Kapishya Hot Springs | Established Campground

Zambia

Details

Verified:
16 days ago
Altitude:
0.0 masl
Website:
None
Phone:
None

Amenities

Electricity:
Yes - At Sites
Wifi:
Yes - Fast
Kitchen:
No
Restaurant:
Yes
Showers:
Hot
Water:
Natural Source
Toilets:
Running Water
Big Rig Friendly:
Yes
Tent Friendly:
Yes
Pet Friendly:
Yes
Sanitation Dump Station:
No

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Description

Pretty campsite near the hot springs. Flushing toilets and hot showers (donkey boiler). Bar and restaurant at main lodge. Very expensive drinks and food: full english breakfast US$26 per person! Beers and other drinks also overpriced. Paid internet. Cost: US$20 pppn. Power at US$5 per night.

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Nice campsite, amazing hot springs. Not to miss out. It's expensive, yes. But worth it.
Road from west and east equal. Doable with 2x4, during rainy season a few washed away sections.

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Second stay at Kapishya. Very relaxing. Able to use the lodge facilities - pool, deck, restaurant, etc. Laid back place, Mark helpful. Visit ShiwaN'gunda while there, Charlie and Jo, marks brother will host you for interesting update

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The price for camping is $20 pppn. This includes electric power, Wi-Fi and toilet paper (to be requested at the reception). There are plenty of toilets and showers once you discover the second, clean, ablution block.
You can have various types of breakfast in the restaurant, starting from $4 to $25.
About the roads: the current situation is reversed from the description below. Now, the T2 access is much better.

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The campsites are okay, but we felt pretty nickle and dimed. There's an extra fee for everything! Electricity, toilet paper, etc. Honestly, I don't think it's worth the novelty of the hotspring. In addition, we felt constantly watched by the hired man. In the morning, he sat under the shelter and watched us us pack to leave. SO WEIRD!

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Romantic unstructured campsite on the river. Reasonable ablutions that might become a bit overstressed depending on the number of guests. Paid 20 USD ppn and 25 USD pp for a nice 3 course dinner. That is a bit pricy for a campground in Zambia (outside NPs) but the overall package is really ok. Mark, the host, offers a wealth of entertaining stories when he joins his guests for some drinks.

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Overpriced campsite with very poor ablutions for the extortionate price you pay. The food and drinks are quite pricey too. At least the staff are friendly.

Overall, not the quietest of campsites and very expensive for what it is, but it was okay for a night.

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The lodge and the campsites are right next to the Munswa river which makes for a beautiful setting. Most of the campsites are on the green river bank with a small banda and braai stand. The ablutions are not great and at $20pppn the price is a bit high, but you do get unlimited access to the hot spring which is what it’s all about. Mark is a great host with loads of knowledge about the area.

TIP (courtesy of Mark): when you enter Mpika from the south, take the M1 to the west to get to Kapishya and avoid the busy T2. Much better road conditions and much faster.

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Stayed 2 nights happily wouldn’t stayed longer. Beautiful camp on the river, clean ablutions, firewood, communal area etc and that’s before we even mention the gardens, the hot springs…
Yes it’s not the cheapest but it’s a special place and worth the time/cost.
Lovely hosts, great food (thanks Mel), friendly staff, clean, well organised, nice bar and pool area. We’ll be back.

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We were passing by around 3.30pm and asked if we could go in the hot springs for about 30min to an hour. They wanted to charge us the full day visitor rate of 180Kw. Beers were 50Kw. Although the place looked beautiful, travelling with SA rands, unfortunately we couldn't justify that price for such a short time or the $20 for camping.

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Great stopover. The spring is blissful after days in the dust. Firewood provided and you have grassy sites right on the river. $20pp pn. Power point available if you need. Had a lunch at the restaurant, food was great.

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Beautiful spot along the river, at the hot springs. Looking forward to a day off R& R here tomorrow. Well worth the drive off the T2, serenity, quietness at its best.

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Neat camp site with hot running water, near the river and free firewood. The lodge and surroundings are beautiful with lots of different plants and trees to look at. Restaurant offers food for decent prices, we had the pizza which was good but just not enough to fill us up.

