Travel reviews by Dr J. from United Kingdom

"I was very pleased to start my South Luangwa safari at Flatdogs. The location outside the national park was not a problem for game drives: it took only around 10 minutes to get the entrance (apart from the times we met many elephants along the way), and to cross the river to the park we sometimes used the pontoon crossing instead of the main bridge, giving us access to different areas for the drives. This central part of the park was busier than others I visited, but had the greatest density of wildlife and was very beautiful.

Tent number 1 was very comfortable and spacious, outdoor bathroom had hot running water, mains electricity was available in the tent for charging. It's nicely located at the riverside: sitting on my bed I could watch wildlife in and around the river including hippos, elephants, crocodiles, puku, and many birds. While not a priority for me, wifi in the main area of camp was a convenience for brief messages to family back home, and I often had signal from tent number 1 which is closest to the main area.

Unique to the safari camps I've stayed in, meals could be taken at any time you wished, and were ordered from a really varied menu - all my meals were excellent. Dining is not communal, but I never dined alone."

"Lovely location in a wooded area alongside a channel that was reduced to occasional watering holes at this time of year. I loved having a panoramic view across the landscape day and night from the upstairs of my reed chalet, and the sense of peace and remoteness being in a walking-only area of the park. Most wildlife sightings were of various antelope and other herbivores (the excellent guiding team followed lion tracks one afternoon hoping we might locate them but it was not to be), and a great variety of birds, with the occassional hippo or elephant to keep us on our toes. My favourite walk was the 5mile/8km walk from Chikoko to Big Lagoon, due to the added sense of it being a journey to a destination, and the variety of habitats passed."

"The location of Big Lagoon is just stunning, took my breath away the moment I walked into camp from Chikoko. Rooms are single-storey reed chalets, with huge 'picture windows' (though being single-storey structures, unlike Chikiko these windows are covered at night). There's almost no need to leave camp to experience the wildlife here. Sitting on my bed one afternoon I watched a hyena walk across the open ground by the lagoon, heading to feed on a hippo carcass out of sight beyond the trees. In the same glance I could see puku to the left of the lagoon, impala to the right, a hippo in the middle distance, two groups of elephants converging from left and right in the far distance to take water, meanwhile in the foreground a group of vultures gathered at the water's edge before heading off for dinner in the same direction as the passing hyena. When we did leave camp, walks were delightful for the scenery and the wildlife, led by Billy and supported by learning-guide Sasu.

Just as with Chikoko, the food is simple but superb, prepared in a bush kitchen complete with underground oven. Do ask to take a look at the kitchen while here!"

"Wonderful camp, located on beautiful bend in the river, hospitality was superb, and all guides were top notch. The owner/operator nature of Tafika made it a very different experience to other camps, you arrive you feeling like a guest at someone's family gathering, you leave feeling like you've become part of the family. The Coppinger family put a lot of effort into hosting to ensure guests feel thoroughly at home.

Game drives are in the north of the Nsefu sector where generally the only other vehicles encountered are other Tafika vehicles, and protocol is for no radio contact between guides, so we were alone at almost all wildlife sightings."

"Camp itself is very comfortable, food was all very good and I enjoyed the communal dining.

There's plenty of wildlife around camp, just an hour after arriving a group of elephants came to drink from the lagoon in front of our lunch table. Being outside the park was offset by the location on the banks of the river with a very short boat ride from camp taking you directly into the park. This helped avoid the busiest parts of the central area of the park and I only felt sightings were crowded on the few occasions when we went to the central areas with a specific goal (lion and wild dog).

It was the only camp that allowed radio communication between guides. This proved a double-edged sword - it means greater chance of seeing something special if it's found by another Nkwali vehicle, but there were a couple of occasions where a voice over the radio felt intrusive if we were stopped at a sighting. Not a big issue for me, but worth keeping in mind depending on the type of experience you want.

On the whole, of all camps I stayed in on this trip, I felt the team at Nkwali went that little bit further in ensuring they gave me the very best experience possible (not that others were bad, the Nkwali team were just superb). This included shuffling some allocations of guests and guides to give me a dedicated "birding" game drive with Perry (offered to me without me asking, when they noticed my interest in birds), and arranging an extra-early departure for a morning game drive to find lions in time to watch the sun rise with them."