The best safari lodges in Zambia are spread across very different wildlife areas, so I would choose the park first and the lodge second. South Luangwa is strongest for classic walking safaris, the Lower Zambezi combines wildlife with river activities, Kafue offers enormous landscapes and low visitor numbers, while Liuwa Plain is for travelers willing to go much farther for true remoteness.
The lodge matters, but location matters more. A beautiful camp in the wrong part of Zambia for the experience you want is still the wrong booking.
These are the Zambia safari lodges and camps I would put on a shortlist, ranging from established lodges near major wildlife areas to tiny seasonal bush camps that are part of the safari experience themselves.
Table of Contents
12 Zambia safari lodges and camps to compare
| Lodge or camp | Safari area | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Mfuwe Lodge | South Luangwa | First South Luangwa safari and easy park access |
| Puku Ridge | South Luangwa | High-end wildlife viewing and a smaller lodge |
| Island Bush Camp | South Luangwa | Walking safari and a more rustic bush-camp experience |
| Kafunta River Lodge | South Luangwa | River and floodplain views with comfortable lodge facilities |
| Chiawa Camp | Lower Zambezi | Combining game drives, boating and canoeing |
| Old Mondoro | Lower Zambezi | Small-camp atmosphere and wildlife-focused safari |
| Time + Tide Chongwe Camp | Lower Zambezi | River activities and an easy introduction to the Lower Zambezi |
| Ila Safari Lodge | Kafue | Comfortable Kafue base with strong sustainability focus |
| Wilderness Shumba | Kafue, Busanga Plains | Remote luxury and Busanga Plains predators |
| Nanzhila Plains Camp | Southern Kafue | A quieter and less expensive Kafue experience |
| Time + Tide King Lewanika | Liuwa Plain | Extreme remoteness and wide-open grasslands |
| Tongabezi Lodge | Livingstone | Adding the Zambezi and Victoria Falls to a safari trip |
This is not a ranking from 1 to 12. A lodge on the Lower Zambezi and a bush camp deep in South Luangwa are solving completely different travel problems.
For the country-level planning first, see the main Zambia safari guide.
South Luangwa: the strongest lodge selection in Zambia
If this is your first Zambia safari and you want the widest selection of camps, South Luangwa is the easiest place to start.
The park is especially important to Zambia’s walking-safari tradition, but you do not have to spend the entire trip on foot. Most properties combine game drives and guided walks in some form.
The South Luangwa National Park guide covers the park itself in more detail.
Mfuwe Lodge
Best for: an easy first South Luangwa stay.
Mfuwe Lodge sits just inside the main entrance to South Luangwa National Park and is much larger and easier to reach than the tiny remote bush camps farther into the valley.
It currently has 18 chalets plus family accommodation, a pool, spa and other full-lodge facilities. That makes it particularly useful at the beginning or end of a trip that also includes a smaller bush camp.
Mfuwe is also the Zambia lodge famous for elephants occasionally walking through its reception area to reach wild mangoes. The phenomenon occurs when the fruit is ripe, generally from late October into December, so it should never be treated as a guaranteed year-round sighting.
Puku Ridge
Best for: a small high-end lodge with strong wildlife access.
Puku Ridge overlooks the Kakumbi floodplain in South Luangwa and sits well inside the national park rather than around the busier Mfuwe entrance area.
This is one I would consider when wildlife location and guiding are more important than being close to town or the airport.
It is firmly in the luxury category, so the comparison should be against other small high-end bush lodges rather than against guesthouses around Mfuwe.
Island Bush Camp
Best for: travelers who actually want a bush camp.
Island Bush Camp is deliberately less polished than Zambia’s large luxury lodges. It has only five chalets overlooking the Luangwa River and specializes in walking safaris.
The rooms are raised on simple platforms, bathrooms are partly open to the sky and hot water comes from bucket showers.
That is not a downside if the reason you came to Zambia is to feel closer to the bush rather than to have every hotel amenity.
If this style appeals to you, see the separate guide to walking safaris in Zambia.
Kafunta River Lodge
Best for: comfortable riverfront wildlife watching.
Kafunta sits outside the park overlooking the Luangwa River floodplain, where wildlife can often be watched directly from the lodge.
It has eight chalets, two larger suites and a newer three-bedroom private house, making it more substantial than a remote five-room bush camp while remaining closely connected to the safari landscape.
I would look at Kafunta when you want good lodge facilities and wildlife views without necessarily choosing the highest price tier in South Luangwa.
Lower Zambezi: choose a lodge for the river as much as the wildlife
The Lower Zambezi changes what a safari lodge can offer.
Here, you are not limited to morning and afternoon drives. Depending on the camp, a day can include game drives, boat trips, canoeing, fishing and walking.
That makes the Lower Zambezi particularly attractive if you want more variety than several consecutive days in a safari vehicle.
See the Lower Zambezi National Park guide for the park itself.
Chiawa Camp
Best for: a classic Lower Zambezi safari with a strong mix of activities.
Chiawa Camp overlooks the Zambezi River inside the national park and has long combined conventional game viewing with the activities that make this region unusual.
It is a strong choice when boating and canoeing matter as much as the game drives.
Old Mondoro
Best for: keeping the focus on wildlife rather than lodge size.
Old Mondoro is the smaller and more stripped-back sister camp to Chiawa.
I would shortlist it when you want an intimate bush-camp feel on the Lower Zambezi rather than a larger luxury-lodge setup.