The hot springs are obviously the main attraction and, although camping for $20 pp is expensive, it is well worth it for at least one night. Great to soak away and it is well kept. There is a swimming pool you can use to cool down as well.

Mark and Mel, the owners, are very friendly. Had a nice chat with Mark and he gave us some tips on our route in Zambia.

Note: road to get here is ok. Not in the best condition but very doable.

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The drive to Kapishya Hot Springs is beautiful- and the hot springs themselves are a wonderful way to unwind after a long drive! The campsite is near a river, with decent toilets and showers. We enjoyed an evening meal at the lodge.

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This is a beautiful, tranquil lodge and campsite. River front pitches, abundant, amazing Birdlife, beautiful gardens and lovely pool. Constant hot water from a donkey boiler and really lovely and helpful staff. All this and the most amazing hot springs to soak in and relax! Also nice hikes to take. Mark and Mell, the owners are so welcoming and we had 2 fantastic evenings at the bar and restaurant sharing great stories over drinks and incredible food. Mark is also very knowledgeable about the many different birds around the river and gardens.Absolutely perfect 3 nights here and can highly recommend it. 20 USD pppn.

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The road from Mpika (if you take to the left arriving Mpika) is bad (potholes and the gravel during one jour is OK for 4wheels and 2wheels if your car is high).
But arriving...what a great surprise! An amazing tropical oasis. The Price is 20$ ppn, 10$ for kids, but we negociate free for the kids in low season. We stayed 2 nights. Small trails to see the birds, campsite with a lot of shade under trees ans just along the river, clear and nice swimming pool and just 5mn walk to go to the hot springs. Electricity and wifi in extra but we didn't need it. It's expensive : OK. But the place is just Amazing in the centre of nowhere. We really enjoyed and didn't regret!!!
And for the joke : toilet paper OK in the ablutions ;-)

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Nice campsite. Ablutions not super clean, but okay. Just ask for toiletpaper at the reception:) Besides relaxing in the hotsprings, we can recommend the Hill loop (1,5 hour hike), also nice with sunset. Beautiful views on the valley on both sides of the hill. A map is provided at the reception. Path is not super well marked, but you should be okay (follow white instead of red marks)

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Nice campsite next to the river. Hot springs are really good and welcoming. For 20$ ppn you expect at least toilet paper and electricity. You have to pay additional for electricity and WiFi. They can improve on these small things by making it a perfect place to stay. The road towards the springs is bad but doable.

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This place is totally overpriced. The campsite is ok but nothing special (the hot springs are nice of course but a day-visit only is sufficient).
Campsite is 20$ (which is already expensive) electricity and wifi is not included and charged separately. Toilets could need some maintenance no toilet paper is offered. Hot water didn’t work in the shower.
All in all this is the place where we felt the biggest gap between price and quality during our 6 month in Africa so far. (I think it is not worth more than 10$pp/n in total).

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Very nice place. The hotsprings are amazing. Indeed, they could approve a little with the small things like e.g electricity for 20 USD. The bar is still crazily expensive. In the end we had a beautiful stay here.

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Always nice to stay at kapisha and to relax in the hotsprings. We had a lovely massage. Campsite well maintained.

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Scenic river location with amazing hot springs! Beautiful campsites, all clean and with hot showers. Nice and clear pool to swim, most beautiful after the hot springs. Meals are excellent. Wunderful SPA with professional massage, manicure and pedicure.
Owner and staff are very friendly. Mark (owner) gave us a window from one of his old Landcruisers to replace ours witch was broken!!
Dont' miss to visit the nearby Shiwa House.
We stay for 4 nights and will travel further to Lake Tanganyika.
Prices are reasonable for everything.

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Spent 3 wonderfully relaxing days here. The staff are fantastic and The food delicious. You get what you pay for. As a camper you have 24 hr access to the brilliantly warm springs. Well worth the visit.

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As described. Road to this place isn’t in a great condition at the moment, due to the rains!
Self catering cottages don’t have a kitchen or anything…
Beautiful garden and the hot spring are lovely!

