Reviews of Anabezi Luxury Camp

"If one could only travel to a single location for safari, we would enthusiastically recommend that Anabezi Camp be that location. On our August 2022 Zambia safari we found every detail at Anabezi Camp to far exceed our greatest expectations. Our tented suite at Anabezi Camp was perfect in every detail. From the comfortable bed, to the in-suite bathtub, to the outside shower and amazing patio view – every detail was first class!

The entire team at Anabezi Camp went above and beyond to make every moment of our safari experience the best it could be. The dining experience at Anabezi Camp was exceptional. Before our morning game drives we could have a custom omelet prepared or a wide variety of items from the breakfast buffet. There was an expresso machine available anytime of day/night for any type of coffee. The lunchtime and dinner menus were varied and included both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Dinners at Anabezi Camp were exceptional. The dining patio at Anabezi Camp was beautiful day and night.

Our guide while at Anabezi Camp, Presley, was world class. It is difficult to imagine a guide with more knowledge, better educational skills and better ability to place people in front of amazing wildlife – in spectacular light.

With respect to wildlife viewing, Anabezi Camp is optimally located within the Lower Zambezi National Park. During our four days at Anabezi Camp every location we visited while on game drives was filled with wildlife. We were absolutely astonished by the abundance of wildlife in this section of the park. The Winterthorn grove adjacent to camp is home to 11 leopards. Every time we drove through this grove our guide found at least one leopard. Each day we saw vehicles from much further West in the park drive more than an hour to get to this section of the park to see leopards.

We were entranced by the amazing beauty of the Lower Zambezi National Park. Spending an afternoon/early evening on the Zambezi River is highly recommended. The late afternoon light on the native flora and fauna is unlike any experience we have ever had.

We have travelled the world and believe the sunset we experienced while on the Zambezi was the most beautiful we have seen." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia

"A 30 minute boat ride took us to a small jetty where we were met by our guide, Mwila from Anabezi camp. A great chap who we soon found out was very knowledgeable, polite and a good conversationalist. The drive back to the camp was about an hour so plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the game spotting.

Anabezi camp was situated in a superb location with the main deck, dining area and bar high up on stilts overlooking a grassy plain in front of the Zambezi river. All the rooms were in fact linked by 7/8 ft board walks. A beautiful main deck where wildlife, such as, elephants, waterbuck, baboons, warthogs and lions (more about them later) meandered across in front of us and in the background hippos were splashing about and snorting in the river.

Our room was comfortable with an overhead fan but no air-con. I keep mentioning this because in the summer months some travellers may find this uncomfortable. Outside shower only - a little chilly, as it was winter when we visited. The bathroom was positioned between the sitting area and the bedroom, with canvas walls and a curtain for a door. Not ideal for privacy. Our deck had a plunge pool and wonderful views over a grassy plain and out towards the Zambezi river. We had frequent visitors including elephants, waterbuck, impala and baboons.

Our game drives were excellent thanks to our guide who had a knack of knowing where the best sighting would be and on many occasions when we were following leopards he would successfully anticipate where the leopard would appear again. We had the vehicle to ourselves which was great. Our sightings consisted of leopards, lions, families of elephants, wild dogs trying to chase down several waterbucks with no success, a young bull elephant who challenged us to pass him on the track, the occasional zebra, many African fish eagles, saddle billed storks, grey herons and lilac breasted rollers. Our sundowner stops were amazing, either overlooking the river, sipping gin and tonics to the chorus of snorting and laughing hippos or by a lagoon with the sky a multitude of pinks, oranges and red. We also had a stunning boat ride up and down the Zambezi in the evening, navigating around the hippos and trying to spot kingfishers and bee-eaters.

On our final day whilst finishing breakfast two lions walked across the grassy plain just in front of us on the main deck, heading in the direction of our room. As we walked back to our room after breakfast we saw that the two lions had made an impala kill just 30/40 metres from our room. Even though we were up on the board walk, it was still unwise of us to walk the last 20 or so metres to the door of our room so we waited until our guide and other staff, who had heard the commotion and come running over, advised us it was safe to go into our room - some last minute excitement before we moved on to our next lodge.

We would recommend this camp to others for it's outstanding location, excellent quality of guiding and game sightings.

There were just a number of small things that added up together would perhaps dissuade us from returning. For example, there was tea and coffee making facilities in the room but no milk and none was offered so we had to ask for it. Hand towels disappeared for a few days and we had to raise the issue in order to get hold of some. The pump action on some of the shower gel and lotion bottles did not work until the last day. A staff security radio device was left in our room in the evening still switched on so camp calls/chatter could be heard, until we decided to turn it off - we were somewhat surprised that nobody seemed to have missed it. Some drinks orders at the main deck and bar were different to what we asked for and my wife's request for no nuts at meal times was noted but on at least one occasion nuts appeared on a desert. Small and perhaps slightly irritating things but were not experienced at other camps." See all these reviews: 19n in Zambia

"Spectacular rooms with every amenity.

