Where to stay in Lower Zambezi: lodges by area, budget and type of trip (2026)

Inside the park, western and central riverfront: the classic camps

This is the stretch of river most people picture: winterthorn and mahogany on the floodplain, the escarpment behind, Mana Pools on the far bank. Chiawa Camp opened here in 1989 and was the first camp in the park; its smaller sister Old Mondoro sits further downstream with five open-fronted chalets and a leopard record that repeat guests come back for. Both charge $1,510 to $1,995 pppn in 2026, plus $120 in park and conservation fees.

In the centre, at the Chifungulu Channel, Sausage Tree Camp ($1,200 to $1,820) and Potato Bush Camp ($975 to $1,430) are the two Green Safaris camps. Both include private guiding, and the channel behind them is the calmest canoeing water in the park. Near Jeki, Tusk & Mane run Kutali Camp on Kulefu Island and Chula Island Camp further downstream, light fly-camps built for walking and canoeing rather than driving.

Who it suits: anyone who wants game drives, night drives, walking and canoeing from the door without a gate to pass, and who can fly in between May and mid-November. Expect a minimum age of 8 to 15 for some activities at most of these camps.

Inside the park, eastern sector: fewer vehicles, newer camps

The eastern half of the park is far from Chongwe Gate, so vehicle traffic is a fraction of what it is in the west. Anabezi has twelve raised suites with plunge pools above the Mushika floodplain, at about $1,425 pppn (a 2026 third-party figure; the camp quotes on request) plus $90 a night in fees, with night drives included. Its small sister Amanzi has four suites sold mostly for exclusive use to one group, and is the most remote camp in the park.

Lolebezi, opened by African Bush Camps in 2022, is the newest build in the park, with a spa, a gym and a family suite, at about $525 pppn on an indicative 2026 figure plus an $85 levy. It advertises dates across most of the year, but road access still fails in the rains. Tusk & Mane Tafara Springs, at the foot of the escarpment in the Rufunsa Valley, is a sleep-out add-on to their canoe circuit and the one product that takes you inland, away from the river.

Who it suits: second-time visitors, honeymooners, and anyone who wants the river without the western traffic.

The Chiawa GMA near the Chongwe: the private game lodges outside the boundary

Most searches for Zambezi private game lodges land here. This is the riverbank just west of the park, close to Chongwe Gate and served by Royal airstrip, and it holds the valley's biggest choice of lodges. Royal Zambezi Lodge is the largest, with its own airstrip, a spa and year-round opening, from $675 in May and December to $970 from June to November. Time + Tide runs three properties at the Chongwe confluence: Chongwe Camp (from $810, all ages welcome), the two sculpted Chongwe Suites (from $950, butler and private vehicle) and the four-bedroom Chongwe House (from $900, minimum four adults).

Further along, Zambezi Grande is the glossiest finish in the GMA, about $800 to $1,390 on rates whose year is not stated. Baines' River Camp is the tigerfishing specialist with solid brick-and-thatch rooms, sold as packages such as four nights from $1,995 per person in 2026. Kayila Lodge has four chalets on its own 8,700-acre reserve, and Mvuu Lodge, deeper into the GMA opposite Mana Pools, has tented chalets and seven private campsites.

Who it suits: first-timers, families, mixed groups and anyone on a tighter budget, because you can take the park when you want it. Night drives are run here too by licensed operators. The trade-off is that the best game viewing is inside the park, so a good GMA stay includes guided days across the Chongwe.

Upstream to Chirundu and downstream past the park: road access and quiet river

Upstream, between the Kafue confluence and the Chirundu border, are the lodges you can drive to easily. Kanyemba Lodge, about two and a half hours from Lusaka, is run by an Italian family with a pizza oven and has a four-chalet island camp opposite. Kiambi Safari Lodge at the Kafue confluence mixes chalets, cottages and campsites and runs its own multi-day canoe trips. Gwabi River Lodge, 145 km from Lusaka at the Chiawa bridge, is where boat transfers downstream start, and Breezes River Lodge, 6 km from the Chirundu border post, has the cheapest riverside beds. Wildtracks Lodge is closed until further notice, as the lodge told us on 1 September 2026.

