Reviews of Kakuli Bushcamp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
65 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kakuli Bushcamp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Best views at Kakuli Bushcamp"
We had an excellent viewing of a leopard at this camp during the day. The walks were more interesting." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
"Wild Kakuli"
Again the room was even better than last year, appreciated the extra width and different layout of the room." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
"Kakuli Bushcamp review"
Great location overlooking the near dry river, good gaming, excellent food, friendly staff and the chirpy Sarah as hostess.
Thank you for another great time at Kakuli. This just overshadows Luwi as my favourite bush camp." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
"Kakuli Bushcamp review"
There was also a laundry problem (something we experience in all the Norman Carr camps) with laundry getting mixed with other guests and they getting ours. But more annoying was someone ironing a non-iron brand-new shirt leaving it burnt and ripped. Then folding it in such a way that I didn't notice until I got to the next camp. Resolved later with Christina who agreed to pay for a new one, but should have been admitted to and dealt with immediately." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
"Kakuli Bushcamp review"
We came across an elephant on the walk and Lawrence immediately made sure we changed direction to move away so that the wind was not blowing our human smell towards the elephant. We were definitely not getting close. In the brochures Norman Carr shows a group of people that look about 30 metres or less from an elephant flapping its ears. According to our guide this would not be allowed to happen. Again our disappointment and annoyance that the walking safaris were misrepresented.
Unfortunately on arrival at Kakuli we were told that our guide for our stay was again to be Julius. Part of the safari experience is to have different guides. As it turned out we had Julius at Kapani as well which meant we had the same guide for 5 of the 9 nights. As Julius was the worst of the 4 guides we had we were not very pleased. We did not feel that we could ask to change the guide." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
"Senior Africa Specialist"
"Fantastic location and great game"
Aubrey, our guide, was fabulous. He was so good with my nephew and nieces, telling stories and really engaging with them, even putting them on the spot and testing if they had listened to him! They loved him (as did the rest of us).
Minor point about food, snacks on sundowners were not always vegetarian." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia; 3n in Tanzania
"Hippos on the Luangwa"
Experiences too numerous to mention, unforgetable moments continued to pile up, however very close encounter with hyena cubs outside their den with one curious cub coming within feet as we sat on a log and watched deserves a special mention." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
"Kakuli Bushcamp review"
The beds were comfortable. The chalets were a combination of reed and thatch with canvas walls. There were also two chairs out on the front porch with a nice view overlooking the river. There are quite a number of hippo and crocs in the river to watch from the tents, and you can hear the hippos calling all the time.
The chitenge was nice with a bar and a verandah that looked out on a marshy area near the river. We saw plenty of hippos, and a pride of lions in this area one morning.
As with the other camps the food was good and plentiful. Hosting was good. Sarah was very nice – she was attentive, personable, and looked after whatever needs we may have had.
The guiding here was very good. I was guided by Aubrey, and he is very knowledgeable and has plenty of good stories about his years of guiding. Easily one of the most personable guides I had during my safari. Kakuli is a walking camp – they do walks as the morning activity and drives as the afternoon activity.
I had 3 walks during my stay – one morning we stalked a herd of buffalo and spent some time sitting with them. On another walk, we had the previously mentioned group of lions walk by during breakfast, and we left immediately to follow them. Aubrey and the scout did fairly well tracking the lions and we sped along fairly quickly to keep up with them before falling behind. The last morning, I walked to the transfer point across the river, and along the way we visited a hyena den where we were able to get within 15 feet of a hyena pup.
Game drive vehicles were again standard Landcruisers with 3 rows of seats. There were pockets in front to hold belongings – big enough for a pair of mid-size binoculars, but not much else.
The ground in South Luangwa is rather broken in areas, so I recommend a sturdy pair of hiking shoes/boots and perhaps a walking stick." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia; 2n in Zimbabwe
"Beautiful bushcamp on the river"
Being the green season we were taken to Kakuli by boat and we were a little anxious to be so close to all those hippos (millions of them probably!) but the landscape was so beautiful that we soon relaxed.
We like walking and Simon took us for a walk every morning (escorted by Shimek a scout from the park). We saw thousands of birds and lots of mammals as well. One day we stopped for a rest and watched a giraffe with her baby standing about 100 metres from us. unexpectedly (for us) they did not move for quite a long time and simply kept an eye on us. Another day we met a hippo in a small pond hidden by the bushes, this was quite amazing and we did not feel unsafe at all as we were always under strict control of our guides. We simply stopped and when Simon signalled we walked very quietly and the hippo did not even move. Even so, this was quite thrilling!
In the boat safari we saw hippos doing all kind of things and as I said thousands of birds everywhere. Impala and puku are really endemic! Elephants are also in good numbers, despite being scattered in the green season.
We loved the camp as it is small and rustic but perfectly comfortable (I loved the open bathroom in particular). The main area where meals are served is absolutely fantastic. We enjoyed our early morning coffee with the camp team. Perhaps I should not call them "staff" or "team" as they really made us feel like being with friends! Glenn is a perfect host, always looking after us, extremely friendly yet professional. We deeply enjoyed his company (on top of his professional skills of course) and his nice thoughts- he organized a romantic dinner for us on our veranda for our last night there.
Our tented room was fantastic with a view on the river. We saw two hippos mating just sitting there after lunch. It was amazing as we had never seen that before. Food quality was as good as at Kapani (despite being so remote) and we enjoyed the communal meals a lot. Once again the vegetarian options were always tasty.
We wish we will be able to go back in the dry season and walk between camps." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia; 5n in Zimbabwe
"A real bush experience at Kakuli"
The camp staff were attentive and friendly and provided us with excellent and varied meals. The camp manager Glen obviously has a good eye for detail and has built a relaxed and efficient camp team. A highlight was one evening when rounding a remote bend in the river to come upon a sundowners bar laid out on the river bank with the camp staff in attendance, a white table cloth laid and candles lit." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
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Mwamba Camp-out
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Mapazi Camp
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Chikunto
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