Kayila Lodge
Rebuilt eco-lodge · Chiawa GMA, on its own private reserve · Ana Tree Lodges, the Anabezi group
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Kayila Lodge yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Mid-range
Outside the gate
Owner/family-run
A complete rebuild on the site of the old Safari Par Excellence camp, run by the family behind Anabezi and Amanzi. The draw is the private reserve: you can walk from the river up towards the ridge without the park's vehicle restrictions, and the reserve is yours alone. Ignore descriptions of the old camp, it is a different property now.
Why you'd pick it
- Its own 8,700-acre private game reserve
- River-to-ridge walking, from the Zambezi up towards the escarpment
- Four chalets, so it is effectively a small-group lodge
What's here
- Swimming pool
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
Read from Kayila 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
From about $200 pppn on local specials. That was a 2025 and 2026 resident special. The international rack rate is not published, so ask directly.
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.