Zambezi Canoe Safari

This was an experience of a lifetime! I cannot recommend this trip enough. If you want to go wild camping in the African bush where you can completely disconnect from every day life and get back in touch with nature, then don't hesitate to book this trip. You will be surrounded by wild animals, bird sounds and highly experienced staff.

There were so many unforgettable moments on this adventure, but seeing the wildlife in such a natural way, without lots of people round them, was incredible. Camping wild and going off-grid felt like an amazing reset and the tents were very comfortable. Couldn't recommend this trip more!

This trip is suitable for all regardless of canoeing or camping experience. The proximity to the wildlife is far superior to any previous safari's I have been on. The pace was relaxed, excellent comping equipment, great guide, good food and scenery/wildlife was amazing

This was a brilliant trip for seeing so much wildlife, and getting so close to it, particularly the elephants and hippopotami. Whilst we couldn't believe how many elephants we saw, we also saw lesser numbers of lions, crocodiles, water buffalo and a miscellanea of birdlife. Insect life was also plentiful, colourful dragonflies by day and fireflies by night.

I’ve just got back from canoeing the Zambezi Valley- what a trip!! We saw hippos, elephants, crocodile, monkeys, baboons, Impala, Kudu, warthogs and even a porcupine and a leopard!! The tents provided were really good- tall enough to stand up in, with mesh panels so you could look out if you wished. The stars at night were beautiful so I’d really recommend that. The canoeing was at a steady pace and suitable for all abilities- the hardest part was often getting in and out of the boat!! If you haven’t camped or kayaked before, don’t be put off, the pace was just right and the support from the leader and assistant leader was great. We also had a couple of game walks and a night game drive. The food was simple, but tasty and there was plenty of it.

Go on this trip. Yes, it involves wild camping (no toilets, showers, etc) but the rewards are immense. Close encounters with wild animals, beautiful scenery. The trip is well organised, food is good, and guides are great.

This was definitely a trip to get me out of my comfort zone (wild camping and kayaks instead of hotels and minibuses) and certainly did not disappoint. The fact you get so close to the wildlife far outweighed the fact you are wild camping (which I though I would struggle with). The sense of achievement at the end of the week was overwhelming, having travelled such a long distance in a kayak. The safari element far exceeded anything you would imagine and felt far more real than if you were in the back of a safari jeep (which I have done in South Africa). Animals spotted included elephants, hippos, lions, warthogs, buffalo, impala, zebra, baboons (and other monkeys), fish eagle, kingfisher and lots of others too much to mention. The group I was with was amazing and everyone got on so well and helped each other. The food was good throughout the week and we even had a celebratory BBQ on the last night. All in all I can safely say if I can do this holiday (and enjoy it) then anyone can!

Best. Holiday. Ever. I cannot recommend enough. CB is bloody amazing as a leader and guide. He's one guide I will always remember - most guides on adventure holidays are great but instantly forgettable. But his humour and patience meant I felt like he was a friend! Great knowledge and communication skills. A really well organised trip. Group size perfect too. Tents and mattresses perfect. Plenty of water and fruit. We were pleased that upon arrival we didn't hop directly in the canoes - we stayed at the mainland campsite (sunrise! Honking hippos!). This was fab because there is a shower block there and you are hot and dusty from the transfer/flight. The canoeing is awesome. The campsites were perfect. The food brilliant (I'm veggie). But the animals! My god! So many incredible experiences. I don't know if we struck lucky but every day got more amazing than the last. It's so much better to see animals from a canoe than from a Dusty 4x4. Lastly- the group were brilliant!! Tips: We got a kaza visa online, no drama - but you only need this is you are travelling after to Zimbabwe. You need a sticker in your passport not just a stamp! (Our first mistake). By the way, Livingstone is well worth a visit and CB organised a local bus for us. You need minimum kit - we washed in the river every day. As suggested, carry your canoe stuff ready to go in hand luggage. Bring a red light torch (for bugs) gloves (just in case) and definitely binoculars (We were so stupid!) And a zoom lens. And a bottle of rum?! We took a 10 litre dry bag each for clothes and another for the sleeping bag and then shared a camera bag.

This is a great active safari that will get you close to nature and sleeping out under the stars. We saw lions, birdlife galore, paddled past hippos and were able to stop the canoes and get close to herds of elephant. The canoes are the perfect vehicle for the journey, yes you need to be relatively fit and have a bit of knowledge about a canoe ( they can provide advice or in uk go on a simple paddle start of 1 star canoe intro), but you get so close to animals and they were often relaxed. Also you have great fields of view across the water front. Yes the campsites are basic - pitch a tent on a sandy island but the food is great and plentiful, you don't need a shower you can dip in the safer shallows of the Zambezi, and you get to wake up to beautiful African sunrises. You do have early starts and early nights but what you get back is worth it. Advice is to have plenty of drybags and try and get a paddle suitable for your height. But anyone with a sense of adventure, a desire to see wildlife and reasonable fitness will enjoy this.

