Site Review: Zambia’s KuKaya Lodge, South Luangwa NP.
The hippo bull chasing a rival n front of my kaya is quite an intro to this newest of the Bushcamp Company’s offerings in South Luangwa National Park. The site is vaguely auspicious, being former president Kenneth Kaunda’s ‘home in the park’ – he apparently loved it.
It’s about 3.15pm and Letisha, my private host (think charming, slightly giggly butler) has just left, reminding me that this is a villa. The kayas are found in the Bushcamps, deep in the south of the Park.
I lean over the wooden rail next to the plunge-pool and the fire-pit, below the large and drooping Jackalberry (African ebony) trees, to see if the elephant family to the east is coming closer. A Thornycroft’s giraffe – a Maasai sub-species – is in the way, taking the proverbial age to manoeuvre itself into a position where it feels safe enough to drink.
It gallops off, leaving a primordial scene of foraging and feeding in the lagoon behind. Count the species in the view from my villa’s deck – a typical view of a Luangwa river oxbow lagoon.
Dry season appearances can be deceptive. In the wet, green season, this riverbed fills to the brim.
The lodge is built on the site of the home of Zambia’s first 1960s post-colonial President, Kenneth Kaunda, a staunch friend and supporter of Norman Carr, who founded South Luangwa NP. This was his home in the Park. KuKaya was then known as ‘mushroom house’.
These villas are large, and I find typical of Zambian safari style, in that they are unfussy. They have the feel of a beach-house.
While guarantees can never be given on safari, the wildlife seen in and around the lodge is usually prolific, such as the examples shared below from my one short drive (90 minutes, mostly spent with the leopard, seen below).
And on one of the standard routes to the Luangwa river proper (KuKaya is on an oxbow lagoon) there’s a good chance of seeing leopard, as I did below on a 40 minute drive.
In closing, I’d strongly recommend KuKaya Lodge for the start of a Bushcamp safari through the south of the Park.
The other camps, a two hour game-drive deep in towards the Chindeni hills, are rustic luxury, comprising between three and four units each. So booking in to a busy lodge after that experience just won’t work.
Meanwhile, follow my links below for my stories and reels. They’re quite cool, rough at the edges in photojournalist style, not too polished. Whether five star or rustic luxury, they will be the same.
https://www.instagram.com/african_storybook