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elipheliph
NL
Visited:
July 2010
Reviewed: Aug 31, 2011
20-35 years of age
Truly amazing Safari experience
Kafue river is something itself! We took a little boat tour along the river and watched the sunset. Its unbelievable how a river full of alligators can look so fantastic and romantic:) We got a chance to eat hunt meat as well; fresh and nice! I never had that tasty meat in my entire life!
Because I was afraid of being in the wild with lions etc I wanted to stay in a lodge where I could feel ''comfortable''.
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so we chose Mukambi Lodge which was exceptionally beautiful. The lodge itself was home to a lot of wild animals. Elephants, hippos, lions were all around & in the lodge. We were so lucky with the choice of guide as well. All the guides in Mukambi are locals and have amazing sense of animals. They se & hear from kilometers away. They showed us the animals without disturbing their wild life or risking our lives.I cannot recall anything negative about this trip. Everyone was helpful and nice, Kafue park was truly beautiful. It made me and my husband fall in love with mother Africa and we definitely would consider going back again.
aserlemitsos
US
Visited:
March 2011
Reviewed: Sep 20, 2011
under20 years of age
Kafue is a great national park. I recommend Mukumbi Lodge, where they offer great food, and excellent game drives. My favorite memory of Kafue is driving along the road and running into lion, just lying there on the road.
Largest wildlife NP in Africa, almost no tourists. Has got everything. Great scenary.
zoeapanda
GB
Visited:
February 2004
Reviewed: Nov 9, 2011
20-35 years of age
saw so much vaiety of wildlife, including cheetah, porcupine, hundreds of elephans, beautiful birds.
Spencer
Visited:
June 2011
Reviewed: Jan 2, 2012
It feels very remote and doesn't have the vibe that you're in the middle of a tourist zone like in Tanzania.
~lustedtowander~
US
Visited:
July 2011
Reviewed: Apr 1, 2012
35-50 years of age
We saw one other vehicle during our 3 day stay in Kafue. Wildlife viewing requires a canny eye, but the bush experience makes it all worth the trip.
Rimfire Remington
DE
Visited:
February 2010
Reviewed: Apr 14, 2012
50-65 years of age
Wild and lonley, fantastic wildlife, nice beetles
We did a entomolgical research trip with own car. Wonderful and very wild and lonley.
Take care you have a GPS with you when you are not guided, the roadsigns are sometimes difficult to find. When you dont like Tsetse flies, dont go in rainy season, but then you will miss insect life.
Chris Sparks
Visited:
February 2005
Reviewed: May 6, 2012
Convenient from Lusaka, good chance of seeing cats, beautiful/awesome river, Lufupa camp really good.
Komlan Lonergan
US
Visited:
May 2010
Reviewed: Apr 16, 2013
Email Komlan Lonergan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Brief jaunt into the Zambian wilderness yielded a leopard sighting and a moment of respite.
Well the park delivered on both expectations. During my visit, I stayed at the Mukambi Lodge in the Kafue National Park. The accommodations were great. Spacious lodge with operational amenities. The meals included both Zambian and international fares, which were all delicious and filling. I participated in two drives around in the park: one ride at dawn, and one ride at dusk. It was the dawn ride when we happened across a Leopard, which though brief in sighting was unforgettable. During both rides, we viewed Elephants, wild dogs, and various antelopes. Very enjoyable rides altogether.
I highly recommend considering the Mukambi Lodge as a accommodation and safari
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operator. The professional staff immediately makes you feel at home and the small quantity of lodges allows you to get to know the other guests. The safari drives are well delivered, with ample occasion to absorb the sights and the wildlife, and are tailored to maximize the wildlife sightings depending on the season.
geosync2006
US
Visited:
September 2012
Reviewed: Apr 23, 2013
Email geosync2006 | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
An astounding bush experience marked by spectacular wildlife...like living in an IMAX movie!
