Royal Zambezi Lodge
Large river lodge · Chiawa GMA, on the riverbank near the Royal airstrip · Privately owned, family run
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Royal Zambezi Lodge yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
High-end
Outside the gate
Owner/family-run
The largest and most hotel-like property on this stretch, and the one that stays open when the park camps close. Because it sits in the game management area you pay no national park entry fee unless you cross into the park, which the lodge states plainly on its own site. That makes it the natural base for a mixed trip.
Why you'd pick it
- Its own airstrip, served by Proflight in season
- A resident bush spa, rare in this valley
- Trades right through the green season when most camps shut
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Bar
- Family rooms
- Spa or massage
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Guided walks
- Birding
- Fishing
Read from Royal Zambezi 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 $675 pppn. 2026: $675 in May and December, $970 from June to November, fully inclusive. A prepaid park package of $85 per person per day covers the full national park entry package paid on to DNPW.
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.