Kaingo Camp

Kaingo features five elegant, brick and thatch chalets set on the banks of the Luangwa River. Each chalet offers ample space for guests, with a king-sized bed and an en-suite indoor bathroom. Each chalet boasts a romantic outdoor bathtub tucked under the ebony trees, showcasing beautiful vistas. In addition to the main deck set low on the river, each chalet offers its own veranda with a day bed and seating area, as well as a private deck overhanging the banks of the Luangwa River offering great views of the animals coming down to drink. The chalets include beautiful large doors that slide open to reveal gorgeous panoramas of the Luangwa River from the comfort your bed.

Kaingo features one deluxe suite, known as the First House. The suite is great for couples wanting exclusive luxury; however, the suite can comfortably sleep up to 6 people, therefore is also ideal for families or groups. The First House features a lounge area and larger patio with private dining table. There is an en-suite bathroom off the main bedroom, and a guest toilet near to the lounge area, plus an outdoor shower and bathtub.

Booking this suite at its full all-inclusive rate would include the use of a private vehicle, private butler, and private dining – if one wishes to have meals at their chalet. This is especially convenient if travelling with children and wanting to customise your game drive or mealtimes. For families, The First House offers the perfect private safari experience, separate to the running’s of the main camp.

Kaingo Kitchen offers guests five-star service paired with even better cuisine. Expect healthy and delicious meals created using fresh, home-grown fruit, vegetables and local produce. Indulge your tastebuds with incredible flavours or treat your senses to a brunch in the bush – overlooking the elephant crossing with a variety of food and drinks. The cookery and dining experience here at Kaingo Camp is truly phenomenal. The staff is happy to cater to all your needs to maximise your experience.

Food and snacks will be offered to guests throughout the day. The luxurious, communal dining arrangement means there is always a wonderful atmosphere in the camp, guests are joined by one of the management team and a guide most nights, allowing everyone to get to know each other. Kaingo Camp also features a charming, wooden rustic bar, perfect a pre-meal tipple or an evening night-cap.

Game-viewing from one of the custom-built, open 4WD vehicles is a real pleasure. Comfortable, high seats allow excellent all-around vision and photography. The Toyota Hilux’s guarantee an incredibly smooth ride and have been modified to assist photographers with camera rests, shelves, and bean bags. The qualified and experienced guides will take you to game-rich areas deep within the park which is not commonly visited by other vehicles. Guests will discover the surrounding forests, lagoons, plains and “Wafwas” – old courses of the river. The guides are regularly trained in vehicle positioning so that when you do come across a fantastic sighting, they make sure to position the Hilux in just the right spot, securing the best lighting possible on the sighting. Each drive sits a maximum of four guests per vehicle, unless a group travelling wishes to sit together, this gives guests more flexibility in their activities.

Morning and afternoon/evening game drives are offered; they last approximately three and a half hours. A morning game drive leaves camp around sunrise. Game-viewing starts from Kaingo, deep in the park, the guides are quick to react to the alarm calls of Baboons or other species to make sure you’re getting straight to the action. On your morning game drive, you will stop for a tea or coffee break halfway through the activity. The afternoon game drive departs after afternoon tea; usually, your guide will organise a sundowner around sunset time, and the drive will continue into the night to observe the wonder of the nocturnal animals.

As a special activity Kaingo Camp offers over-night campouts, sleeping under a net, around a mesmerising campfire. These trips allow a maximum of 6 guests to get a sense of the absolute wildness of the South Luangwa National Park. Experienced guides, along with the scout, will lead you deep within the park on a day walking safari away from any tracks or human development. The area north of Mwamba is totally remote and underdeveloped. It is excellent walking country – the heart of the valley. The group will camp out under the stars, close to a secluded waterhole.

This experience is a certain thrill not easy to detail in words. Guests will encounter and listen to the distant calls of a hyena or lion, or the grunt of a leopard as it marks its territory nearby. The cool dry nights from May to the end of August are ideal for campouts. Kaingo Camp is very fortunate to have special permission from National Parks to offer this highly unusual experience.

The Elephant Hide is a platform nestled between an Ebony and a Sausage tree, directly above a centuries-old elephant highway. Knowledge passed from elders to juvenile elephants in the community, passing down the location of this highway for hundreds of years, this beautiful spot in the river is for drinking, mud bathing, social greeting, and river crossing. The hide gives guests a unique, and safe vantage point from which to watch the magnificent megafauna in action.

Alternatively, the Elephant Hide is a beautiful midday rest spot, to view the river from a serene location with an incredible view. Guests can also choose to incorporate the Elephant Hide into either their morning activities, as the location of their tea and coffee break, or they may also decide to leave camp early on their afternoon/evening activity to enjoy a packed meal while watching the awe-inspiring animals and vistas from the hide as the sun sets.

Project Luangwa is a charitable organisation formed by a handful of Safari Operators in South Luangwa, Shenton Safaris included, as a part of their commitment to responsible tourism. Their aim is to create an effective, coordinated approach to helping local communities improve their long-term economic prospects whilst avoiding a negative impact on the environment and wildlife. Project Luangwa believe they can develop and improve education in schools and create training opportunities that will help families have the chance of a lasting and sustainable income.

Conservation South Luangwa (CSL) was formed in 2003. CSL was created by a handful of like-minded safari operators and concerned stakeholders with a vision to help protect South Luangwa. CSL is dedicated to protecting South Luangwa, it’s wildlife and habitat through a combination of law enforcement support (anti-poaching), human-wildlife conflict mitigation, veterinary work, and community outreach.

Since CSL was created, there has always been a firm belief in keeping it a majority Zambian staffed organisation, the most obvious reason being sustainability and ownership. What started as a team of 5 dedicated staff fifteen years ago, has now grown into a team of 85 wildlife conservationists. With their headquarters being conveniently situated five minutes from the national park but comfortably amidst the Mfuwe community, the safari operators involved are well positioned to help tackle the current issues.

Apart from their constant involvement in Conservation South Luangwa and Project Luangwa, Shenton Safaris also takes on conservation roles in other ways.

• Fresh Water Supplies – Camps have boreholes for fresh water; the runoff is passed through grease traps and sand traps before returning to the natural water boards.
• Fire Prevention – Creating fire breaks in the entire area in their section of the park. In years gone by National Parks used to employ back-burning to control the larger fires set by poachers. However, they now use trial graded firebreaks as an alternative to their back-burning. It has been hugely successful and as a result, the area remains un-burnt saving a multitude of flora and fauna in the process.
• Rapid Response for Conservation South Luangwa – Each season the team set out to do the enormous task of grading and ‘polishing’ entire road networks around the camps. Roughly 120 kilometres of roads within an 80 square kilometres radius allows many access roads for rapid anti-poaching response into the northern reaches of the park. These roads are then used by the CSL teams for their anti-poaching patrols.