Reviews of Kaingo Camp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
213 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kaingo Camp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Superlative guiding at Kaingo"
The bedrooms could do with some serious maintenance - particularly compared with other camps we stayed at. Some of the netting of the windows had tears/splits - one quite a large hole. There was one minute fan which was so noisy that it couldn't be used at night and was useless anyway. The pressure in the shower was poor. There was an outside bath but one needed to ask for the water to be heated 1/2 hour in advance. The private deck is a lovely idea.
The communal areas are excellent - including a lovely lower deck by the river where afternoon tea was served. Main area comfortable and welcoming.
Breakfast after the morning game drive was excellent but somewhat snack-like lunches, served in a box on the private deck, were not very good. This arrangement was presumably to provide flexibility in when one ate and to allow the staff time off, but it would have been better to leave chilled, covered bowls of food in the communal area and allow people to help themselves. Evening meals were good. Lovely surprise breakfast in the ebony grove." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
"A fitting finale"
Game viewing throughout our stay was excellent, and we were lucky enough to have Andrew as our guide. His detailed knowledge of the lions we saw, and interpretation of their activities, added an extra dimension to our enjoyment. Besides the lions Andrew's skills also brought us multiple encounters with leopards, both by day and at night. With all the animals we saw, Andrew placed our vehicle in the best position for photography, whilst at the same time taking every care not to distract them." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
"Beautiful river location"
By comparison with Tafika, however, Kaingo (and Mwamba) felt more regimented. Walking was given less of a priority (e.g. it wasn't possible to walk in the afternoons). They also didn't allow quite enough time for people to shower/change before dinner after coming in the from the game drive (20 minutes wasn't really enough for us, so we felt a bit rushed). Having had a full breakfast at the start of the day at Tafika, Chikoko and Croc, I found it difficult to adjust to having just a muffin before the morning activity. But these are very small quibbles." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
"Out of Africa experience at the elephant hide"
It was a beautiful night just before full moon. The bed had been made up beautifully and the whole area was covered in a great big mosquito net. Old suitcases were used for storage and the whole effect was fantastic, The bottle of Amarula was a nice touch, together with coffe, tea and water. A wonderful night" See all these reviews: 16n in Zambia
"Great game viewing at Kaingo"
The room was great and we loved our private deck overlooking the river from which we watched birds,hippos and crocks. We had daily visits from bush buck and the monkeys loved our hammock. Food was of a high standard, but never ending in its supply, we seemed to move from one meal or snack to the next, all day long
Service was very friendly, professional and we got all the activities we asked for. A lot of keen photographers were in camp and if photography is your interest then this camp is for you.
What impressed us most was the help, support and concern shown when one of us became ill during the night at the elephant hide. You could not fault Maxwell's and other's response. Forunately next morning there was a full recovery" See all these reviews: 16n in Zambia
"Awesome Again"
The cottages were very comfortable. I enjoyed staying out one night in the elephant hide and listening to all the sounds of the bush. The food was excellent and we were served no less than seven times a day.
I saw a pride of young lions inexpertly kill a buffalo, they began eating it when it was still alive and struggling. The poor beast's face had been torn off. I then watched two male lions fight when a young male attempted to join the pride. The younger one ran off.
I also watched two hippos fight until the younger one retreated.
The night drives were as expected the best one can have in Africa. I saw leopards two night out of three nights I was here,as well as genets, civets, porcupines, owls and more." See all these reviews: 10n in Zimbabwe; 6n in Botswana; 6n in Zambia; 2n in South Africa
"Great Place to see Predators !!!"
The chalets are spacious and nice and each chalet has its own litte veranda overlooking the river and great to observing wildlife and having your own private lunch there! At this wonderful camp there was nothing we could claim about. The guides were excellent and the hosts and the whole staff very friendly and helpful. The food was excellent and more than enough!
There are 2 activities in the morning and evening (including the very remarkable night drives where we saw many nocturnal animals including leopards and also hunting lions) and (if you like to do so) another activity arround noon before lunch. Your guide and an armed ranger will bring you to a hide where you can observe f.e. hippos from a very short distance and also elephants crossing the river. But we enjoyed most the carmine bee-eater hide which was "opened" from Derek Shenton with us because the breading season of those colorful birds had just started.
Kaingo Camp (and its sistercamp Mwamba) is often visited by professional photographers and also when we stayed at Kaingo there were 2 teams there. Each team had ordered a private vehicle in advance - so we were lucky to have another game drive vehicle just only for us!
The area around Kaingo is well known for predators and so we saw many lions including a pride of 18 individuals. We saw lions hunting, killing, feeding and (as one of many highlights!) fighting with other lions - it was so amazing. We also saw leopards - mainly at night - and also many hyenas (max. 13 at one place). Beside those predators of course there were also elephants and other big and small game in this beautiful part of the park not to forget many hippos and many, many big crocodiles!
So - in conclusion: Kaingo Camp is a wonderful place to stay with lots of activities and a fantastic wildlife around. If we will come back to Zambia we definitely will visit this camp again (maybe then in combination with its bush- and sister-camp Mwamba which was already fully booked when we tried to get there for this safari - one year in advance!!!!)" See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
"Unforgettable"
I needn't have worried: the camp itself was a friendly and comfortable as ever (and the food was excellent), and the game viewing in late August/early September was unforgettable, thanks to excellent guiding by Meyam (and his scout, Maxwell). I suspect my third day there will probably never be bettered..." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
"Incredible luxury and sensational game drives"
The staff were very kind and really looked after us. I was conscious that my son was the only child guest at that time, but he was made to feel very grown up and welcome (actually incredibly spoiled). We were thrilled with our walking safari and the range of wildlife we saw. Our hope of a good sighting of a honey badger was rewarded!
As usual, the guides were excellent, with encyclopedic knowledge and an ability to gauge the varying interests of the guests." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia
"Entering the luxurious category?"
We pick Shenton camps for their position in the park, their concentration on walking, supurb guiding. Derek & Jules Shenton was not at camp during our time there, which would put extra administrative strain on the staff present, but Izzy & Evonne coped excellently. The food was much more stylish than 10-20yrs ago.
Izzy was a competent hard working and welcoming manager, but Evonne as well as being dedicated and efficient was engagingly personable.
The guiding led by Patrick who also has a remarkable personailty and understanding of our ways given his background,i s first class.
We immediately expressed our interest in walking, but could not be accommodated on first morning-- hence slight downgrade on activities. This was rectified at Mwamba." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
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