Time + Tide Chongwe House
Exclusive-use river house · Chiawa GMA, set against the escarpment · Time + Tide
Top-end
Outside the gate
Safari company
The best-known exclusive-use house in the valley, taken as a whole by families and groups of friends. With a four-adult minimum the per-person rate makes more sense than it first looks, and you get a private guide and vehicle in the bargain.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Whole-house exclusive use for one group
- Backed by the escarpment, facing the Zambezi
- Staff, guide and vehicle dedicated to your party
- Children of all ages welcome, with extra beds available
- Four bedrooms sleeping up to eight adults
Cons
- Minimum four adults for an exclusive-use booking
- $100 per person per night added when you enter the park
- Only one house, so dates book out early
- No self-drive route published; reached via Royal airstrip
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Wi-Fi
- Bar
- En-suite bathrooms
- Spa or massage
- Laundry
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Guided walks
- Fishing
Read from Time + Tide Chongwe House'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 Time + Tide Chongwe House
From $900 pppn. 2026: $900 green season, $1,270 safari season, plus $100 per person per night in fees. Minimum four adults.
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 Time + Tide Chongwe House
Is Chongwe House good for families?
Yes. Chongwe House welcomes children of all ages and has extra beds available, with four bedrooms sleeping up to eight adults across its two-storey house. The whole house is taken by one group at a time, with a minimum of four adults, so it suits a family reunion or a group of friends.
What does the rate at Chongwe House include?
From $900 a person a night, the rate covers the whole house exclusively, with accommodation, all meals, standard drinks, dedicated staff, a private guide and vehicle, local transfers except from Jeki airport, laundry and a welcome massage. A $100 per person per night fee applies once you enter the park.
Can you book Chongwe House with a small group?
Not easily. The house is sold on a minimum of four adults for exclusive use, so a couple or a pair of friends would need to make up the numbers or look at Chongwe Suites, the two-suite property run by the same operator nearby.
Can you self-drive to Chongwe House?
No self-drive route is published. Chongwe House is reached via Royal airstrip, about a 20-minute drive from camp, with local transfers included in the rate except from Jeki airport.