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Reviews of Tafika

Wildlife sightings and reviews

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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in May-2018, 93 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Tafika.
Lion

83% success

Leopard

91% success

Wild dog

43% success

Hippo

100% success

Zebra

99% success

Giraffe

99% success

Elephant

98% success

Buffalo

92% success

Spotted Hyena

91% success

Wildebeest

45% success

Eland

9% success

Roan antelope

3% success

Sable antelope

1% success

Aardvark

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Showing 21-30 of 333
Duration
Arrival date
Mr J & Ms D
UK

"Tafika review"

3 nights Arrived 18 Sep 2023
"Beautiful location and excellent facilities with spacious room. The river view is superb.

Hands on, friendly owners who were keen to share their experiences and add to our understanding of the area.

Excellent game drives with an incredible variety of animals. The night drives in particular were outstanding as was the pack of 19 wild dogs and the lions swimming across the river. The herd of buffalo going down to the river to drink was also impressive. The guides were very knowledgeable and informative.

Good efficient staff who were all very helpful and attentive. Excellent food throughout the day." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

3 sightings

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

A&S
Northampton

"Tafika review"

3 nights Arrived 8 Sep 2023
"Loved Tafika, the location, wildlife viewing, staff, food was excellent and we hope to go back at a different time in the season." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia; 5n in Malawi
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

1 sighting

Elephant

6 sightings

Giraffe

3 sightings

Hippo

6 sightings

Leopard

5 sightings

Spotted Hyena

4 sightings

Zebra

3 sightings

MAH
St Albans

"Tafika our favourite camp"

4 nights Arrived 2 Sep 2023
"We were met with a warm welcome from Vel who immediately made us feel at home after a very long journey.

Tafika was well run with amazing views of the Luangwa river and many Hippos. Early morning breakfasts with the sunrise in the background were a delight. Both lunch and dinner was hosted either by Jen, Nic or one of the guides.

All of the game drives gave us great sightings.Through the night there were plenty of animal visitors but we felt safe with the guards on duty.

We did a walking safari after a quick canoe trip across the river and had a fantastic Lion sighting.

The reed chalet are rustic but have all the comforts you need." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

1 sighting

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

6 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

4 sightings

Lion

1 sighting

Spotted Hyena

4 sightings

Zebra

6 sightings

David
Doha

"Tafika review"

1 night Arrived 1 Sep 2023
"Tafika is a great camp with fabulous views over the Luangwa river." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Dr & Mrs S
Cheshire

"A great place to stay"

10 nights Arrived 28 Aug 2023
"We have stayed several times at Tafika, and it is always excellent.

One of us now has mobility problems, and the staff were universally expert in making everything run as smoothly as possible." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

4 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

10 sightings

Lion

8 sightings

Spotted Hyena

8 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Mr&Mrs M
Wisconsin

"Tafika review"

2 nights Arrived 19 Aug 2023
"We were happy to return and end our safari here. It was quite nice to go for a couple night drives and see the lions and leopard hunting. My favorite is still walking but it really was nice to have a couple drives and the sundowner was awesome! GT - the best!" 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

Multiple sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr&Mrs M
Wisconsin

"Tafika review"

1 night Arrived 15 Aug 2023
"We absolutely loved our experience at Tafika!! It was simply amazing! The delicious food, wonderful accommodations and service was exceptional. Our guide Amon was fantastic. Walking out in the bush was so much fun - we loved it! I loved the garden at Tafika and how they have worked with the local village with education and opportunity. The staff that came from the village were awesome." 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

Multiple sightings

Eland

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

1 sighting

Wildebeest

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Tom & Lise
NC USA

"Tafika camp, a marvelous starting point"

2 nights Arrived 16 Jul 2023
"Our entire experience at Tafika was excellent.

The staff at Tafika were friendly, attentive and accommodating from our initial contact to our departure for Chikoko camp.

We arrived after dark and the driver was engaging and on the look out for wildlife - even spotting lions and an Eagle Owl during our transport.

The staff scheduled dinner to accommodate our arrival and we were greeted with candlelight dinner on the banks of the Luangwa River serenaded by hippos - how could it get better... but it did.

The accommodations were rustic, but lacked nothing - and we have never slept better than we did during our safari.

Breakfast sunrises were epic, served over looking the river.

The game drives were efficient and informative, rich with wildlife and excellent guides. The refreshments at sunset by the Luangwa River in the company of Giraffe closed a memorable first day.

It was also impressive that the Coppinger family were at the camp and actively engaged in making our stay special. They were friendly, approachable and it was pleasure discussing Africa and the history of the camps with them." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia; 2n in South Africa
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Lion

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

A&L
Qatar

"Tafika review"

3 nights Arrived 23 Jun 2023
"Yes, Tafika was indeed “rustic” (I think that was the word you used when we discussed options when planning our holiday). Nevertheless, it was extremely comfortable - and we really enjoyed our stay. This was our first ever safari – so we had nothing to judge Tafika against. We felt very comfortable, safe and the game viewing was exceptional. We have a few minor critical comments that we hope are seen as constructive and are based upon our perceptions and feelings rather than anything concrete:

Whilst on one hand, we rather like the family business feel of the enterprise, it was sometimes a little overpowering. Each evening when we returned from a drive, the 4 members of the family plus one of the guides (who was an original founder along with John) would be stood drinking at the bar whilst others were working. This gave us a somewhat uncomfortable perception. Whilst the family were always kind, engaging and inclusive, it sometimes felt like we were intruding in a family gathering.

The village and school visit was the one time we felt uncomfortable. It all seemed rather staged and unnatural. Whilst we enjoyed seeing the school and hearing the church choir sing (and see them dance), we felt rather too controlled by our guide. I don’t think this was about our safety – as we never felt anything other than completely safe.

Finally, we felt that the management’s focus on us dropped off during our last day as we were by that time, the only guests in the Camp. It felt as if we were being steered towards activities that suited the lodge rather than what we desired – and breakfast on the last day when there was only us was a shadow of what it had been on other days when the camp was full.

To reiterate, we hope our comments are seen as constructive - and that they are based upon our perceptions/feelings." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

1 sighting

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

1 sighting

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

Multiple sightings

Zebra

1 sighting

Alice
Kansas

"Tafika review"

3 nights Arrived 30 May 2023
"Tafika was unique in that for 1.5 days we were the only visitors in camp.

It is very much a family run facility. I marked it lower on facilities because the wifi was not great, but this is understandable so far in the bush).

Makupa (Cooper) was our guide and again he did a good job, we also had Lloyd one day and he showed us some different things.

Again the staff was very friendly and helpful." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

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

Buffalo

1 sighting

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Spotted Hyena

1 sighting

Wild dog

3 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Showing 21-30 of 333
98%
333 reviews of Tafika by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
307
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Kapani Lodge

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Mchenja Bushcamp

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Kakuli Bushcamp

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Nsolo Bushcamp

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Puku Ridge

Puku Ridge

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95% (20 reviews)
Mfuwe Lodge

Mfuwe Lodge

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Kuyenda Bushcamp

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