“A Great, peaceful place!”

I stayed in this lodge actually in July 2008, but I still want to say something about this place, since not too many have reviewed this place (it wasn't possible to choose "date of stay" so far away in the review form)... During my five weeks in Africa, I stayed only two nights in Mukambi, but it was definitely the best accomodation during my trip. Well, we usually preferred budget accomodation, but I couldn't have chosen better the place where I'm going to spend a bit more.

Mukambi was easy to come from Lusaka, since a main road was just a short drive away. Long distance buses can stop on the nearby bridge, where the staff is waiting for the bus. At the same bridge there is a police(?) checkpoint, so it's also a safe place to wait for a bus back to Lusaka (well we hitchhiked, when a white nun drove by...). At least two years ago the lodge was run by a Dutch couple. There was at least two kind of accomodation available, huts and tents. We stayed in a tent, which was very nice - a real safari tent with some wooden construction around to prevent elephants from running over(?). Every night a young staff lady brought us warm water bottles to keep us a bit warmer during African winter nights (it wasn't needed really, but I remember this kind service very well. Some kind of oil lamp was also provided, as far as I remember. Clean toilet was in a separate building in the garden. The main building was very nice with a huge terrace facing the mighty Kafue river. The staff was friendly in every way.

An old lonely elephant visited the garden once a day or so, and a hippo, which was abandoned by his herd, was lying on the terrace sometimes. That was awesome. But the real catch was on the other side of the river - the huge Kafue national park. It may be not the best park in Africa, or even in Zambia, to see a lot of wildlife packed together, but we saw lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, warthogs and many antilopes... Because the park is so big, you don't have to be afraid of running in other tourists. As far as I saw, Mukambi was actually the only lodge nearby. But because the animals are not so easy to spot as in some other parks, several safari drives are probably needed to see all what Kafue has to offer. In addition to safari drives Mukambi offered walking safaris and boat cruises. The boat cruise was ok at least once, but the walking safari was a bit lame, since animals were afraid of walking humans. If you are staying just a couple of nights like us, I recommend max one boat cruise and as many safari drives as possible.

All food was included in the price of the accomodation. Buffet was on the terrace of the main building and it was really good, even delicious. But after 30 hours of stay in the lodge I got a diarrhea and fever. After we got back to Lusaka my condition got a lot worse before it got better, but after some antibiotics from a doctor I got well very soon. You never know if got the food poisoning from buffets of Mukambi (my friend stayed ok all the time), but I still have to give full five points to

Date of stay: July 2010

Visit was for: Leisure

Traveled with: Friends

Age group: 25-34

Member since: January 10, 2010

(source: TripAdvisor)