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Fantastic location and facilities, friendly welcoming staff and the best food in this part of Zambia.

Hot springs, pool, massage available, beautiful gardens. Camping facilities- good hot shower, braii, cover for ground tents all by the river.

Don't go there and get upset about the prices- they're on the website and you get what you pay for. Well worth it and a great treat.

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We enjoyed our stay here. But they charge everything... We never paid that much for camping for 9 months travelling in Africa! And there was no toilet paper in the toilets... When I asked they gave me one roll because everybody is steeling it... I can understand with these prices...

But the hot spring is a treat. Very beautiful!

And one advice: The garderer, called Maybe, is more than willing to do your loundry or dishes if you pay him directly some money.

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Awesome place, a real hidden gem - definitely recommend! This is a beautiful family run lodge with plenty of character (3 generations old so a great way to support the local community). The rooms are lovely and overlook the river (as does the sparkly clean swimming pool ;-) and the camping area is awesome (perfect for a sort out/reorganise) - right on the river, clean, tidy, safe and secure with hot showers and flushing loos - $20USD p/p to camp and well worth every cent. We all loved our stay here, the Hot Spring Pool (included in the price) was a real treat and a fantastic way to relax and recuperate.
The food was great, the wifi the fastest we have come across in all of Zambia and the staff went out of their way to accommodate us. 100% recommend at least a few days here (we didn't want to leave ;-)
Big thank you to Mark and his team for making our stay so memorable (and the route advice heading North), from us in the big orange truck👍
Note. Suitable for big overland trucks, turn left off the T2 onto a dirt road for about 30kms, signposted the whole way.

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Fantastic place! A real Oasis👍
Definitely make time for this place, it's a real little gem. 100% recommend. The lodge, bar, restaurant are 1st class. Awesome sparking clean swimming pool overlooking the river and the hot springs are a fantastic treat. The camping area is a beautiful place to camp, right on the river, very clean and tidy and all the facilities great - very safe and secure. We loved our stay here, called in for 1 night and stayed for 2 (we would have stayed longer if we had the time). An awesome place to rest and relax. Big thanks to Mark and all his lovely staff and we will definitely see you again next time. Cheers, us in the big orange truck ;-)

PS. Suitable for big rigs as well

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Hot spring smaller than I expected with 1 shallow pool. It gets crowded quickly especially with families. Really nice experience in the evening. Camping ablutions weren't cleaned, nor was there toilet paper and all the soaps were empty. Not what you expect for the price.
Found staff to be unfriendly which is a shame. The owner Mark also owns the Africa House.

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Lodge with spa, chalets and a campsite.

Campsite is situated next to the river and it looks like they have recently built new stands for camping. I imagine it could get quite busy here.

Each campsite has a nice fire pit with grill, small shelter, large LED light and plug point (pay extra). Free fire wood is provided.

There are 2 ablution blocks that are perfectly adequate with western toilets and hot water from donkey boiler.

Hot spring very close to the campsite and is like a massive hot swimming pool in the middle of a jungle.

Lodge has a resturant and bar but a bit expensive. 50kwa for a castle 375ml. Food is extremely tasty but expensive as well. There is a reasonably priced bar menu but these are snacks not necessarily full meals.

WiFi 50kwa per device per day. Airtel signal present.

Paid USD20 pppn camping. A bit expensive but overall a nice place with friendly staff and relaxing atmosphere.

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The hot springs are awesome and worth the $20 pppn. The campsite is not great. The bathrooms are tiny and the hot water was variable when we were here. There are some nice sites near the river, but I imagine it can be very busy when full. It's worth the effort for the springs but don't be disappointed with the campsite. Everything is very expensive: drinks, food, coffee etc. It's and extra $5 for electricity and K50 for internet. He did the hike to a koppie behind the lodge and going some MTN signal at the top.

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Nice, unique lodge with an absolutely awesome hot spring! Campsite can get a bit cramped, if full. But some very nice spots with river view. $20/pppn. Expensive, but worth it. We spent 3 nights relaxing in the hot springs and it was great. Free firewood. Good pool. The gravel road here from the Great North Road and from here to the M1 was fine at this time. Don’t miss this place, it’s worth it.

