Baines' River Camp
Colonial-style solid build · Chiawa GMA, on the Zambezi bank · Founded by Tim Featherby
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Baines' River Camp yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Mid-range
Outside the gate
Owner/family-run
If fishing is the reason you are coming, this is the specialist. All angling here is catch-and-release, and the tigerfish season peaks from late August into November. The build is solid rather than tented, which suits guests who want air conditioning and a door that locks.
Why you'd pick it
- The premier tiger-fishing operation on this stretch of river
- Solid brick-and-thatch rooms rather than canvas
- A longer season than the in-park camps, opening in March
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Wi-Fi
- Bar
- Family rooms
- Air conditioning
- Laundry
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Guided walks
- Birding
- Fishing
Read from Baines' River Camp's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Lower Zambezi National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entry$25 if you are with a licensed operator instead of self-driving.
- $30per person, per day
- VehicleUnder 3 tonnes, foreign registered.
- $15per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $225 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
Camps inside the park bundle a bed-night levy and community fee on top, which together run $85 to $120 per person per night. That is the number that lands on your invoice, not the gate fee.
The full fee schedule for Lower Zambezi National ParkRates
Packages from $1,995 for four nights. That is the 2026 four-night tiger-fishing special, roughly $499 per person per night. The per-night rack rate is not published.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Indicative 2026 rates from operators' own rate cards, gathered July 2026. Always confirm with the lodge. Two things shift the real comparison here. First, camps inside the park add $85 to $120 per person per night in bundled park and conservation fees, and most quote that separately. Second, camps in the Chiawa game management area carry no national park entry fee at all unless you cross into the park, which is why a GMA bed can work out far cheaper than the headline rate suggests.