Reviews of Amanzi
Wildlife sightings and reviews
10 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Amanzi and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
Mr & Mrs K
Maidstone
"Amanzi Review"
3 nights Arrived 29 Oct 2017
"A relatively new camp with rooms offering a wonderful view.
Their policy aim is to give each party their own vehicle and it felt that the whole stay was being made into a personalised safari experience.
This even extended to the catering where you could choose beforehand your meal and even select ingredients for the cooking of your dish. Food quality was excellent - some of the best we have experienced in recent years.
Service and attention to your needs was high class.
If there is a slight downside it is in the fact that they are at one end of the traversing area so that the viewing activities mostly need to travel in one direction or have to go further to change the environment." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia; 1n in South Africa
Their policy aim is to give each party their own vehicle and it felt that the whole stay was being made into a personalised safari experience.
This even extended to the catering where you could choose beforehand your meal and even select ingredients for the cooking of your dish. Food quality was excellent - some of the best we have experienced in recent years.
Service and attention to your needs was high class.
If there is a slight downside it is in the fact that they are at one end of the traversing area so that the viewing activities mostly need to travel in one direction or have to go further to change the environment." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia; 1n in South Africa
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Good
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Mr & Mrs JK
Surrey
"Amanzi review"
4 nights Arrived 18 Sep 2017
"This is a pretty exclusive lodge and offers both land and river safaris, just what we wanted.
Excellent guide (Mwila) and great night time drives." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
Excellent guide (Mwila) and great night time drives." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs F
Dorking
"Small peaceful camp with lovely riverside sit"
4 nights Arrived 18 Sep 2017
"Very spacious comfortable tents. Delightful shaded outdoor area with swing seats.
Atttentive manager and staff with delicious food and choice.
Guiding of a very high standard by Mweela who was very well informed." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
Atttentive manager and staff with delicious food and choice.
Guiding of a very high standard by Mweela who was very well informed." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs N
Hampshire
"Luxury accomodation"
4 nights Arrived 26 Jun 2017
"Very spacious and well equipped rooms e.g. huge floor space in the large living plus sleeping and dressing room areas and equipped with a fridge, hair drier, fluffy bathrobes and slippers, tea and coffee making equipment BUT this led to more of a luxury hotel feeling, rather than traditional bush camp. A very spacious veranda with comfy chairs plus 2 rope swing seats.
Meals, including breakfast, were served at individual tables - so no campfire porridge before early morning activities, which again was less traditional than we are used to. There was always a menu card offered during the day from which to choose (out of 2 or 3) content of the evening meal. Coffee was even made using a Nespresso machine from a choice of capsules - lovely, but again felt more 'hotel' than bush camp. Overall the quality and quantity of the food was very good.
The central seating area was pleasant and comfy but it only had 4 reference books covering reptiles, fish, birds and snakes - but none on mammals, which seemed strange for a safari camp!
Evening game drives did not include provision of a spotter, which we feel is a significant ommission - although to be fair our excellent guide Lawrence, who was with us over all 4 days there, still managed to both drive and spot good wildlife. We did frequently come across other vehicles from Anabezi on our game drives, which when a leopard was found sometimes meant 4+ vehicles surrounding it.
We did 2 morning walks and the guiding was excellent, however, we're told on one day that we couldn't walk as a scout could not be provided as there was a shortage within the national park. There was no such problem reported at Old Mondoro where a scout lived onsite and was always available. Our feeling is that the larger sister camp Anabezi nearby may have been given priority in access to a scout!
The manager Solomon was excellent and very attentive. Other staff also very pleasant and friendly, speaking good English.
Being able to do a canoe trip and also 2 fishing trips was good and added variety during our stay.
The above comments indicate that we found Amanzi was not quite in the same style as the traditional Robin Pope and Norman Carr camps in the Luangwa that we have stayed at before but we still very much enjoyed our stay and saw a good range of game.
Some people eg first timers might actually prefer this style of camp, which was still very intimate with only 4 units, and with its very high level of equipment, style of rooms and so we certainly do not offer the comments above as any criticism, howevrr, it would be worth Expert Africa bearing them in mind when suggesting camps to clients." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Meals, including breakfast, were served at individual tables - so no campfire porridge before early morning activities, which again was less traditional than we are used to. There was always a menu card offered during the day from which to choose (out of 2 or 3) content of the evening meal. Coffee was even made using a Nespresso machine from a choice of capsules - lovely, but again felt more 'hotel' than bush camp. Overall the quality and quantity of the food was very good.
The central seating area was pleasant and comfy but it only had 4 reference books covering reptiles, fish, birds and snakes - but none on mammals, which seemed strange for a safari camp!