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Definitely worth a visit. After weeks in the bush is this a magical place to become human again.

The ablution are basic but neat with (donkey) hot water, campsite is well looked after with green grass. The restaurant and bar area is also nice to relax with great pizzas.

The hot water spring is magical, we planed on staying for one night but ended up staying three nights as we enjoyed the springs so much.

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The hot Springs are closed due covid, and to see the site must stay at camping is very expensive, so do not go during the pandemic.

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Wonderful place. All is very expensive. 20 US-DOLLARS ppn for camping. Elektricity 5 US-DOLLARS. Bad gravel road 30 km from the Great North Road.

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From northeastern road down a sand track, on occasion a little eroded. About 1 hour 1 way.

Camping 20 usd, EXclusive wifi (50k pro day) or power (5 usd pro day), no trash bins on camping, no compost, no toiletpaper.
Camping bends down onto the river, grassy spots and spots under trees. Toilets, showers (2 little hooks on doors that don’t shut, no bench, your stuff will get wet) and 1 ablution bin without stop for about 10 spots, close together. Lights in common parts work sometimes.

Activities, two short selfguided walking trails, hot pool, rafting and a visit to the manor at 20usd pp 20 km from he camping one way. Also some rock art, guided.

Set 3 meal dinner at 20usd or 300k, drinks in the 25-40k range, slice of cake 50k, caffetiere for 2 50k to give some ideas on the pricing here.

Obviously you will not find much similar around so is a nice enough spot but price value wise preferred mutinondo or pioneer camp lusaka way better in facilities and far less pricy!!
Stay on your way from to TZ Malawi when highly convenient.

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Beautiful place. Ok, 20US pppn for camping is not cheap, but for me it's worth it. Everything is very well maintained and built with love. The hot springs are great after hiking.

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We started our drive in Mfuwe (South Luangwa NP) and took the „05“ trough the Park heading north with two cars (highly recommended in case of a break down). The road was dry and we had no problems to reach the base of the Muchinga escarpement, where „the climb“ begins. A very steep and rocky road. 4x4 experience is recommended and a reliable 4WD car with low range and diff lock. The road from the northern Gate to the Great North is under construction, so it takes a bit of time to the Great North. From Muchinga (where you access the Great North, over Mpika to Kakalantekwe (turn off to the D53 and Kapishya) the road is fine. After Kapishya we drove the D53 to the west (Tukapi). The whole D53 is as described from the other overlanders. It could need some maintanance.

The campsite at the Hot Springs is in an average condition. Hot showers, power point and firewood is available. One nice spot at the rivers edge. There are only a few spots with a flat underground for roof top tents, so we took the campsites right next to the ablution facilities (no problem if you are the only campers, otherwise...). Wifi is available at the restaurant / pool deck on extra costs. Mark and Melanie are nice hosts and they join you for dinner if you eat at the restaurant, what we enjoyed very much (although the prices could be a bit less expensive).
A very nice location to relax at the Hot Springs or at the pool with some cold beers for a couple of days after an intense 4x4 drive.

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Very lovely place. Hot springs are HOT and nice. People are lovely. Meals all from own grounds. Tasty and well prepared!
Recomennded!!!

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Nice to visit for a day. Day trip is 100kpp. Opening hours are 10.00 to 18.00 hour. Its wonderful to have such a beautiful, nice and warm bath. Good for the body and mind :)) We skipped the campsite and drove in a day from Mpika and back. Good doable.

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2 Persons 1 Rooftent

20$ p/p
new ablutions at the campsite.
Hot springs are great.
especially in the evening when its dark
(lights are there)
good food (vegeterian burger!!)

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Very nice place with good fasilities. The 30km dirt road is bad however and it is expensive.

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Lovely food and a very nice family perfect big lodges it is recommended to wake up early to go to the hot springs

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As described by others. Most campsites have power, but it's at an additional US$5 per day. Bring your solar panel!
The 2nd day (Sunday) was spoiled by noisy and drunk day visitors (2nd time this happened to us here on a weekend). Mark (owner) says he will ban them. Time will tell.

