The Royal Zambezi Lodge

Style

Luxury Tent Suites

Rooms

15 (8 Classic suites, 4 Deluxe suites and 3 Presidential suites)

Open Season

Open all year round

Safari Experience

The location for Royal Zambezi Lodge was chosen particularly for the wide variety of activities available.

Activities include: Birding and photographic safaris, game drives throughout the day, fly and coarse fishing for Chessa, Bream, Vundu, Barbel and of course the famous Tiger fish.

There are  morning and sunset boat cruises, morning guided bush walks, morning mountain walking, the award winning Royal Zambezi Bush Spa and canoeing into the beautiful Inkalange channel which is bursting with wildlife and birds.

Any or all of these activities can be part of your unique safari experience whilst at the Royal Zambezi Lodge.

Guests are also able to visit the Cultural Village home to the Goba people who are indigenous to the area.

Wildlife & Birdlife

Many tree species along the Zambezi River’s banks enjoy protected status.

The riverbank is overhung with a thick riverine tree fringe including diasporus, ficus, trichilia, kigelia and the ubiquitous and the predominant Acacia Albida (Winterthorn).

This is a thorn species up to 30 metres high with a spreading rounded crown which is able to tolerate sandier soils better than other woodland species and serves to stabilize infertile sandy banks and reduce erosion.

Winterthorn seedpods are also remarkably popular with elephants which partly digest them leaving about 40% of the seeds intact thereby contributing to its proliferation.

The escarpment hills, which form the backdrop to the park, are covered in another fairly diverse range of broadleaved species.

The largely unsurveyed escarpment and plateau along the Park’s northern border is fairly inaccessible and acts as a physical barrier to most of the park’s animal species.

Most of the game is concentrated along the valley floor where the well balanced ecosystem supports a large and diverse population of birds, reptiles and mammals.

One can find many of the larger mammals such as elephant, buffalo, eland, hippo, waterbuck, kudu, zebra, warthog and the smaller antelopes such as impala, bushbuck and duiker.

Wild dog and hyena add to the predator count.

Many nocturnal species such as leopard, honey badger, aardvark, civet, genet and porcupine can also be seen when night viewing, and of course crocodiles abound.

Two species of monkey and the ever present baboons complete the cast.

Large herds of elephant of up to a hundred or more roam the valley floor and are often seen on the river banks or in the water while game viewing by boat.

Island hopping buffalo and waterbuck are also a common sight.

The park hosts good populations of lion and leopard, with the haunting cry of the Fish Eagle often providing an awe inspiring background.

As already mentioned the variety of fish to be caught means there’s something for everyone’s taste whether the preference is for fly fishing or using worms, lures or other bait forms.

Zambezi is famous for its fighting Tiger Fish and there are many other species each with its own attraction such as Bream, Nkupe, Chessa, Barbel and the often massive Vundu.

The birdlife both inland and along the riverbanks is exceptional due to the large variety of habitats.

Nesting along the sandy riverbanks and often in large colonies are the colourful bee-eaters including White Fronted, Carmine and Little Bee-eaters among others.

Some rarer species often seen are the Red-winged Pratincole and African Skimmer over the water, the Crested Guineafowl in the undergrowth and the Black Eagle one of Africa’s largest raptors soaring near the cliffs.

In summer the stunning Narina Trogon makes its home here.

Other specials like the Trumpeter Hornbill, Meyer’s Parrot and Lillian’s Lovebird keep the ornithologists on their toes and the lay person happily occupied while the vast flocks of Quelea form an unforgettable spectacle.

In all Zambia has over 700 different bird species and the variety of habitats in our area enables many to be seen.

Zambia’s national emblem, the Fish eagle or Nkwazi, is seen and its haunting seagull-like cry heard frequently.