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Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp
Chiawa Camp

Reviews of Chiawa Camp

Wildlife sightings and reviews

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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Jun-2018, 31 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Chiawa Camp.
Lion

97% success

Leopard

87% success

Cheetah

0% success

Wild dog

16% success

Elephant

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Buffalo

87% success

Spotted Hyena

82% success

Zebra

56% success

Eland

12% success

Aardvark

5% success

Sable antelope

4% success

Pangolin

0% success

Showing 1-10 of 93
Duration
Arrival date
Mr & Mrs M
London

"Chiawa Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 18 Sep 2024
"A very smart luxurious camp run by very efficient and friendly, attentive staff. We even had the pleasure of meeting the owner Grant Cumings on our first evening there.

We opted to dine on a table for just the 2 of us (as did many others) here and they also set up a very nice private lunch one day upstairs overlooking the river. Food very good. We had a surprise BBQ in the bush on our last night and have to say the food served was incredible. Very lucky to have all game drives by ourselves apart from one.

Unfortunately due to the low water levels they were experiencing we could not arrive/depart by boat or participate in any canoeing. Due to the extreme heat 40+ we certainly made use of the small pool.

We had had elephants on numerous occasions walking through camp (was lovely to sit in our hammock and watch the elephants in front of our tent) and Buffalo and Hippo also outside our tent at night).

Also had a wonderful foot massage by Janet." See all these reviews: 17n in Zambia; 3n in Namibia; 3n in Botswana
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

10 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr I
Abergavenny

"Chiawa Camp review"

4 nights Arrived 15 Sep 2024
"This camp did not live up to its billing - the water levels were so low that neither the river transfers nor the river activities were possible.

Also not sure that a new guide for each activity is best - it didn't really suit us.

These apart, the camp was excellent!" See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

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

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Zebra

1 sighting

mr and mrs pike
usa

"Chiawa Camp review"

5 nights Arrived 22 Aug 2024
"Chiawa is truly an out of this world experience. The staff, especially Juliet is second to none. The guides are outstanding. The support staff was truly special as well.

This was a family trip for us. The staff was excellent to our children.

Wildlife sightings were amazing and simply can’t be described. They have to be seen to be believed.

We learn so much from our guides. We did some fishing which was great as well.

We all agreed this is our best family trip ever. I’m sure we will be back!

We can’t recommend Chiawa highly enough to anyone else seeking to go to Africa." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

10 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

3 sightings

Lion

5 sightings

Spotted Hyena

4 sightings

Zebra

6 sightings

Mr P M & family
UK

"Chiawa Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 19 Jun 2024
"This is a wonderful camp with great management, staff and guiding. Several hosting surprises were also a highlight. The younger guides in particular were extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The landscape was very dry as a result of poor rainfall earlier this year but that didn’t detract from the game viewing, which was excellent.
Our highlight was the canoeing, which is a completely different experience from the game drives - it was very quiet and peaceful and provides an opportunity to see animals from a new perspective. It was also exhilarating being so close to large herds of elephants and the bird life was wonderful with lots of kingfishers and herons.
The Starbed experience (at an additional cost) was excellent with great attention to detail. The night sounds and incredible sunrise made it an unforgettable experience.
The accommodation and food were both excellent.
Overall a wonderful experience." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Elephant

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

3 sightings

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

1 sighting

safari lovers
UK

"Luxury in the Bush at Chiawa "

3 nights Arrived 4 Nov 2023
"Chiawa is seemlessly run by a large team, a number of whom welcome you on arrival by boat .

We were initially a little overwhelmed by the size , ( more hotel feel ) but the staff are so good at remembering everyone’s names that we quickly felt they provided a very personalised service .

Lovely surprises kept happening - I won’t mention them , then future guests can be surprised too .

They guide differently here - depending on what activity you choose , you have a different guide who specialises in certain activities. You don’t therefore build up a relationship with any one guide . Having said that they were all very good and delightful people .

Rooms were fabulous- loved the ‘wallow’ . Helpful to cool down a little in the extremely high temperatures.

Food was good although we felt offering hot soup every evening was not a good choice . A cold soup would have been much better if they feel 4 courses is necessary." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

5 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

3 sightings

J & J
York

"Chiawa Camp review"

3 nights Arrived 2 Nov 2023
"One of our favourites." See all these reviews: 20n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

10 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Lion

4 sightings

Mrs JD
W London

"Chiawa Camp review"

5 nights Arrived 6 Oct 2023
"Juliet at Chiawa was so kind-for the last 3 x nights that we stayed there, she upgraded us to the Safari Suite, which was magical and hugely welcome, as the heat on this trip was massively high, and having a pool was a Godsend, albeit i only have went in for one minute, due to my injury

The heat was 42 degrees in Tent 8 at Chawa in the afternoons, and that was lying on the bed underneath the fan with everything open!

The wild life was good, but not as exciting as on previous years, but the Leopard sightings were superb: sadly, the Wild Dogs had moved out of the Chiawa area, literally the day before we arrived, which was a shame-interesting to note that Wild Dogs were never seen when we last visited in 2017 and 2019, and we were excited to hear about the fact that they were now seen around Chiawa every now and again-from Grant's Newsletters over the last few months.

I think that the Chiawa guides should "chain them to an area where the clients can see them" !

It's really lovely that we have built up a really good relationship with Nico, our guide at Chiawa, and we are regularly keep in touch by e-mail-the rains have come at last, and he said that in a couple of weeks time, the camps will close for the year.

I think that Juliet and I built up a really good relationship, with discussions on many topics, including Leadership and what it meant!" See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr B.
Bishop's Stortf

"Better than excellent!!!"

5 nights Arrived 31 Aug 2023
"Loved this camp, loved the special touches, loved the staff ( wow, can they sing ) loved every little thing about our stay.

We were very lucky and upgraded to the Safari Suite which was palatial for the 2 of us with our own private pool overlooking the Zambezi we could wallow while watches, Elephant, Hippo and a host of other animals coming to the river.

The little touches that Chiawa offers Glashow how real hospitality should be. They created memories that will last a lifetime." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr A F, Torquay
UK

"Chiawa Camp review"

2 nights Arrived 20 Jul 2023
"Comments, ratings and wildlife as previous nights." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Mr A F, Torquay
UK

"Chiawa Camp review"

4 nights Arrived 14 Jul 2023
"Camp personnel, wildlife, accommodation, food and activities all excellent as previous visits." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Sable antelope

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Zebra

1 sighting

Showing 1-10 of 93
98%
93 reviews of Chiawa Camp by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
83
10
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0
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