Reviews of Kuyenda Bushcamp
Wildlife sightings and reviews
16 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Kuyenda Bushcamp and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
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"Kuyenda Bushcamp 25 to 29 October 2022"
We had a fantastic fun time with Fannuel – he is an incredible fountain of knowledge, and has given us so many wonderful memories! His enthusiasm and excellent spotting skills, accompanied by Jonathan and Jimmy, who were also excellent spotters, made for a great team!
To track spoor, piecing together animals’ movements from where we had seen them the night before, and to find them the next morning was brilliant. We were extremely pleased that there was the flexibility to take time to watch an animal at length and observe their behaviour, instead of rushing off for sundowners. It made for extremely good sightings of leopards and lions, including a tiny lion cub being carried by its mother. Often our sundowners became ‘moon uppers’!!
Zikomo kwambiri, Fannuel!
Apart from the wildlife survey list of species, we did see several other species that we would count as notable ‘sightings’, such as: civet, white tailed mongoose, genet, bush tailed mongoose and honey badger." See all these reviews: 19n in Zambia
"Kuyenda Bushcamp review"
"Kuyenda Bushcamp 3 nights (19 Aug - 22 Aug)"
"Kuyenda Bushcamp review"
"Kuyenda Bushcamp review"
We would have preferred to have spent more of the evening activity looking at the animals. Whilst it was nice to watch the sun going down, this took up a lot of the evening activity and the fixed time/place was a little restrictive for our game viewing.
The camp struggled with my dietary requirements initially - serving a number of dishes that I couldn't eat but after a day or so they sorted this out.
The rooms were lovely and the staff were really helpful." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
"The best saved for the last!"
The camp itself is most rustic of the lot. There are only 4 chalets. All have views of an open plain and the sunrise in one of the best beautiful sunrises one can come across. But the soul of the camp is the couple who run it. Babette and Phil are legendary. They are genuinely warm people and I felt at home while staying with them. The food is superb. Phil, because of his age, is not able to do active guiding (which was ably done by Suzio) but he's always there to help and advise.
The biggest surprise however, was the wild dogs! The dogs were denning less than a kilometer from the camp and were seen practically everyday. One morning they killed an impala less than 100 metres from my room!! That was something! I did a lot of walking at Kuyenda with other guests. Suzio and Isaiah (The ZAWA ranger) always made sure that we always felt safe on the walks. We did see a lot of elephants, Giraffes and even a hyena on these walks.
One of the guests was a wildlife biologist who was working with Phil and his presence made these outings even more enjoyable. On the last morning I decided to take it easy. But after breakfast, decided to take a little drive to see the dogs for the last time. And behold! It turned out to am an incredible experience. While we were watching the pups, Suzio suddenly heard a distress call of an impala followed by the distinct "sawing" of a leopard. We hurriedly followed the sounds and came across an incredible sight!. A large leopard was up in a tree and he was growling at the wild dogs surrounding the tree. One of the dogs tried to sort of climb the tree which spooked the leopard. He made a jump for his life from the top of the tree and ran away! The dogs hung around for a while trying to locate the leopard but soon gave up probably thinking they had made a point!! as Phil explained what probably transpired was that the leopard made a kill, which in turn attracted the dogs resulting into the leopard being "treed" by the dogs.... Simply put I could not have ask for more. And I may not see something like this again!" See all these reviews: 7n in Zambia
"wonderful return trip"
We tested the quicksands this year, and watched the thunderstorm move around us with no rain on us. We followed the election of Sata to PM with the staff enthusiatic voters. We love them and this place and hope their trip "Phil's favorite places" goes well.
It is our priviledge to be with them for 3 days." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
"Kuyenda Bushcamp review"
This feels like a real bushcamp with an outdoor bathroom and our hut looking out over the plalin.This camp is very well run with Babette in charge. We especially enjoyed having seats set up for our sundowners in different locations and eating in different areas around camp at dinnertime.
The lions killing an impala in camp added some excitement also!" See all these reviews: 22n in Zambia
"what a priviledge to visit"
The chalets are simple enough but the food is excellent with wide choices of special dishes. Babette also is highly imaginative in the way the camp is run e.g. with sundowners and dinner laid out in the bush with candles only. We enjoyed the traditional Nshima dinner, eaten with right hand only, under the instruction of local Zambian Zac.
Phil is of course a superb guide with such bush knowledge and we went out with him x2 a day walking through lovely and varied areas. We feel that 6 is the max number of people for walkiing and hope that they are not pressurised to take 8 as it limits what you can hear and where you can go. Lots of elephants to detour round and we saw many more animals and birds than at Kapamba. It is accesssible in 1 hour from Mfuwe Lodge, but with Phil gamedriving this stretched to 21/2 as we tracked a leopard closely.
This is a very special place with very, very special people and we loved every minute of our 3 day stay." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
"High standards and attention to detail"
We were full of admiration for Babette and Phil with the way they coped with everyone's wishes even though we thought some guests were being totally unreasonable. We were also impressed by the number of tourists making repeat visits which speaks volumes for the quality and draw of the camp.
Phil as guide and driver carries a huge responsibility and does it with aplomb. His many years of guiding experience and his love of the Luangwa shines through. The bush walks were welcome as a way of getting some exercise but particularly for learning about the bush. In order to meet guest's desire to get close to the wildlife Phil has developed combined walks and drives to meet every need. Wildlife may not be as plentiful as in some other areas but the relative exclusivity of this part of the park means you are not competing with other camps to see it.
We leaft as friends and very much hope to return." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
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