​User Reviews – Kafue NP

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Veronica Alvarez   –  
Norway NO
Visited: April 2023 Reviewed: Apr 24, 2023

Email Veronica Alvarez  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: first safari

Overall rating
5/5

Mainly untouched, full of life, no tourists but us.

Guillaume d'Autichamp   –  
France FR
Visited: October 2018 Reviewed: Oct 31, 2018

Email Guillaume d'Autichamp  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Overall rating
5/5

We stayed 3 nights at the Mawimbi Bush cam and had the camp for ourselves and an extraorinary guide and staff.
This park is huge. We unfortunately missed the Busanga plains that were too far away but we just saw 2 other tourist cars in 2 days.
Our best wildlife highlights there: sable antelope, hartebeest, Leopard and bushpig
The diversisty of game species was great. Elephants were there but more skittish than in the Luangwa valley.

We really fell in love with Kafue which is still relatively unknown : time to enjoy it very soon.

Tetsuji Ida   –  
Japan JP
Visited: August 2018 Reviewed: Sep 25, 2018

Email Tetsuji Ida  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: 2-5 safaris

Overall rating
5/5

Road on the way was not so bad,and in the park, we saw a lot.
Camp site was also exiting, so close to wildlife and unexpectedly clean and comfortable.
Food was also nice, thanks to our nice guide who knows a lot about nature.

Owen   –  
Kenya KE
Visited: July 2018 Reviewed: Sep 16, 2018

Email Owen  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

Potentially One of the Finest National Parks in Africa
Overall rating
4/5

I just spent 11 days in Kafue National Park and loved it. In fact I feel that with better overall management it could be and deserves to be one of the finest National Parks in Africa.

I saw lions,elephants,hippos, herds of red lechwe, oribi and bush pigs,sable and roan. I also saw a leopard. The birding was just fantastic.

I stayed at Mukambi Plains and Musekese Camp. I just loved the hosting and thought that the guiding was exceptional in both of them. The wilderness " exceptional".

The reason why I don't rate it even higher is because I feel that Kafue needs better overall management. I am happy that Paul Tudor Jones is really opening up a lodge and that hopefully African Parks will come in and manage it. This is a great park and I really admire the work that Tyrone Mckeith, Phillip Jeffrey, the Van Der Heides, and others are doing to support the local community and conservation.

David   –  
United States US
Visited: May 2017 Reviewed: Jun 17, 2017

Email David

The review below is the personal opinion of David and not that of SafariBookings.
Overall rating
3/5

I visited Kafue National park during the green season. I loved the remote feel of the park, but it would have been a more satisfying experience later in the dry season. The birding was very good, though, and made up for the absence of animals.

Paul Sivley   –  
United States US
Visited: May 2017 Reviewed: Jun 9, 2017

Email Paul Sivley  |  50-65 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

The review below is the personal opinion of Paul Sivley and not that of SafariBookings.
Overall rating
3/5

South Lwange experience couldn't have been improved. Amazing lodgings, wildlife, guides, service in camps, food, etc. Kafue is a bit behind on those matters. Better to go to Kafue in the north end of the park in Aug or Sept.

Allan   –  
Australia AU
Visited: August 2014 Reviewed: Nov 3, 2016

Email Allan

The review below is the personal opinion of Allan and not that of SafariBookings.
Disastrous Kafue
Overall rating
2/5

I am afraid to say, our trip to Kafue was a disaster in terms of game, very little to see. I think when the new North/ South road was built I think most of the game was eaten/killed, we saw more game in Pilandsberg game reserve.
It was a real pity, next te we will try South Luangue.

