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Kafunta River Lodge
Kafunta River Lodge
Kafunta River Lodge
Kafunta River Lodge
Kafunta River Lodge
Kafunta River Lodge

Reviews of Kafunta River Lodge

Wildlife sightings and reviews

45 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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Jun-2018, 22 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Kafunta River Lodge.
Lion

95% success

Leopard

100% success

Wild dog

20% success

Elephant

100% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Zebra

100% success

Buffalo

90% success

Spotted Hyena

85% success

Eland

13% success

Wildebeest

12% success

Sable antelope

5% success

Aardvark

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Roan antelope

0% success

Showing 21-30 of 45
Duration
Arrival date
Mr & Mrs P
Wiltshire

"Kafunta River Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 27 Jul 2018
"Family room with upstairs balcony excellent.

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

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

Elephant

1 sighting

Giraffe

1 sighting

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Miss P
London

"Return to Kafunta"

1 night Arrived 21 Jul 2018
"see previous comments" See all these reviews: 15n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

Sightings Report

Sable antelope

1 sighting

Miss P
London

"Kafunta River Lodge review"

3 nights Arrived 14 Jul 2018
"This was a return visit to Kafunta after 10 years. They have done some refurbishment and the food is much improved (especially the amazing desserts). However, I was very disappointed to find they no longer have communal dining. For breakfast and lunch you are seated with your game viewing vehicle and your guide and dinners are completely separate and unhosted, unless you are alone when your guide will sit with you (or for one dinner I was seated with another solo guest).

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
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

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

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

Ms S
Piedmont

"Wonderful!"

3 nights Arrived 26 Jun 2018
"We were so comfortable at Kafunta River Lodge with it's rustic luxury.

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
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

4 sightings

Hippo

4 sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

2 sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

4 sightings

Mimi
Miami

"Kafunta River Lodge review"

2 nights Arrived 5 Jun 2018
"See prior review.

[Ed: see below]" See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mimi
Miami

"Great Safari Lodge and Chalets"

2 nights Arrived 1 Jun 2018
"Everyone at Kafunta was friendly, helpful and knowledgable. The chalets were so comfortable and the views from the rooms and the lodge unsurpassed! We loved the varied dining options at the Elephant Blind and the Tree house area. The pool and hot tub a real plus.

Our favorite was Three Rivers and the sleeping platform under the stars. T.J. (?) the manager there was a great host and all the staff were friendly and helpful. Our guide for most of the time was David and he was SUPERB!!

We especially appreciated his taking us to part of the Anglican church service and the Agricultural Service project in the village." 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

Buffalo

6 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

3 sightings

Lion

10 sightings

Spotted Hyena

5 sightings

Wildebeest

10 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mrs P & Mr K
Hamilton

"A truely special place"

4 nights Arrived 18 Apr 2017
"We fell under the spell of Kafunta River Lodge, and South Luangwa National Park and would love to return!

This is an incredible place with a stunning view over the river plain that takes your breath away.

We were there early in the season (April) so there was only one other couple at the lodge - we felt well and truly spoilt by the attentive and friendly staff.

The safari guiding (with Jarbis) was excellent and we had some amazing experiences despite it still being at the tail end of the rainy season - this was in no small part due to the knowledgeable guiding.

The food is great, lovingly made, and served on the deck overlooking the river." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mrs E
Belgium

"Absolutely excellent!"

1 night Arrived 16 Sep 2016
"I will just repeat what I said before:

We absolutely loved Kafunta River lodge! It was the last stop on our safari and also the best. Of course it was also the most expensive of our trip so one must take that into account. However we felt that Kafunta offered amazingly good value for money! I can't imagine what any of the more expensive lodges could offer more.

The pictures on the website don't do it justice, the place is just gorgeous. Especially the suites. The extra cost is limited (I think 50 usd pppn) and the rooms are just fabulous. So I would recommend anyone to upgrade if they are available, it is very much worth it. They are huge and offer wonderful views! They made up the upstairs daybeds for us one night to have a romantic sort of sleep out, so romantic!

The food was divine, the drinks delicious and very cold.

I cannot praise the staff enough! Everyone was incredibly friendly and exceptionally service oriented.

Highly recommended!" See all these reviews: 5n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mrs E
Belgium

"Absolutely excellent!"

2 nights Arrived 12 Sep 2016
"We absolutely loved Kafunta River lodge! It was the last stop on our safari and also the best. Of course it was also the most expensive of our trip so one must take that into account. However we felt that Kafunta offered amazingly good value for money! I can't imagine what any of the more expensive lodges could offer more.

The pictures on the website don't do it justice, the place is just gorgeous. Especially the suites. The extra cost is limited (I think 50 usd pppn) and the rooms are just fabulous. So I would recommend anyone to upgrade if they are available, it is very much worth it. They are huge and offer wonderful views! They made up the upstairs daybeds for us one night to have a romantic sort of sleep out, so romantic!

The food was divine, the drinks delicious and very cold.

I cannot praise the staff enough! Everyone was incredibly friendly and exceptionally service oriented.

Highly recommended!" See all these reviews: 5n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs F
Essex

"Excellent Safari at Kafunta Lodge"

4 nights Arrived 15 Aug 2016
"The location is amazing and the staff provided first class service. The Safari went beyond our expectation and this was in part due to our fantastic guide Andrew, whose knowledge of the wildlife was superb. We could not have asked for anything more - if we did I am sure it would have been provided!

The layout and the quality of the Lodge is exceptional. It is a first class venue that provided a first class experience. An amazing place to stay and a place recommended to experience and enjoy the wonders of Safari." See all these reviews: 4n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Showing 21-30 of 45
96%
45 reviews of Kafunta River Lodge by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
39
4
2
0
0
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