Evening game drives did not include provision of a spotter, which we feel is a significant ommission - although to be fair our excellent guide Lawrence, who was with us over all 4 days there, still managed to both drive and spot good wildlife. We did frequently come across other vehicles from Anabezi on our game drives, which when a leopard was found sometimes meant 4+ vehicles surrounding it.
We did 2 morning walks and the guiding was excellent, however, we're told on one day that we couldn't walk as a scout could not be provided as there was a shortage within the national park. There was no such problem reported at Old Mondoro where a scout lived onsite and was always available. Our feeling is that the larger sister camp Anabezi nearby may have been given priority in access to a scout!
The manager Solomon was excellent and very attentive. Other staff also very pleasant and friendly, speaking good English.
Being able to do a canoe trip and also 2 fishing trips was good and added variety during our stay.
The above comments indicate that we found Amanzi was not quite in the same style as the traditional Robin Pope and Norman Carr camps in the Luangwa that we have stayed at before but we still very much enjoyed our stay and saw a good range of game.
Some people eg first timers might actually prefer this style of camp, which was still very intimate with only 4 units, and with its very high level of equipment, style of rooms and so we certainly do not offer the comments above as any criticism, howevrr, it would be worth Expert Africa bearing them in mind when suggesting camps to clients." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs B
Cornwall
"Amanzi review"
3 nights Arrived 3 Oct 2016
"A wonderful end to a long but very enjoyable safari in Zambia. This was luxurious indeed, initial thoughts being that it may be a little OTT for a safari camp, but we were proved wrong from the outset. The setting was beautiful. We were made to feel at home by Soli and our guide, Patrick, and were looked after with discreet, professional service for our 3 night stay with 1st class accommodation and excellent food. This was our second visit to the Lower Zambezi and we were not disappointed – the elephants were incredible. It was lovely having the options of both river and vehicle outings, especially given the high temperatures."
See all these reviews: 15n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr J
Prides Crossing
"Amanzi"
3 nights Arrived 13 Aug 2016
"Great location, facilities, service and guiding!"
See all these reviews: 3n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Average
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs G
EastEwell
"Amanzi review"
4 nights Arrived 5 Aug 2016
"A good newish camp and with only a few rooms which was very nice. We were the only people staying there for 2 of our 4 nights stay which was a very nice treat. Excellent location on the banks of the Zambezi and very nice rooms. Good staff looking after us and a guide for the activities, walking, game drives and on a boat on the river (we didn't try canoeing or fishing). Saw a good amount of game and some good sightings, all very good. Looked a better choice than their large, and more luxury camp, the Anabezi which was only 2/3 km up river.
Very good meals and actually a choice of 2 dishes for starter/main/dessert which had to be selected over afternoon tea, very nice.
A very good stay." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
Very good meals and actually a choice of 2 dishes for starter/main/dessert which had to be selected over afternoon tea, very nice.
A very good stay." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs TM
Utah, USA
"Three nights at Amanzi in June"
3 nights Arrived 12 Jun 2016
"The guest units are huge and beautifully furnished - the nicest units of the five camps at which we stayed. The camp overlooks a channel of the Zambezi River populated with more than a few hippos and crocodiles, and often crossed by a parade of elephants.
On game drives (eight guests per vehicle) we saw many kudu and water bucks, and a sleeping male lion. Two afternoon/evening game "drives" were by boat. We saw goliath herons and the beautiful, diminutive, hard-to-photograph malachite kingfisher. Game sightings were not as frequent as at the other camps we visited.
Food was excellent." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia; 6n in Botswana
On game drives (eight guests per vehicle) we saw many kudu and water bucks, and a sleeping male lion. Two afternoon/evening game "drives" were by boat. We saw goliath herons and the beautiful, diminutive, hard-to-photograph malachite kingfisher. Game sightings were not as frequent as at the other camps we visited.
Food was excellent." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia; 6n in Botswana
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Good
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Mr & Mrs A
Utah
"Restful stay at Amanzi"
3 nights Arrived 12 Jun 2016
"The rooms and facilities were terrific.
We didn't see as many animals as other camps but Robert did his best.
The water cruise was very nice." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia; 6n in Botswana
We didn't see as many animals as other camps but Robert did his best.
The water cruise was very nice." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia; 6n in Botswana
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Ms L & Mr A
London
"Amanzi review"
3 nights Arrived 29 Sep 2015
"We had an amazing relaxing time with the camp to ourselves, the staff looked after us wonderfully without being intrusive a fabulous place to finish our holiday"
See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent
Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Good
Facilities:
Excellent
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