James Arden   –  
United Kingdom UK
Visited: July 2015 Reviewed: May 30, 2016

Email James Arden  |  20-35 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

Utter remoteness in this vast park yet still close encounters ensued.
Overall rating
5/5

I travelled with my family to stay at the Busanga Plains camp, a fly camp of Mukambi. The six hour drive from the lodge to Busanga was a true African experience. Although we had little time to stop and digest the animals (we were on a schedule) and were subjected to the traditional African massage, we saw a vast array of mammals and birds and the drive's length just cemented how remote our camp was.
The bush camp was incredible, from the restaurant terrace several hundred red lechwe could be seen grazing and perhaps a dozen fish eagles screeching, truly a wonder. The tents provided everything we needed, obviously being a temporary camp it was nothing on the main lodge but it was fulfilled our needs perfectly. The food also was fantastic. Waking up first thing in the morning and sitting in the restaurant watching the lechwe in the low mist is a truly magical experience that I would recommend to any animal lover.
The drives were top notch; the Busanga lions are the most beautiful I have seen, with fantastic dark manes. We were lucky to get close to a fresh buffalo kill and watch them interact. We encountered great herds of Roan, wildebeest, zebra and a few bachelor elephants amongst others. For the purists, we did not encounter another vehicle on our trip, a true indication of our remoteness and allowed all these sightings to be personal. Our guide was excellent, very knowledgable and worked tirelessly to track down the species my siblings wanted for their tick-lists.
A great destination.

catherina unger   –  
Italy IT
Visited: October 2015 Reviewed: Jan 2, 2016

Email catherina unger  |  35-50 years of age  |  Experience level: over 5 safaris

stunning location, remote, true africa!
Overall rating
4/5

I can say, I'm quite an experience Africa Traveller (many safaris over the last 15 years in Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, Southafrica, Kenya). With the time my research for places with few tourists, an intact wildlife and a stunning scenery became always more sophisticated and so I decided this time for a safari in Zambia. The Kafue National Park, I stayed in the Busanga plains, have for sure been one of my most exciting safari experiences: in a park as big as the whole region of Tuscany there are merely a few camps (in the part where I stayed there where just 3 of them with a maximum of about 8 guests each). It is hard to meet another car out in the wild, not to speak about situations like in the serengeti, where you can find 25 car around a single lion...
I don't know whether it's ufficially permitted, however, the very experienced drivers go often offroad to take you closer to the animals - surely with few cars in this wast area this is not a problem. And it gives you uncredible photographic opurtunities. We came accross some lions hunting a hippo. We saw many elephants and also rare animals as the serval cat.
Of course also the "simple" luxury of the camp, the great food, the stunning location (elephants visit our tent many times, antilopes are grazing always in front of the camp in the great swamp area, added something to the feeling of "out of Africa". A highlight of course was the balloon flight.
The only real disturbing thing in the Kafue are the Tsetse flies. They where the first animal greeting us as soon as our plane landed and the pilot opened the window. That is when I got my first bite, many others followed. The area around the airstrip is worse, the guides know that and avoid it. But also in other places tsetse can be found (I never saw one in the camp). If I ever plan to return to Kafue I will prepare very well with even better safari cloths then those I already had and some really good repellent (but I'm not sure if it exists - autan and others do not help).

Jim   –  
United Kingdom UK
Visited: October 2015 Reviewed: Oct 27, 2015

Email Jim

Kafue : A Truly Wonderful Experience
Overall rating
5/5

We recently visited the Kafue National Park in Zambia. Having visited Southern Africa for safaris several times before (South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana) we decided that we wanted to visit somewhere a little bit different and a little bit rawer. It was suggested that we visit Zambia and the Kafue. We were not disappointed.
Kafue has the feel of a park the is yet to be truly discovered. The natural beauty of the country and the low key feel of the park made for a unique visit. There is plenty of wildlife to be seen, cheetahs was a first for us, and the amount of different birdlife on the river is remarkable. There is maybe not the amount of wildlife that we have seen in other countries but there is certainly the diversity to make up for it, plus you can drive all day with your guide and on most days not see another vehicle or boat. You get the impression that some of the wildlife there have never seen a jeep or a boat before too!
We visited three camps and they were all excellent. The standards are very high with regard to guiding and the accommodations. Everything was just.......great.
In summary, a truly wonderful experience and we are now discussing on how can better this for our next visit to Africa. It's not going to be easy.

Average User Rating

  • 4.5/5
  • Wildlife
  • Scenery
  • Bush Vibe
  • Birding

Rating Breakdown

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  • 4 star 7
  • 3 star 3
  • 2 star 1
  • 1 star 0
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