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Tena Tena
Tena Tena
Tena Tena
Tena Tena
Tena Tena
Tena Tena
Tena Tena
Tena Tena

Reviews of Tena Tena

Wildlife sightings and reviews

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

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Jul-2018, 38 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Tena Tena.
Lion

83% success

Leopard

86% success

Wild dog

40% success

Elephant

100% success

Giraffe

100% success

Hippo

100% success

Spotted Hyena

94% success

Buffalo

91% success

Zebra

86% success

Eland

26% success

Roan antelope

6% success

Sable antelope

6% success

Aardvark

0% success

Pangolin

0% success

Wildebeest

0% success

Showing 41-50 of 154
Duration
Arrival date
Mr A
Marford

"Tena Tena review"

3 nights Arrived 16 Jul 2018
"We were treated very well by the staff.
The guides were of very high quality and knowledge" See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia; 2n in Zimbabwe
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

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

Buffalo

1 sighting

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

1 sighting

Zebra

1 sighting

dadndoc
Mawson Lakes

"Not all so special"

1 night Arrived 5 Jul 2018
"Suzanne and I stayed for one night at Tena Tena as a stopover between other camps. We shared this small and “exclusive” camp with less than 10 other clients. The camp is located in a fairly remote area of South Luangwa National Park which we reached after a considerable drive from the main gate which included a river transfer crossing by boat.

Our tents were modern and comfortable. We shared the mainly outdoor bathroom area which was exposed to the elements with a various creepy crawlies, especially during the night. We could spot various animals between us and the distant river while relaxing on the tent porch.

We enjoyed a couple of leopard sightings on both game drives but animals and different species in that region were generally few and far between. If you wish to see high numbers or a large variety of game then this may not be the camp that suits you.

The all male camp staff didn’t seem to be a close-knit working team. They simply did their jobs without providing the special attention you’d expect from such an exclusive and extremely expensive camp. Meals were an extremely basic, one meal fits all, with no choices. This was in extreme contrast to our previous days at Flatdogs Camp where excellent menu choices were available all day. My vegetarian daughter had negotiated suitable food alternatives with a camp manager on arrival but for dinner she was presented with a meat dish, mashed potato and cooked carrots, none of which she eats. She left the table extremely upset and went to bed unfed. Definitely not good enough from Tena Tena Camp, and certainly poor when the same single menu offering is presented to all clients in this day and age of food preferences and allergies.

Camp management would be well advised to consider the following options.

1. Identify the dietary requirements of clients during the booking process and definitely when clients arrive at the camp.
2. Ensure that all clients are provided with suitable food options for their needs at each meal.
3. Be aware that when a separate “vegetarian” dish is supplied that it also becomes a food choice of non-vegetarians, so vegetarians can still be left without a sufficient meal.
4. Provide a greater range of menu choices rather than a meat dish and two vegetables. It’s unimaginable that a group of ten clients would all be satisfied with exactly the same three food choices.
5. Be more aware that if all food supplied is consumed then there probably wasn’t sufficient in the first place. Hungry clients can become unhappy clients." See all these reviews: 6n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Average

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

Elephant

4 sightings

Giraffe

5 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

3 sightings

Mike
Cam

"Lovely setting"

2 nights Arrived 4 Jul 2018
"Beautiful setting - and lovely bar area. Lots of leopard & hyena seen." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Good
Service:
Good
Activities:
Average
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Good
Mr & Ms S
Wimbledon

"Very comfortable and spacious tents"

3 nights Arrived 21 Oct 2017
"A friendly camp, well hosted by Jenny, with very capable guides and delicious food. We wanted to try a camp on the other side of the river from the majority of camps. This involved crossing the river, with water at a very low level, in a small boat so it was a relief that they send an armed guard to accompany the crossing.

Although the camp was fairly full we never had more than three guests in our game drive vehicle. The guides from the camp were great at finding leopards on evening drives and hidden from our view in trees or the bush in the mornings. A pack of African wild dogs including several very playful puppies were regular sightings not far from camp and our guide willingly took us to the area near the Nsefu camp so that we could see the Nsefu pride of lions.