Lots of wildlife in the area and never a dull moment on drives or walks.

Food - well prepared and varied but don't get on the scales when you return home!

Presley our guide and Taps the trainee guide were the dream team! On our first afternoon we see 5 lions and a young leopard in a tree with a waterbuck kill, then see it's mother with another young one. Hundreds of elephants about from very small babies to big bulls. Also see a big male leopard.

Went on a morning game walk and a Greater Honeyguide constantly trying to lead us to the hives and an elephant which we had to do a detour to get past.

Evening game drive we come across a big male lion just lying across the track and refusing to move and two females with cubs playing.

On our last drive to the airstrip Presley finds a big pack of 26 wild dogs and a few minutes later they set off on a hunt after 3 warthogs and we have a fast and exciting drive trying to follow them. The warthogs lived to fight another day. We then find the dogs again scattered in the bush and a few lie down by our jeep, 16 of them and 15 minutes later the other 10 arrive to a lot of greeting from the others." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia; 1n in South Africa

"This was our second camp, following Lion Camp, and it was fantastic.

The staff was enthusiastic, energetic and engaging. This was the only camp of four that had studied up on our preferences and fully provided both food and drinks as requested (specifically, rum and pineapple juice; a carton of milk for Randy’s coffee; oodles of choices for our vegan as well as soy milk). Like all the camps, they greeted us as we came and went, but it wasn’t just fulfilling a requirement: they sincerely wanted to know about our day and very conscientious about anything we might need.

Upon arrival, they directed us to the late lunch buffet, which was a bevy of delicious choices. At 3:30 tea, they showed us a menu of choices to order for dinner! There were about items including veggie/vegan salads. They had cappuccino all day!

The room was spacious and lovely, with a separate sitting area, ample shelving, a mini bar and kettle. Bush babies were in our beds when we returned in the evening. The bathroom, with only a tub, could use more counter space-we just pulled in a small table. There is only an outdoor shower—but that included a sink and a toilet. The deck was gorgeous and vast with a private dipping pool. They had yoga mats for your use in the rooms!

Walkways went nearly a half mile from one end to the other, where there was another lounge with a full bar. There were numerous animals coming and going in the camp, with a few resident elephants as well. Hippo grunts were our bedtime lullaby. Wifi was limited to the main tent and it was excellent there.

Breakfast was at a civilized 6:30 with a fresh cooked egg option (and did I mention cappuccino?) with the game drive at 7. Noon lunch had about three entrée options and two salad options plus fresh bread and fruit. Tea at 3:30 was a yummy dessert cake. And dinner was plated based on your menu choice, except for one offsite boma that was delicious.

Our guide Mwila was the best of our trip. He was highly engaging with excellent communication, knowledge, driving skills, curiosity and sense of humor.

Anabezi highlights water activities and the sunset cruise was fantastic with elephants crossing the river at sunset. We arrived on a little island for our sundowner, and there was a full bar with glasses on a white table, and two elephants to greet us! Magical. (We opted not to do a sunset cruise at Victoria Falls because of this wonderful experience.)

We did two cruises, one canoeing and one nature walk. They were great though obviously reduced our number of full game drives (which were less spectacular than elsewhere--it seemed to me the animals were a little more skittish here).

We hated to leave this lovely camp: but to send us off en route to the airstrip was a gorgeous young leopard posing in a tree.

In conclusion: Anabezi is a world-class lodge with spectacular river setting" See all these reviews: 6n in Zambia; 4n in Botswana; 3n in Zimbabwe

"Extremely comfortable, lovely setting by the river. Could watch lots of animals from our deck. The plunge pool on our deck was very welcome in the heat of the afternoon.

The camp had something of a hotel feel rather than a safari camp due to individual dining and activities. Told we could invite others to dine with us but because of separate activities we didn't get to mix much with others. We prefer the usual camp communal dining.

The food was excellent, dinner was ordered in advance from about three choices.

Staff and service was very welcoming, we had the same guide throughout our stay.

Guides were top notch but possibly due to it being a new camp there didn't seem to be much local knowledge, so drives were often quiet. We usually go to camps where there are no more than four guests to a vehicle. Here we had a car to ourselves, this resulted in not having a spotter on night drives, making them a lot less productive.

