Reviews of Tafika
Wildlife sightings and reviews
340 independent comments and wildlife information from our travellers who have visited Tafika and kindly agreed to share their thoughts. They do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa
84% success
92% success
42% success
100% success
99% success
99% success
98% success
92% success
92% success
46% success
9% success
3% success
1% success
0% success
0% success
"Tafika review"
Meals were excellent.
I would love to visit this lodge again." See all these reviews: 15n in Zambia
"great base camp"
The staff are all excellent and unlike at Kaingo we got introduced to each and could readily chat with them. The microlight flight is a must and John was wonderful to let me fly it - for those with windsurfing experience it is much the same.
The only very slight -ve is that the evening/night drive at 4 hours is a bit long as not much happens from 1600 to 1700 before the sundowner. 3 would be fine.
The lodges and food were excellent, and the menus transferred to the bushcamps work really well.
The guides are all excellent and knowledgable. We much liked the rule that vehicules should not radio to each other so that animals were not tracked by more than 1 vehicule. cf. At Kaingo there were radio contacts all the time and once 5 trucks tracking 1 leopard and cub. We found this upsetting, noisy and totally out of keeping.
Although it was nice to see another safari operator we felt that Coppinger Safaris have it perfectly for base and bush camp combinations. The flights and handovers to Kaingo were organised well .
It is nice being so far North and away from other camps. I would guess Mfuwe camps would be all over each other in the Park, whereas we saw no one else. Now to see if June/July 2009 is possible visit in the "greener" season." See all these reviews: 13n in Zambia
"Tafika and environs"
Night drives exceptional, several leopard seen including one with a cub, serval, porcupine, and loads of civets and genets. Other guests saw honey badger aswell whilst we were there. My impression is the Nsefu sector has fantastic game day and night. John and Carol Coppinger were most hospitable and my complimentary microlight flight for adjusting our booking was very enjoyable. John might wish to know that my film proves conclusively the vulture nest is a that of a Lappet.
An administrative error - mix up caused a slight downer and some inconvemnience at the end of our stay but these things are usually one-offs and can happen anywhere from time to time. I have already recommended Tafika to friends and colleagues my comment of sans pareil (in my African experience to date) jotted in the guestbook is a fair reflection." See all these reviews: 8n in Zambia
"Tafika review"
The food was reasonable and the staff and guiding was outstanding." See all these reviews: 5n in Zambia; 5n in Tanzania
"Tafika review"
"What can we say except this ws paradise"
The safaris were wonderful and again our requests to see specific animals were always honoured. Still have scars from tsetse flies but realised we should have realised we would be good targets and used stronger insecticide??
Everybody here seemed so happy and that rubbed off. The Coppingers are a most welcoming couple and the microlite flight was magical - John's a star!!!" See all these reviews: 14n in Zambia
"lions, lions, lions...."
"Tafika review"
"Tafika review"
We saw a lot of game including leopards several times in the day and night, lions several times, porcupine, hyena, lots of hippo, elephants, giraffe and antelope. The guiding was excellent, although at Tafika the focus on game drives tended to be the animals rather than the whole environment. We found that the walking camps therefore complemented our stay at Tafika really well.
The food was excellent and we could not believe the varied menu that they were able to produce from the kitchen. We stayed in two different chalets at the start and end of our trip. Both were very comfortable. The water was always hot! We would have been grateful to have been warned however that the elephants visited the tree next to No.2 during the night to eat the fruit, although this was a welcome surprise." See all these reviews: 11n in Zambia
"Another top place to visit"
The game viewing was fantastic, with a pride of 17 lion being seen by us one evening. Our guides Rory and Brian were excellent, and we enjoyed meeting with John and Carol Coppinger, and Heather the camp manager.
Our visit to the local village was a highlight of the entire trip and our donation of some clothes, shoes, childrens books and toys was well received. Hopefully we will be able to send more things out to the Coppingers for them to distribute over the coming months." See all these reviews: 6n in Zambia
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