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Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali
Nkwali

Reviews of Nkwali

Wildlife sightings and reviews

256 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Nkwali and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa

Wildlife sightings by our travellers
Starting in Apr-2018, 77 of our travellers have recorded their wildlife sightings at Nkwali.
Lion

84% success

Leopard

91% success

Wild dog

62% success

Hippo

100% success

Elephant

99% success

Giraffe

99% success

Zebra

99% success

Buffalo

88% success

Spotted Hyena

84% success

Wildebeest

23% success

Eland

12% success

Aardvark

7% success

Roan antelope

7% success

Sable antelope

5% success

Pangolin

0% success

Showing 11-20 of 256
Duration
Arrival date
Mr G
Bristol

"Nkwali review"

3 nights Arrived 12 Aug 2024
"Another excellent camp - just pipped by Tena Tena for my favourite.

Good sized rooms open front & back - front is semi closed at night - but with large mosquito net protecting the bed area. Camp receives regular animal visitors from baboons/vervets to mongoose & bush buck plus lots of bird life (& the occasional elephant at their water hole near the dining deck).

African drums call you at wake up, lunch & dinner to add a local touch too.

Nkwali whilst away from the central SLNP area is busier than the other RPS camps so you will see other cars especially if your guide goes into the central park zone to look for sightings." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Good
Sightings Report

Buffalo

4 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

8 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

5 sightings

Wild dog

3 sightings

Zebra

10 sightings

Miss P
London

"Nkwali review"

3 nights Arrived 10 Aug 2024
"I've spent a lot of time at Nkwali in recent years, so am running out of new things to say about it! I love the welcoming atmosphere at this camp, the incredible views of the river from the main area and the open fronted chalets, and the wildlife that comes through the camp- especially the mongooses.

Perry was a fantastic guide as ever, and Sorrel was a great host.

The river crossing is a real benefit here, as it allows you to enter the park away from the busy main gate and our sightings were often not busy as a result. As ever, they were incredibly flexible regarding activities and everyone was able to do what they wanted without fuss- on my last morning a guide was brought in specially as some of the guests requested to walk, and the two guides who had been doing the drives were not walking qualified.

I think Nkwali definitely has the best chef of the RPS camps, especially for desserts and tea time cakes and coffee stop cookies!" See all these reviews: 10n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mrs G
London

"Nkwali review"

4 nights Arrived 3 Aug 2024
"The rooms, the camp and the food was lovely.

Our guide Perry was so knowledgeable and made a great effort to try and spot animals that we hadn't seen before.

The wildlife here was more spread out than in the Nsefu area. However we saw wild dogs and male lions that we hadn't before." See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

2 sightings

Lion

1 sighting

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

2 sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Dr J.
United Kingdom

"Nkwali review"

3 nights Arrived 29 Jun 2024
"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." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

3 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

10 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

3 sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

10 sightings

Seema
USA

"Nkwali review"

2 nights Arrived 25 Jun 2024
"A lovely camp situated in a quiet corner of the busy central area of the South Luangwa, with boat access for a quick river crossing to enter the national park. Our room here was the largest by far of any of the camps, with a sit out overlooking the river and outdoor showers. Sarel, our host, and staff were great and so was the guiding.

The vehicle density in this part of the park is high, especially around the dogs and big cats, although our guide Sebastian Jr, understanding our reluctance to be a part of the sighting frenzy, did his best to keep us away from other vehicles as much as possible.

Our highlight at Nkwali was a large buffalo herd at a watering hole with the sun setting behind them, as well as the large numbers of amazing birds we saw in our two days." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Good
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

2 sightings

Elephant

10 sightings

Giraffe

5 sightings

Hippo

10 sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

3 sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

Multiple sightings

Zebra

6 sightings

Mr & Mrs S
Oxon

"Nkwali review"

5 nights Arrived 17 May 2024
"Nkwali always seems the most lively of the camps as, in our experience, it usually has full occupancy. This is enhanced by the addition of elephants visiting the lagoon next to the dining area!