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Camping now 20$ pppn. Overpriced. Ablutions basic. WiFi 100 Kw per day, ridiculous. Food and drinks very expensive. Only 2 campsites on the river. Lodge very nice in lush tropical garden. Swimming pool (campers have to ask special permission to use it haha ridiculous if you already pay 20$). Hot springs not special I thought, was tired of it after an hour. Nice place but not worth 20$ to sleep in my own car, bring all your food if you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars per day. Nobody here today, had the place all to myself!

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with 15Us $ highly overpriced. they say the spend 10000Us $ to provide electricity at campsites. Wifi costs 100zkw per day. Anyway the hotspring is the same and nice.

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Camping $15pppn, hot springs are awesome.
Camping areas have braais and some shelters, and you can purchase sausage braai packs, eggs, milk etc from the lodge.

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Kapishya Hot Springs (33 km gravel off the Great North Road). Camping is 15 USD pppn. You pay additional for WIFI at Reception – 10 USD for 24 hours, with good speed. Camping site is next to the river and overall it is a nice setting. No electricity at campsite. The natural hot spring is by far the main attraction. Made our own food at the campsite so cannot comment on the restaurant and bar prices..

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Mark the owner was amazing at assisting with my vehicle problems. He has a pit and a mechanic and spares for mt Toyota Hilux were obtained from a village 120km's away.
The campsite is also great on the banks of the river and the Hot Spring is a real treat with clear hot 40 deg water without any sulphur smell. We also used a chalet on one night. One has to remember that all supplies are brought in by road adding an element of additional costs to the bottom line.

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Access road from Kasama/Mbala road is good gravel, 2wd ok even after the rains. The road to Shiwa is a bit less good but still 2wd passable.
Campsite itself is currenty a bit soggy, pitch by the river is questionable due to rising water level.
Ablutions are dreary. No loo roll supplied. Lots of night flying insects.
Water on the campsite is from the river - too murky for my liking to put in the tank (the rains are still continuing).
Hot springs are gorgeous.
The main menu is expensive but bar meals at 50 to 80 KW are available too.
Excellent ham, bacon, sausages, eggs and bread available to purchase.
No MTN signal but Airtel is strong.

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place is as described. no electricity in the camp site. access road is really not bad compared to other gravel roads so not sure what people arw complaining about - and we drive a VW Beetle...
bush mozzies are active during the day so take enough insect repellent. owner is friendly

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The campsite overall is ok but a bit pricy. The best spot is the one next to the river. You have a fireplace but the bomas are so tiny you cannot really use them. Ablutions with donkey showers are ok but nothing more. I still think it is worth to spend a night or two and enjoy the hot springs. If you are in for a treat go to the restaurant. The food is expensive but awesome.

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A wonderful place! We loved it. We paid 15$ pppn.

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On arrival here after driving around 20 kms on in places a badly maintained and corrugated gravel and murram road we enquired about camping costs and were told it was 15 USD pppn. This was acceptable and we went to have a quick look at the campsite and on returning to reception to pay for one night camping we were ready to pay the 30 USD. However, we like to keep records of everywhere we stay and asked for a receipt for the 30 USD. There was quite a delay after which the receptionist produced a card telling us, but no, it would be more than this as the bed levy was not included. We questioned this as we felt that this should have been mentioned at the outset. Another guy arrived and we told him that we were none too happy about the price changing after asking for a receipt. His comment: “That´s the way it´s done here” which we know is just not true. Following our sentiments about the state of the access road to Kapishya he remarked that “didn´t overlanders like us enjoy driving on badly maintained roads” or words to that effect. We don´t know any who do! The campsite may indeed not be solely responsible for maintenance of that access road, but in our view if they want visitors to come and stay at their place a total of over 30kms from the main Great North Road they surely should make some effort to cooperate with, and if needs be contribute to the costs incurred by the local council or whoever is responsible for road maintenance around there. From the state of the road it would seem that they are not doing so. It is worth noting that as we elected not to stay at Kapishya due to the foregoing on the way back to Shiwa Ngandu on the badly corrugated sections of the road our vehicle suffered damage to its gearbox selector linkages resulting in us being reduced to only two forward gears and no reverse. Fortunately, we were able to get this rectified by the very helpful and competent mechanic at Shiwa House whose owners Jo and Charlie Harvey very kindly allowed us to sleep in our vehicle on their grass and use one of their room´s shower and toilet, went out of their way to assist and even asked us to join them for drinks and a braai.
As tourism in many parts of southern Africa appears to be suffering some substantial downturns on previous year´s figures one would imagine those in the hospitality industry in the region would be looking for possible reasons for this. Could it be that one of them could be that of ease of access to tourism spots, especially those targeting overlanders and others wanting to camp and be exposed to the outdoors in all its facets? As Kapishya when we dropped in appeared to have no visitors staying that night maybe, just maybe, they need to look at how straightforward vehicle access for visitors to their facility really is……