Yes, hearing hippos. I had never before thought about hippos making noise, but they actually make a very distinctive (and rather loud) sound that marked our days and nights and that we had never before
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experienced. It is an expansive and deep laughing sound, as if someone had recorded a guffaw and then played it back --much louder-- at a slower speed. At the risk of dating myself, I would liken it to a 45 rpm record being played back at 33 rpm. The hippos frolic and splash in the water, submerge themselves for a few minutes, then resurface and bellow out HOOOO HAR HAR. (One person in our group posited that they go under the water to share fart jokes, then come back to the surface to laugh over them. If you ever have the chance to hear this sound you will find this explanation strangely.The beasts splash around in the water, submerge for a minute or two, then surface and call out HOOOOO HAR HAR HAR. (One wag in our tour group suggested that they go underwater to tell fart jokes, then surface to laugh at them. If you ever get to hear this sound you will find that theory strangely conceivable.)
We really wanted to walk that fifty feet and sit on the river bank, but were told to keep a distance of at least ten feet from the water at all times, since that is the striking point of the crocodiles who share the water with the hippos. We did not need to be instructed on this twice.
One of Musanza's afternoon activities was a boat ride up the river that lasted a few hours, in an outboard aluminum skiff that accommodated roughly seven. There was a plethora of birds, and as we meandered up river our boat driver made sure to maneuver around the hippos. You would think since the hippos are fairly large targets that this might be an easy task, however, since they occupy a fair amount of time underwater is more difficult (and more dangerous) than it appears. There were times when he would spot bubbles further down the river and would simply steer us in a compact circle for a few minutes until the underwater hippos had vacated. There was an occasion where he misjudged, and a hippo reared just under the surface about two feet to the left of the rig, causing a huge ripple and provoking a not entirely uncalled for shout from a woman who had the distinction of sitting right at that point of the boat.
Hippos look funny, and their laugh adds to that picture, but they are genuinely dangerous because of their inclination for capsizing boats. They are close to the top of the list of large animals that routinely cause human deaths. (This being around here of course; there are not very many hippo-related casualties in our neighborhood). They are also threatening to each other, with a social structure that features a lot of the alpha-male, "are YOU lookin' at ME?" stuff. A couple miles upstream from our camp on the river bank, we happened upon a severely injured young male hippo limping through the brush and into the river. He had a nasty wound on his left rear flank, which most likely arose from a brush with the wrong adult male.
A stop at the Treetops school was including on our boat trip. This school is where more affluent parents, mostly from the capital Lusaka, send their children for four to five days of seeing the animals, living in the bush, etc. It is basically a summer camp featuring elephants. There was a larger variety of ethnic diversity than we expected (Indian, black, and white), until we were given the explanation behind "affluent": these were al children of the diplomats and other "upper crust" in Lusaka. The school had a classroom and separate, camp-style dorm buildings, and was situated in a clearing close by the riverbank. The setting was dominated by a giant baobab tree, which also merits some discussion.
If you have ever studied French in school then you probably read "The Little Prince," By St. Exupéry, in which case you have already conjured up a mental image of a baobab tree as a vine-draped thing that has roots drooping from all its branches and thus spreads itself over a very wide area. Well, delete that image because St. Exupéry was entirely wrong in confusing a baobab tree with a banyan. A baobab is defined by a very wide trunk and comparatively thin branches - in fact, it looks as if someone chopped off all the branches from a much older tree and they have only been growing back over the past couple years. The trunks are of such great diameter that in old times poorer residents of the village would hollow them out and use the still living tree as a home; in some instances the community would use them as prisons. The baobab at Treetops could probably have served as a small maximum security jail: the tree was roughly 150' high and easily 25'-30' wide at its base. (We have a picture of us standing at the base - it's so big that you have to look two times to see us.)
We left Musanza (and Zambia) with heavy hearts; it had truly been an Edenic three days and we really bonded with the staff there (it probably didn't hurt that we were the only guests). As seems to be the standard procedure at every camp we have visited, the last night included musical performance by the staff, a lively drum display that had everyone up on their feet.