We were delighted that Sebastian (junior) was our guide for our stay of five days. His knowledge of wildlife is impressive and he is always kind, courteous and patient. We were pleased to see lions mating and Pel’s fishing owls in the daylight.

The food was great. We especially enjoyed our brunch in the bush.

Special thanks go to Kiki and Sorel for making our stay so enjoyable. Also praise to the two boatmen, Benson and Samuel, who skillfully negotiated the river crossings each day. And thanks again to Wilson for more great spotting.

We were pleased to meet Rob, the Operations Director, and enjoyed hearing about how RPS develop and train the staff, enabling those who show potential to develop new skills and eventually become guides and managers. We made one important suggestion. We hope it can be properly considered and implemented in the not too distant future." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Miss P
London

"Nkwali review"

7 nights Arrived 5 May 2024
"This was my seventh visit to Nkwali, and it's starting to feel like my second home. As a solo traveler, I really appreciate the friendly atmosphere, gathering at the bar for drinks before dinner and communal meals.

RPS really go the extra mile for their guests. I was a little disappointed that due to the dry conditions, the wild dog pack that usually frequent the central section of the park had been able to go walkabout up to the far north of the park (Mupamadzi). But Kiki made a special effort to liaise with ZCP (Carnivore researchers) to obtain information on the locations of monitored packs and, along with another couple keen to see dogs, we departed extra early in the afternoon to try to locate a different pack north of the central area. After one failed attempt, the next day the pack had moved even further north but Kiki dispatched a vehicle after lunch to locate them and sit with them for us until we arrived. This was really appreciated by myself and the other guests, who had never seen wild dogs after several safaris and were very, very happy.

As I was staying a week, I was also able to do an all day drive to the north of the park, and when I left to Tafika, the transfer went all the way up to the Tafika crossing rather than the more boring, easier option of going via Mfuwe and the Milyoti gate. Another couple arriving at Tafika from Nkwali a few days later had also come this way.

My guide, John, was excellent and I really enjoyed his guiding.

I noted a few improvements RPS have been making by replacing the bench seats in the vehicles with individual "bucket seats" and providing options for evening meals.

Although the dogs were largely absent, I had some great leopard and lion sightings, especially one morning spent with the "big pride". The park looks particularly beautiful at this time of year- it has been a dry year so grass wasn't too high but the scenery still looked lush and green." See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mrs M
chorleywood

"Nkwali review"

5 nights Arrived 27 Apr 2024
"Loved my room next to the main area.

Being called to dinner by drum was special and an elephant occasionally visited the lagoon by the restaurant, monkeys and baboons entered the camp as well.

Food was excellent.

Kiki accommodated my requests for trips out during lunch break and a variety of people kept me company for the times when I was the only person in camp.

Kiki also ensured that I had driver Sebastian for both camps for continuity which I believe helped a lot - didn't need to explain what I liked, hoped to see etc. more than once!

Lots of good animal sightings too." See all these reviews: 9n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Location:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

1 sighting

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

1 sighting

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

1 sighting

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr & Mrs H
Kent

"Nkwali review"

3 nights Arrived 22 Feb 2024
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Sightings Report

Buffalo

Multiple sightings

Elephant

Multiple sightings

Giraffe

Multiple sightings

Hippo

Multiple sightings

Leopard

Multiple sightings

Lion

Multiple sightings

Spotted Hyena

Multiple sightings

Wild dog

Multiple sightings

Wildebeest

Multiple sightings

Zebra

Multiple sightings

Mr & Mrs H
Kent

"Nkwali review"

4 nights Arrived 15 Feb 2024
"Everyone at nkwali made you very welcome and they went out of the way to make sure you had a good time" See all these reviews: 12n in Zambia
Experience Report
Overall Rating:
Excellent

Rooms:
Excellent
Food:
Excellent
Facilities:
Excellent
Service:
Excellent
Activities:
Excellent
Showing 11-20 of 256
96%
256 reviews of Nkwali by travellers since August 2007
Overall rating by our travellers
215
35
6
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0
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