Zambia Safari Lodges
Zambia’s camps are built around the guide, not the vehicle. This collection covers the properties we return to across South Luangwa, the Lower Zambezi, Liuwa Plain, Kafue and Livingstone — with a stopover in Lusaka at either end. For a full picture of the regions, seasons and how they fit together, see our Zambia Safari Guide.
South Luangwa
South Luangwa is where the modern walking safari was born, and it remains the park where guiding quality matters more than almost anywhere else on the continent. The camps below are the ones whose guiding and reputation we’d stand behind.
Time + Tide Chinzombo
Six villas, each with a private plunge pool, on a bend of the Luangwa River — and the most decorated camp in this collection. Chinzombo has appeared on Condé Nast Traveller’s Hot List and IT List, Travel + Leisure’s It List, and the Robb Report’s Best of the Best, and its parent operation, Norman Carr Safaris, has won industry awards for Best Guiding Team in Africa and Best Walking Safaris in Africa. The combination of leopard-dense game viewing, serious walking, and genuinely high design is rare in one property.
Puku Ridge Camp
Rebuilt under the Cumings family — the same owners behind Chiawa Camp and Old Mondoro in the Lower Zambezi — Puku Ridge overlooks a floodplain waterhole that draws elephant, lion and impala into camp view without a drive. It has been recognised by Condé Nast Traveller, and carries the same guiding pedigree as its Lower Zambezi sister camps, with a particular focus on cats and photography.
Robin Pope Safaris — Walking Safari Specialist
If South Luangwa’s reputation rests on the quality of its guides, Robin Pope Safaris is where that reputation was largely built. Founded in 1986 by Robin Pope — who trained as a walking guide under Norman Carr himself in the 1970s — the operation has been singled out by name in The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Condé Nast and the BBC, and won Europe’s Leading Safari Tour Operator at the World Travel Awards. Seventeen of their twenty guides are Zambian nationals, which shows in the depth of local knowledge on every walk.
Their camps sit in the Nsefu Sector, a private concession with noticeably less vehicle traffic than the main park:
Nsefu Camp — built in 1951, the oldest safari camp in Zambia and one of the oldest in Africa. Still in its original style and location, on a meander in the river that elephants cross regularly.
Nkwali — the usual starting point for an RPS itinerary, open year-round on private land just outside the park, with reliable leopard sightings from camp itself.
Tena Tena — the camp Robin Pope opened first, and by most repeat guests’ account, still the favourite. Six tents under a mahogany grove, exceptionally remote and quiet.
Luangwa River Camp — a smaller, understated camp on the riverbank, regularly paired with Nkwali on a single itinerary.
Robin’s House and Luangwa Safari House — private, exclusive-use houses with their own guide, vehicle, chef and valet, for families or groups wanting a camp to themselves.
Robin Pope Safaris also runs a multi-night Mobile Walking Safari between camps — no fixed structure, no electricity, camp struck and rebuilt daily along the route. It is one of the most complete versions of Zambia’s walking heritage available, and suits a traveller who has safaried before rather than a first trip.
Tafika Camp
Naturally built and unpretentious, Tafika is run by Remote Africa Safaris and consistently named among the best camps in Zambia for guiding and food rather than for design. The right choice for a traveller who wants the walking and the wildlife with none of the polish.
Mfuwe Lodge
Five minutes from the main park gate and built around a wild mango tree that draws elephants directly through the property each November, Mfuwe is larger and more sociable than the bushcamps — a good base for families or groups, and a common start or end point before moving on to somewhere more intimate.
Kaingo Camp
Owner-run by Shenton Safaris, Kaingo sits directly on the river with a set of purpose-built wildlife hides that make it a serious choice for photographers, alongside strong general guiding.
Nsolo & Kapamba Bushcamps
Part of the Bushcamp Company’s network of small camps linked to Mfuwe Lodge, both are built for walking safaris in quieter corners of the park, and combine well with a Mfuwe Lodge stay at either end.
Sungani Lodge
The newest name on this list — seven tents, each with a private plunge pool, on the edge of a lagoon, with its own airstrip for direct arrival from Mfuwe. Reviews since opening have been uniformly excellent, and it is quickly establishing itself alongside the more established names above.
Lower Zambezi
The Lower Zambezi sits directly across the river from Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools, and canoeing here — paddling silently past pods of hippo and grazing elephant — is a defining activity no vehicle can replicate.
Chiawa Luxury Tented Camp
One of Zambia’s classic camps, family-owned by the Cumings family since the 1980s. Superb guiding across canoeing, boating, walking and game drives along the Zambezi floodplain.
Old Mondoro
Chiawa’s smaller, wilder sister camp — four thatched chalets, more intimate and less polished, for a traveller who wants the wildlife experience over the design.
Sausage Tree Camp
Run by Green Safaris, on a beautiful stretch of riverfront. A strong choice for a private, high-end Lower Zambezi stay.
Lolebezi
One of the most ambitious builds in Zambia’s recent history — ultra-luxury riverside design, well suited to multi-generational families as much as design-led travellers.
Anabezi
Rebuilt on a historic camp site, with a family-friendly layout and strong river frontage.
Liuwa Plain
Remote even by Zambian standards, Liuwa Plain hosts Africa’s second-largest wildebeest migration and some of the continent’s least crowded game viewing — genuinely wild country rather than a standard safari circuit.
Time + Tide King Lewanika
The only permanent camp in the park, and Liuwa’s flagship. A serious pick for a traveller who has done the classic circuit and wants somewhere genuinely different.
Kafue
One of Africa’s largest national parks and still one of its least visited — Kafue rewards travellers who value space, scenery and genuine wilderness over a dense sighting count.
Wilderness Shumba
Six suites overlooking the Busanga Plains, one of the finest lion landscapes left in Africa. Highly seasonal — the floodplain dictates when it opens — and genuinely remote.
Ila Safari Lodge
Run by Green Safaris on solar power, with electric game-viewing vehicles and an electric boat safari — a genuinely different, quieter way to move through the park.
Kaingu Safari Lodge
On the Kafue River, for a traveller who values remote wilderness and scenery over ultra-luxury polish, with noticeably fewer vehicles than the busier parks.
Livingstone & Victoria Falls
The natural place to open or close a Zambia itinerary — Mosi-oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders, with a genuine spread of styles from grand hotel to private island.
The Royal Livingstone
A grand colonial-era hotel by Anantara, directly on the Zambezi within walking distance of the Falls themselves. Zebra, giraffe and impala roam the grounds freely.
Sindabezi Island
A tiny private-island camp in the middle of the Zambezi, sister property to Tongabezi, with only five chalets. Genuinely off-grid, and one of the most romantic stays in the region.
Tongabezi
Voted onto Condé Nast Traveller’s World’s Top 20 Hotels list — a genuine honeymoon and design draw, upstream from the Falls on the Zambezi.
The River Club
Boutique and owner-run, just outside Livingstone on the Zambezi. A quieter, more personal alternative to the larger hotels nearby.
Lusaka — Stopover Hotels
Most Zambia itineraries touch Lusaka at either end for a flight connection — these are the three we’d use for a night in the city.
Radisson Blu Hotel Lusaka
142 rooms in the city centre, 15–20 minutes from the airport, with an outdoor pool and full restaurant. The reliable choice for a straightforward stopover.
Latitude 15°
Boutique, 32 rooms, genuinely design-forward — African art, copper chandeliers — for a stopover that feels like part of the trip rather than a transit stop.
Protea Hotel by Marriott Lusaka Airport
Around 500 metres from the airport terminal — the practical pick for a very early or late flight, or a single-night layover.