Downstream of the park, in the Rufunsa GMA near Mpata Gorge, Redcliff Zambezi Lodge is a locally owned fishing and birding camp being restored, 15 to 20 minutes by boat into the park, and Kingfisher Lodge Lower Zambezi has six self-catering chalets. Neither publishes rates, and both are boat or 4x4 country.

Who it suits: self-drivers, anglers, Lusaka weekenders and travellers crossing to or from Zimbabwe. Allow for a longer run into the park: these lodges are an hour or more by boat from the park boundary.

Mid-range: $465 to about $560, and what counts as mid-range here

The middle of this valley is thin, and honest guides say so. Mvuu Lodge is most of it: tented chalets at $465 pppn full board from April to June and in December, $560 from July to November, figures the lodge's bookings office gave us on 1 September 2026. Conservation and tourism levies are added to the invoice rather than shown in the rate, and the deposit terms are strict: 25 percent within five days or the booking cancels itself.

Baines' River Camp works out at roughly $499 pppn on its four-night 2026 tigerfishing package. Lolebezi, at about $525 pppn plus an $85 levy on an indicative 2026 figure, is the cheapest way to sleep inside the park, though it sells mostly as packages. Kayila Lodge has offered about $200 on resident specials; ask for the international rate.

Above that, Royal Zambezi Lodge at $675 to $970 is where fully inclusive, fly-in comfort starts, and for most travellers it is the best value of the larger lodges because you pay park fees only when you use the park ($85 per person a day through the lodge's park package).

Big game and the private lodges: what you see from each side

Every lodge in this valley is privately run; the difference that matters for big game is whether you sleep inside the park. Measured per-trip sighting rates in the park are elephant 100 percent, lion 96 percent, leopard 88 percent and wild dog 46 percent, with buffalo and hippo along the whole river. Our wildlife page has the numbers and where they come from.

The in-park camps, such as Chiawa Camp, Old Mondoro and Anabezi, are on that game every day without crossing a gate, and run night drives inside the park. The GMA lodges near the Chongwe, such as Royal Zambezi Lodge and Chongwe Camp, see elephant and hippo from camp and take you into the park for drives, boat trips and canoeing. Further upstream at Kanyemba or Kiambi, the river is the attraction and the park is a longer trip away.

Night drives are permitted inside this park and in the GMA through licensed operators until about 20:00. Self-drivers cannot do them at any price.

How to book: direct, online or through a specialist

There is no park-run accommodation to book. Self-drivers buy DNPW day permits at Chongwe or Mukamba Gate on the day. Payment methods at the gates are not published, so carry US dollars in undamaged notes from 2013 or later. Everything else is booked with the private lodge, directly or through an agent.

Booking direct works well for a single lodge. Every camp on this page takes email enquiries, and Kiambi takes bookings through an online booking system linked from its own site. Read the terms: Mvuu, for example, cancels a booking automatically if the 25 percent deposit is not paid within five days. Proflight seats can be bought on Proflight's site, but most guests let the camp book the shuttle, because the camp knows which strip and which rotation it is meeting.

A specialist earns their keep when the trip has more than one moving part: two camps, a Proflight connection from Mfuwe or Livingstone, a cross-border leg to Mana Pools, or a canoe circuit that has to line up with a flight. Some camps, such as Anabezi, only quote rates on request in any case.

We do not take bookings ourselves. If you send a booking request through this site, it goes to a safari specialist we work with, who may pay us a commission. That does not change which lodges we list or what we say about them.

When to book

August and September are the months the camps fill, and the camps here are small: Potato Bush has four units, Old Mondoro five chalets, Chula Island five tents, the Chongwe Suites two. For those months we would book as soon as your dates are fixed, and nine to twelve months ahead is not too early for the smallest camps. October is almost as busy, with some end-of-season reductions.

May, June and the first half of November are easier and cheaper, and shoulder rates at camps like Royal Zambezi and Mvuu start in May. Remember the hard dates: Proflight's scheduled shuttle runs only from 1 May to 15 November, most in-park camps open around 1 April or 1 May and close mid-November, and from December to March only a handful of GMA lodges stay open. Our best time to visit page has the month-by-month picture, and getting there covers the road and boat options.