The guides and their night-time spotters were successful on 3 consecutive nights in finding predators: although we did not see the moment of kill, we were close to the action when a leopard took an impala, the pack of dogs chased a number of impala at incredible speed and eventually caught one (not a pretty sight), and finally when, after a kill possibly also involving hyenas, a leopard sought refuge from the dogs up a tree before successfully fleeing to another tree where she could hide better." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia; 2n in Kenya
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr E
Kenilworth

"What a lovely spot."

2 nights Arrived 4 Oct 2017
"Again one could not fault the staff , location or guiding, I would have liked to have stayed longer." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs D
Buckingham

"A short walk from Nsefu...."

2 nights Arrived 25 Sep 2017
"Our adventure continued at Tena Tena under the expert guidance of Nyambe, our guide, who helped us get close up and not quite personal with lions on the banks of the river.

The camp location was perfect and we were wonderfully looked after by Jenny and her team. Relaxing by our tent in the afternoon felt as if we were in amongst the animals as they wandered down to the river in front of us.

Our safari in South Luanga finished here but we resolved to return as soon as we can to see the park after the wet season." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs TC
Thurlby

"Wow the safari experience gets better!"

3 nights Arrived 13 Sep 2017
"From Nkwali Fred, our guide and camp manager, took us on a morning game drive to the transfer point-no time was wasted travelling, the safari experience continued and we were sad in a way to leave Fred, but our next camp beckoned so we said our goodbyes to Fred and hello to the guides from Tena. We were greeted by Jenny the Camp host and soon installed in our second accommodation which was Tented Chalet. We had seen the Chalet on the internet and when we arrived we found the accommodation, layout and comfort exceeded our expectations once again!

Our guides who were Bertrum, John and Chris, were all very knowledgeable and with Jenny made us very welcome and our stay a memorable one. Our Safari experience was just as we had hoped and we saw many Lions, Leopards, Elephants and Buffaloes. We had been given a record entitled "Mammals of the South Luangwa" and also " Birds of the South Luangwa-checklist"by Shannon at Nkwali and we ticked off the animals and birds that we saw in our record as we came across them. Unfortunately we saw so many species of birds that we lost track in our record but managed to record the memorable ones.

As well as the Big 4 ( Rhinos were not present in our locations in Zambia) we saw wonderful animals-Hippos, Hyenas, Giraffes, Zebra and other smaller animals together with many varieties of birds. We had a great time at Tena and would highly recommend that camp and accommodation also. Our Guides were Bertrum and John and they were first class guides who went the extra mile to make our holiday experience a memorable one. Guide Chris is a comedian and he was great fun also,- he never stopped laughing when we were in his company!" See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Ms G & Mr D
Middlesex

"Tena Tena review"

4 nights Arrived 28 Aug 2017
"We had visited Tena Tena in 1993 and been organised by Jo and guided by Robin Pope, so it was a hard act to follow. The camp is now in a different but still very special location.
The game drives were excellent with good sightings including elephants chasing wild dogs a definite first for us! It was unfortunate for us that you could only do 4 hour walks, not a shorter 2 hour that both of us could enjoy.
The tents were good but we didn't like the fact that you could see the next tent from the washing sinks area. It also seemed odd but not critical that there was nowhere to sit in the tent at night as the only chair was full of the cushions off the bed. The lighting is also very dim so their and our torches were very useful.
Jenny. our host, was particularly kind when I felt unwell. She also arranged a champagne sundowner on the banks of the Luangwa river to celebrate a wedding, an anniversary and birthday of the guests during our stay." See all these reviews: 15n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Good
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Mr & Mrs C
Bucks

"Dekightful camp, excellent wildlife viewing"

3 nights Arrived 18 Aug 2017
"Following Nkwali, our expectations were high and the welcome from Jenny and then Florence confirmed that we were in for another treat. Tracking a pride of lions failing three times to capture impala and then finally making a kill was the icing on the cake but was swiftly followed on the same night drive with leopard and porcupine sightings.


Food and guiding was top class." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr F
Hampshire

"Tena Tena review"

4 nights Arrived 29 May 2017
"Our third time in Tena Tena and it was as good as ever." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Showing 41-50 of 154
95%
154 reviews of Tena Tena by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
123
25
5
1
0
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