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Stunning campsite, and friendly owner. Hot showers and flush toilets right on the river with access to the most divine hot spring ever!! US 15 pppn, but we didn't go to the bar!

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We liked this place a lot and stayed 2 nights on our pitch right by the river. The bar and restaurant is expensive but if you don't like the prices then don't go in that part. Likewise if you think 15USD pppn is too much then go somewhere else - for me this was good value. Nice deck by pool over looking fast flowing river where you can have your (purchased) sundowner. Friendly staff and spoke to Mark who is part of the nearby (35 mins on dirt track) Shiwa Ng'andu dynasty. Plenty of hot water from wood fired boiler even with 18 campers on site. Good stop-over and there is nothing else in the area that we would go to. The Shiwa Ng'andu house tour is poorly signed, organised and delivered which is a shame as there is so much history there.

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Beautiful camp. Much too expensive 150ZKW pppn! Hotsprings nice. Lots of birds. Right on river. No toilet paper. Nice hot showers. Peaceful and quiet.

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site was nice and hot springs were lovely. clean toilets (no toilet paper), hot showers. $15ppn overpriced. food and drink were extortionate ($26 for full English breakfast??) so bring your own. the owners/staff could have been more helpful/friendly

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Lovely campsite!! More expensive than the going rate but to us it was worth it. The hot springs are so nice to swim in and the campsites are well equipped with fire pits / braai stands looking out onto the river. Food and drink is expensive so come self sufficient if you want to save money. Owner was nice when we visited, even gave us free coffee and laundry for the new year! No wi-fi when we visited however...

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Nice campsite at river separate from the lodge. Welcome was rude which is very unprofessional for an established place like this. The hot springs themselves are very nice especially in the morning when steam rises of them. Pitches have small thatched sun shades and braai stands. Ablutions are good but as mentioned earlier no toilet paper. We had two camping chairs stolen from us while being on lunch but it didn't seem to be a common occurance. We recommend not to park at the river on the left as whoever took them could approach unnoticed through the bush. Not much reaction from management on the matter. Still a nice place because of the well kept lodge area and hot springs. 15US$ pp

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Beautiful campsite with clean facilities and trees for shade. The manager is very welcoming and we had a great evening at the bar.
The hot springs are incredible.

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Very expensive place, campsite 15USD ppn.
Wi-Fi for 25kwacha per 30min if it's working.
No credit card facility.
But good place to have a rest, hiking and hot springs...

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Campsite is very nice, at the river. No power, you have to ask for toilet paper. Hot water (donkey). Internet 2,5 USD/30 minutes. Dinner at restaurant 30 USD (3 course meal). Cheaper options available. Food is good! The owners are quite grumpy and not very welcoming. Good hiking in the area.

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Pretty campsite near the hot springs. Lady manager was very grumpy and very uninviting. Flushing toilets and hot showers (donkey boiler). Bar and restaurant at main lodge. Very expensive drinks and food: full english breakfast US$20 per person! Beers and other drinks also overpriced. Paid internet.

Cost:ZKW70

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