Lodge Review: Zambia’s Kapamba Bushcamp
For Kapamba and its sister camps, the name says it all. It’s a bushcamp, a product that Zambia does better than anywhere else in the safari universe. As you may have seen in my previous post (Chamilandu camp), all bushcamps took root in the DNA of South Luangwa National Park.
Kapamba is distinguished from the other Bushcamps by its location. Rather than overlooking the signature Luangwa river, as most do, it sits on the tributary Kapamba river, which in September is close to dry.
Just a few pools remain, as in the spotted hyena returning my attention below. With my guide Prince, en route to find a giraffe displaying unusual behaviour, we found this character maybe 100m from camp. We locked eyes, it carried on bathing, a stunning interaction (a series of hyena still images is available on my Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/african_storybook/).
Kapamba’s design, as with the other bushcamps, is individual, all on its own.
My wish was to stay here as a tourist, to read at the pool after the morning drive, and maybe fall asleep to the sound of the birdsong (and occasional barking alarm call of the Puku antelope).
While that wasn’t possible this time, I did get to enjoy the sundowners, set up at the confluence of the Kapamba and Luangwa rivers. With maybe a few hundred such occasions behind me, I’ve never experienced a setting quite like this (the images below take you through from afternoon to dinner).
Let me know if this sort of experience interests you. Or maybe you’re looking for something, somewhere different.
After 25 years of photographing and writing stories around sub-Saharan Africa, if you ask me, instead of a reservations agent or call centre agent, you’ll probably find that I’ve been there and maybe have a few stories to share.
*The below are links to my other safari experiences (and walking trails in Europe).
https://www.instagram.com/african_storybook