Chiawa and Old Mondoro can also be combined, which works well because you experience two camp styles without changing national parks.
Time + Tide Chongwe Camp
Best for: river activities and a relaxed Lower Zambezi base.
Chongwe Camp sits where the Chongwe River meets the Zambezi. The water location is a major part of the experience, with boating, seasonal walking, fishing and game drives among the activities.
The property reopened for its 2026 season in April, along with the neighboring exclusive-use Chongwe River House.
Kafue: the lodge location matters enormously
Kafue National Park covers about 22,400 square kilometers, so saying that a lodge is “in Kafue” tells you surprisingly little about the trip.
A camp in the far southern park and a lodge on the Busanga Plains can feel like completely different destinations.
Before choosing accommodation, decide which part of Kafue National Park you actually want to experience.
Ila Safari Lodge
Best for: a comfortable introduction to Kafue.
Ila Safari Lodge sits on the Kafue River and takes a noticeably sustainability-focused approach, including solar power and the use of electric safari vehicles.
It is a useful option for travelers who want the scale and lower visitor density of Kafue without choosing one of its most remote seasonal camps.
Wilderness Shumba
Best for: Busanga Plains at the luxury end.
Shumba has just six suites on the Busanga Plains in northern Kafue.
This is open floodplain country, with strong predator viewing and large numbers of plains animals. Lions are a particular focus, while cheetahs, leopards and hyenas also occur in the area.
Shumba is seasonal. For 2026 it operates during the dry-season Busanga window, when the flooded plains have receded enough for safari access.
This is one of the most expensive options on the list, but the location is the reason to pay for it.
Nanzhila Plains Camp
Best for: southern Kafue and a lower price than the top Busanga camps.
Nanzhila Plains Camp sits in the southern part of Kafue, far from the Busanga Plains lodges most commonly shown in high-end Zambia itineraries.
That is exactly why I would keep it on the list. It gives you another way to experience the size and remoteness of Kafue without automatically choosing one of its most expensive camps.
Liuwa Plain: King Lewanika is about the destination first
Best for: someone who is willing to travel much farther for space and remoteness.
Time + Tide King Lewanika is the high-end lodge option in Liuwa Plain National Park.
The appeal is not a long lodge amenity list. It is where you are sleeping.
Liuwa is an enormous floodplain ecosystem in western Zambia known for wide-open landscapes, wildebeest, hyenas, cheetahs and an unusually low-density safari experience.
King Lewanika makes sense when Liuwa itself is one of the main reasons for the trip. I would not add it casually to an itinerary simply because you want another luxury lodge.
Tongabezi works when Victoria Falls is part of the trip
Best for: combining a Zambezi River stay with Livingstone and Victoria Falls.
Tongabezi is upstream from Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River rather than deep inside one of Zambia’s major traditional safari parks.
That is precisely why it belongs in a different category from South Luangwa or Kafue.
If Victoria Falls is already part of the itinerary, Tongabezi gives you a river-focused lodge experience with easy access to Livingstone-area activities rather than forcing another long transfer into a remote national park.
For wildlife around this part of the country, see Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park.
A lodge and a bush camp are not quite the same thing in Zambia
This matters more in Zambia than the words might suggest.
A larger safari lodge may have air conditioning, a spa, Wi-Fi, a larger pool, more room categories and easier year-round access.
A bush camp is often smaller, more remote and much more closely tied to the safari itself. Some operate only for part of the year and may use simpler construction because the camp is designed around walking, wildlife and isolation rather than resort facilities.
Neither is automatically better.
Someone taking a first safari with children may be happier at Mfuwe Lodge. Someone returning to Africa specifically for walking may get much more from a five-room bush camp.
Do not compare Zambia lodge prices without checking the inclusions
Safari accommodation in Zambia is commonly quoted per person per night, but two rates that look similar may include completely different things.
Depending on the lodge, the rate may include some or all of:
- Accommodation
- Meals
- Drinks
- Morning and afternoon safari activities
- Walking safaris
- Boat or canoe activities
- Laundry
- National park fees
- Conservation levies
- Airstrip transfers
Other properties quote a lower accommodation rate and add some of those expenses separately.
This is why I would never pick a Zambia safari lodge by sorting a booking list from cheapest to most expensive.
The official Zambia Tourism accommodation listings are useful for checking which camps are currently operating, but even they warn that listed starting rates do not all contain the same inclusions.
Which Zambia safari lodge should you choose?
If I were narrowing this down, I would start with the experience rather than the room.
- First Zambia safari: Mfuwe Lodge or Kafunta River Lodge
- Walking safari: Island Bush Camp or another remote South Luangwa bush camp
- River safari: Chiawa Camp, Old Mondoro or Chongwe Camp
- Busanga Plains: Wilderness Shumba
- More affordable Kafue: Nanzhila Plains Camp
- Remote luxury: King Lewanika
- Victoria Falls extension: Tongabezi
- Small high-end South Luangwa lodge: Puku Ridge
Then I would compare the lodge details within that region.
This also keeps the accommodation decision separate from the broader luxury safari in Zambia question. A luxury safari itinerary may combine several lodges and parks, while this page is specifically about choosing where to stay.
In Zambia, the best lodge is usually the one that puts you in the right ecosystem with the safari style you actually want. Pick South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi, Kafue, Liuwa or Livingstone first. Then choose the camp.
