Tusk & Mane Tafara Springs
Sleep-out site · Rufunsa Valley, at the foot of the escarpment · Tusk & Mane
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High-end
Inside the park
Owner/family-run
Almost all tourism in this park happens on a narrow strip of valley floor beside the water. Tafara Springs is one of the very few products that takes you inland to the escarpment edge, which is a genuinely different landscape and a different species list.
Pros and cons
Pros
- A spring at the escarpment foot, inland of the river
- The only non-riverine product in a river-focused park
- Sleep out under canvas or the open sky
- A genuinely different landscape and species list inland
- Combines with Kutali and Chula on the same canoe circuit
Cons
- Sold only as an add-on, not a standalone stay
- No published rate; sold as part of a wider itinerary
- Only fly-in access to the circuit, via Jeki airstrip
- Small, sleep-out capacity, not a full camp
What's here
- Campsite
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Night drives
- Birding
- Fishing
Read from Tusk & Mane Tafara Springs'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 Tusk & Mane Tafara Springs
Rates not published. Sold as an add-on rather than a standalone stay. No published rate.
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 Tusk & Mane Tafara Springs
Can you book Tafara Springs on its own?
No. Tafara Springs is sold as an add-on rather than a standalone stay, usually combined with nights at Tusk & Mane's Kutali or Chula Island camps on the same circuit. Contact the operator at info@tuskandmane.com or luke@tuskandmane.com to add it to an itinerary.
What is Tafara Springs like?
It is a sleep-out site at a spring at the foot of the escarpment, inland of the river, under canvas or the open sky. Almost everything else in this park sits on the narrow valley floor beside the water, so Tafara Springs offers a genuinely different landscape and species list.
Is Tafara Springs good for families?
Tusk & Mane accepts children of all ages on an exclusive-use booking across its camps, available when a group pays for six guests. Walking and canoeing, used to reach the wider circuit, have a minimum age of 14 on standard shared bookings, so check which applies to your trip.
How do you get to Tafara Springs?
You reach it as part of a Tusk & Mane circuit that starts with a fly-in to Jeki airstrip, about 30 minutes from Lusaka, Mfuwe or Livingstone, followed by travel on foot, by canoe or by vehicle to the inland site. There is no standalone transfer, since it is not sold as a separate stay.