Walks were the most interesting activity, plenty of close up animal encounters. The boat and canoe trips were also highlights, one of the advantages of the lower Zambezi" See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia

"We thouroughly recommend anabezi. The location, the rooms and the food are all top class. the chalets are well spaced out and allow privacy, each has an indoor and outdoor bathroom, and a small plunge pool on the private deck. One looks out over the riverbank at a constant stream of wildlife - warthogs, elephants, baboons, various antelope, and occasionally big cats.

there are 2 outdoor pools, one at each end of the camp, and 2 eating areas, though while we were there, the camp was not full, so everyone ate in the main dining area.

Nobby was our guide, and the standard of guiding lived up to it's high reputation. 2 game drives per day, the evening drive includes sundowners and a good chance to see nocturnal wildlife while driving back after dark.

The birding is just brilliant, and we also enjoyed a variety of river- based activities- including fishing. The Staff could not have been more helpful, and we appreciated having the same guide for our whole trip. We only shared the vehicle with one other couple on one occasion, otherwise we were just 2 plus the guide." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia; 5n in Malawi

"A luxurious camp with very large tents, your own decking & plunge pool. Personally, I am not too sure that the design with glass sliding doors in the rooms "fits" with the bush? The food is excellent with a choice of starters / mains / desserts for your evening meals. I got the opportunity to visit their sister camp Amanzi, which has very well appointed tents on decking, also overlooking the river.

Overall, Viewing wildlife around Anabezi from the decking was enjoyable. Fishing with Gift was really great (the last day of my stay, I caught a 18.5lbs tiger fish on my first cast!). The area is rich in wildlife and sightings plentiful (3 different leopards on the first game drive) and I was also very pleased to see an aardvark!" See all these reviews: 17n in Zambia

"This was the icing on the cake for us - pure luxury in the African bush - and a great way to end our superb visit to Zambia. The location on the banks of the Zambezi was incredible and the luxurious accommodation could not be faulted. Lying on our day beds on the deck outside our tent watching the elephants and antelopes wanderin past was awe inspiring. Food and service were also superb; this was the only camp which offered a choice of menu and wines.

Again the game viewing was excellent.. Our guide Prisley was amazing. His knowledge was far reaching and he worked so hard to give us the widest variety of animals and birds. This camp is at the eastern end of the lower Zambezi park and we rarely saw another vehicle on our game drives. We were able to experience walking safaris and boat trips too which added further interest to the activities." See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia

"We stayed at this camp in late October and had an excellent time. Really good game and the whole park almost to ourselves it seemed; we only saw a couple of other vehicles during the five days we were there.

The camp was very new but not obviously so. The managers, Matt and Annette were clearly very experienced at running a camp and everything felt very smooth and well managed, especially for such a new operation.

Patrick was our guide and he was very good (if somewhat aloof). But aloofness aside, he knew his stuff and we saw excellent game, especially leopards and elephant. He was also very willing to go look for specifics such as the carmine bee eaters on the river so we were very happy with what we saw.

The "tents" were over-sized (in a good way) with a nice plunge pool with a view over the floodplain. I'd normally be a little dismissive of luxuries like a plunge pool but in 45 degree heat it was lovely! Also a good outdoor shower and an indoor bath. I personally didn't especially like the aesthetic of the double patio doors but they were very practical and made it easy to get on and off the terrace. And they did a good job in keeping out dust so what they lacked in charm, they made up for in practicality. Food was excellent too; always very well cooked and plenty of variety. And good wine :-)

Lower Zambezi remains one of my favourite Zambian parks with it's combination of riverine and bush environments. Anabezi was hard to fault with its choices of water and land based activities. I'd certainly go back again" See all these reviews: 5n in Zambia; 4n in Zimbabwe

"Anabezi already has the feel of an established camp although it only opened this year. The camp layout and chalets are of the highest order - the plunge pool being idyllic during the very hot days!

There were many aspects to Anabezi that we enjoyed; the welcoming cold towel after a game drive; the chats around the bar before meals; the company of the staff; and the delicious food. However an overriding point was the lack of overcrowding on the game drives where there was never more than three people involved.

Matt, Anet and Emma were exceptional hosts and made our stay very enjoyable. Matt and Nobi were great guides - both locating well hidden leopards from baboon warnings. They were very knowledgeable and keen to identify and let us photograph all wildlife including birds. It may seem a small point but they were willing to stop and switch off the engine to enable better photography - thank you.

Seeing and hearing a male lion roaring on our first night drive was an excellent start to our holiday. However the high point was probably the boat trips to see the Southern Carmine Bee-eaters. There is really nothing negative to say about Anabezi except that the animals are still somewhat skittish with approaching vehicles but this should disappear as the camp becomes more established.

Anabezi is already proving to be an excellent camp and will only get better still as it becomes more established. Well worth a visit and a great start to a safari holiday in Zambia." See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia; 3n in Malawi