly, relaxed, cheerful. Thank you for all the new wrinkles because of laughing so hard :-)

The passion for wild life with all the incredible knowledge that all the staff has got is amazing. Guiding is hard to top. We have been very privileged to go with Kanga on our Safaris. We learned a lot from him observing carefully the nature. Now we understand again more how this precious and fragile ecosystem with all the plants and animals is working.

We are looking very much forward to our next time even when we have to wait till 2021." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

2 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

9 sightings

Lion

6 sightings

Spotted Hyena

4 sightings

Wild dog

3 sightings

Wildebeest

2 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr & Mrs B
Colorado

"Nkwali Review"

1 night Arrived 16 Feb 2019
"We had not planned on staying at Nkwali, but after being flooded out of Luangwa River Camp, we had an unexpected visit here. Robin Pope safari handled our transition and we felt well looked after. After having the other two camps completely to ourselves, being in a fully booked Nkwali Camp was a disappointment, and it was a shock to the system to be around so many people after such a wonderfully quiet week.

We loved the rooms at Nkwali, which are very open to the outdoors and beautifully appointed. Several other guests had visitors to their rooms including monkeys, bats, and lizards, but this is all part of the fun! The bathrooms are stunning, and ours had a tree growing through it. The pool area is very nice, overlooking Humphrey the hippo's territory.

Our guide at Nkwali was every bit as knowledgable as the other Robin Pope guides, and we enjoyed his expertise. Our host, Sorrel, was extremely personable and we thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. Like the other Robin Pope lodges, the food was delicious. The only thing that took away from our experience slightly was that the camp was so crowded that they did not have enough boats to bring us to our game drive vehicles at the same time, and on both excursions we were left behind to wait while the other groups got to go out earlier." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Good
Service:
Good
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

1 sighting

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

2 sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Showing 41-50 of 238
96%
238 reviews of Nkwali by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
199
34
5
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0
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Flatdogs Camp

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Luangwa River Camp

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Mchenja Bushcamp

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Kakuli Bushcamp

Kakuli Bushcamp

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Nsolo Bushcamp

Nsolo Bushcamp

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Kafunta River Lodge

Kafunta River Lodge

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Luwi Bushcamp

Luwi Bushcamp

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Lion Camp

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Robin Pope Safaris Mobile Safari Camp

Robin Pope mobile

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Puku Ridge

Puku Ridge

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Kapamba Bushcamp

Kapamba Bushcamp

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Mfuwe Lodge

Mfuwe Lodge

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Kuyenda Bushcamp

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Luangwa Safari House

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Three Rivers Camp

Three Rivers Camp

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Island Bush Camp

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Chinzombo

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Chindeni

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Mwamba Camp-out

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Zungulila

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Shawa Luangwa Camp

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Mapazi Camp

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Chikunto Safari Lodge

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