Kanyemba Lodge
Stone-and-thatch chalets · Chiawa GMA, upstream near the Kafue confluence · The Garbaccio family
Mid-range
Outside the gate
Owner/family-run
Run by an Italian family and unlike anything else on this river: the food is the talking point, and the drive from Lusaka is short enough to make a two-night stay viable. A sensible first or last stop on a Zambian road trip.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Italian home cooking and a wood-fired pizza oven
- About two and a half hours from Lusaka by road
- Stone-and-thatch chalets rather than canvas tents
- Pool with a shallow area built for children
- Family unit with three suites, sleeping up to 20 guests overall
Cons
- We found no published minimum age for children
- 2026 rate range not verified; confirm current figures with the lodge
- Closed in January and February each year
- Walking and game drives only; no night drives listed
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Restaurant
- Bar
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Guided walks
Read from Kanyemba Lodge'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 at Kanyemba Lodge
About $220 to $300 pppn full board. That range dates from 2022 and we could not verify a current figure. Confirm with the lodge.
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.
Questions about Kanyemba Lodge
Is Kanyemba Lodge good for families?
Yes. The pool has a shallow area built for children, and the family unit has three suites alongside the six main stone-and-thatch chalets, sleeping up to 20 guests in total. We found no published minimum age, so confirm what suits your children directly when you book.
Can you self-drive to Kanyemba Lodge?
Yes, and easily. Kanyemba is about two and a half hours from Lusaka by road, the easiest road access of any lodge in this valley, which makes it a practical first or last stop on a Zambian road trip rather than a fly-in-only property.
What is the food like at Kanyemba Lodge?
Italian home cooking is the camp's signature, run by an Italian family with a wood-fired pizza oven that the lodge says has turned out at least 5000 pizzas. It is a different style of kitchen from the classic safari-camp menus found at most other camps on this river.
What does it cost to stay at Kanyemba Lodge?
The published rate range dates from 2022 and could not be verified for 2026, so confirm current figures directly with the lodge. It is closed in January and February, and open for the rest of the year.