Reviews of Kafunta River Lodge
Wildlife sightings and reviews
41 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kafunta River Lodge and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

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"Kafunta River Lodge review"
It came as a bit of a disappointment that the vehicles from Kafunta had canopies as the hindered our bird watching and some animal sightings. But we got used to it. Having been spoiled by previously having a vehicle to ourselves we had to adjust to sharing with another couple. it would have been better if guests had been asked beforehand about special interests as not everyone wants to stop to identify birds.
The food at Kafunta for breakfast and lunch was good quality but the main course of some evening meals was slightly disappointing. Our first drive was a bit of a dash around the bush in search of cats and though we found a leopard we would have preferred to go more slowly and just see what we could see. But our fellow guests were happy so we accept that it is hard to please everyone." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
"Kafunta stay a delight"
The accommodation was superb and very comfortable.
The staff went out of their way to do all they could to make our stay memorable.....changing the lunch venue to a treehouse was a wonderful surprise, the cooked breakfast on the day of departure and even a packed lunch for our travels home.
The staff were all extremely friendly.
The food was wonderful ( except for two mains....the tbone steak and salmon trout were overcooked and tough )
Their muesli is heavenly.
The game drives were heavenly and Chapuma and John were phenomenally knowledgable.
Anelle and Dottie so very friendly, helpful and capable." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia

Buffalo
3 sightings

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Hippo
10 sightings

Leopard
3 sightings

Lion
3 sightings

Zebra
10 sightings
"Kafunta River Lodge review"
Made most welcome, meals and accommodation were superb." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia

Eland
1 sighting

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Hippo
10 sightings

Leopard
2 sightings

Lion
3 sightings

Spotted Hyena
1 sighting

Zebra
2 sightings
"Kafunta River Lodge review"
The highlight of our 1-night stay following the bush camps was seeing 2 leopards on the afternoon/evening game drive and 1 of those leopards on the next morning drive. We also watched a very large herd of buffalo drinking at the river, rolling in the mud, and heading back into the bush.
Kafunta packed us a lunch to go and drove us to South Luangwa Women's Project and Tribal Textiles on the way to the airport for our flight to Lower Zambezi." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia; 2n in Zimbabwe

Buffalo
1 sighting

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Hippo
10 sightings

Leopard
3 sightings
"Kafunta River Lodge review"
We had lots of wildlife sightings on the drive to and from the pontoon crossing, and the crossing itself was fun.
Game viewing in the park was good, with a fabulous leopard sighting on our first night drive. We also enjoyed seeing the Mfuwe lion pride by daylight. Our guide Jabes was excellent, but unfortunately became ill our last morning at Kafunta and was unable to accompany us to Island Bush Camp." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia; 2n in Zimbabwe

Buffalo
1 sighting

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Hippo
10 sightings

Leopard
1 sighting

Lion
3 sightings

Spotted Hyena
2 sightings

Zebra
7 sightings
"South Luangwa Park safari"
Our thatched cottage a very good size, comfortable with great views over plain. Main eating ,bar area, pool area very spacious and open with fabulous views over plain with lots of animal activity night and day. Food very good and plentiful. Outstanding staff who made the whole experience so special. Very attentive and friendly.
Guide very knowledgeable and saw many game sightings and covered different areas every day." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia; 2n in Kenya

Buffalo
4 sightings

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Hippo
10 sightings

Leopard
3 sightings

Lion
6 sightings

Spotted Hyena
3 sightings

Zebra
8 sightings
"Kafunta River Lodge review"
Crossing river on the pontoon was an experience and preferable to long drive to main gate of park when it was out of action.
Guiding was disappointing." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia

Elephant
1 sighting

Giraffe
1 sighting

Hippo
Multiple sightings

Leopard
Multiple sightings

Lion
Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena
1 sighting

Zebra
Multiple sightings
"Return to Kafunta"

Sable antelope
1 sighting
"Kafunta River Lodge review"
For a couple of lunches due to new arrivals and departures I was the only guest present from my vehicle. I did manage to join another group for some meals but I ended up having several meals just seated with my guide. He was not very communicative and I ended up feeling I was hosting him rather than vice versa. Most of the hosting was done by the guides.
Really, I felt the management should put more effort into being involved in hosting rather than leaving it all to the guides. As a solo traveller, I felt like a spare part most of the time and I missed the fun, inclusive atmosphere of other camps.
I also had concerns about the guiding. My guide seemed overly reliant on radio communication to find sightings, his bird knowledge was sometimes questionable, but worst of all on two separate night drives he picked up a chameleon from a bush and brought it over for guests to touch. On one occasion he actually passed it to one of the guests (a 10 year old girl) and it promptly bit her and she tried to shake it off. This isn't the kind of responsible guiding I expect from a Luangwa guide, and on the second occasion I voiced my concerns. One of the managers had joined our game drive that night, and he said nothing." See all these reviews: 15n in Zambia

Buffalo
3 sightings

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
10 sightings

Hippo
10 sightings

Leopard
4 sightings

Lion
3 sightings

Spotted Hyena
5 sightings

Zebra
10 sightings
"Wonderful!"
We loved the staff, and our guide John was an amazing wealth of knowledge. We especially loved that we got to meet his lovely family and past teachers during our village tour. I'm so glad we had the option for a village tour, as it was a very enriching experience for us.
The concentration of game was awesome.
Everything about our stay there surpassed our expectations!" See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia

Buffalo
2 sightings

Elephant
10 sightings

Giraffe
4 sightings

Hippo
4 sightings

Leopard
2 sightings

Lion
3 sightings

Spotted Hyena
2 sightings

Wild dog
1 sighting

Zebra
4 sightings
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