One of the best wildlife experiences ever - to get so close to the hippos and elephants on the river in the canoes was incredible

Since coming back from this trip, I am finding it extremely difficult to put into words just how amazing it really was, so writing a review is going to be even harder. The wildlife is exceptional and not in short supply. The scenery both in the day and in the night is just phenomenal. And finally the whole experience is once in a lifetime!

This trip was a truly wonderful experience, canoeing on the Zambezi and camping out under the Milky Way on sandy islands in the middle of the river. We saw very few people and it almost seemed like we had the mighty river to ourselves - only sharing it with hippos, crocodiles, elephants and birds. Paddling downstream with the current the route varied between wide stretches of river and between reed beds on narrower channels, which enabled us to get close to the wildlife. A great group, great guides and a fantastic trip.

This really was roughing it for 4 days and nights wild camping and canoeing, 2 days in a fly camp with comfortable beds and showers/toilets and 1 night at Zambezi Breezers with a Bar! An awesome trip with great people and a fantastic guide and assistant guide.

This trip was awesome. Canoeing, walking and wild camping. Surrounded by all the wild life and beautiful scenery. You get so close to the animals so you will get some great photos and memory's that will last a lifetime. As you are working as a team with the group and the two guides you will quickly become good friends with everyone.

Have just returned from this amazing trip- my first visit to Africa and it was better than I hoped for. Loved looking up at the night sky through the tent mosquito netting. So many hippos, crocs and elephants. Although it was hot there was always a lovely breeze on the water

This is the one for you if you're happy to rough it, leave the comfort zone, sleep in tents for seven nights on the trot, go without much booze, but gulp down the thrill of knowing you're transported yourself along a gentle giant of a river and gazed at game from a breathtakingly short distance.

An excellent trip, one of the best holidays we've had

Did this last October, best value safari ever, and I've done a few. Excellent guide in TK, knows his way round those hippo pods. The boy Benjamin was fun too, and if I do this again I will ask for these two. Plenty game as the rains were due the following week so the beasts had to come to the river. Group size was perfect, 6 punters& 2 guides. Do it!

Awesome trip - simply has to be done!

We canoed down the Lower Zambezi river a party of 8 with two guides Cuthbert & Ahmed - what a fantastic experience watching Hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffalo, to name but a few of the animals we were able to see. Both Cuthbert & Ahmed had so much knowledge and experience and could answer all our questions about the animals and the area and knew how to keep us safe.

This trip far exceeded my expectations in every way. The wildlife encounters were amazing, hippos everywhere, crocs, birds, impala, kudus, waterbuck, buffalo etc etc. On the second day I was beginning to worry that I would not see an elephant, then they were everywhere and being on the water allowed us to see them from a different perspective as well as on foot, at the campsite and on 4 wheels.

Saw so many hippo, crocs, elephants and a few buffalo in the 10 days! Hard paddling, especially the 1st day, but wonderful animals and scenery make it all so worthwhile!

An amazing trip - a true adventure - far from the madding crowds - loved every minute of it.

Fantastic experience, the best way to see wildlife and great way to relax.

An amazing experience.You get really close to nature!

A great vacation, exactly like I had expected it to be from the travel schedule provided by the tour operator. Camping on various islands close to elephants, hippos and crocs under the stars was just the best. No additional luxuries needed!!

What a fantastic holiday. The whole experience from booking with this tour operator, to canoeing with a great bunch of fellow travellers, to camping besides elephants, to singing with lovely African kids.....this trip didn't disappoint.

Great adventure with loads of hippos (did not expect to see that many), elephants, birds and many others. Canoeing was more a bit harder in some areas than what some of us expected for a leisurely/moderate trip. I would say the trip is at least moderate.

This is the one for you if you're happy to rough it, leave the comfort zone, sleep in tents for seven nights on the trot, go without much booze, but gulp down the thrill of knowing you're transported yourself along a gentle giant of a river and gazed at game from a breathtakingly short distance.

An excellent trip, one of the best holidays we've had

Have just returned from this amazing trip- my first visit to Africa and it was better than I hoped for. Loved looking up at the night sky through the tent mosquito netting. So many hippos, crocs and elephants. Although it was hot there was always a lovely breeze on the water

Did this last October, best value safari ever, and I've done a few. Excellent guide in TK, knows his way round those hippo pods. The boy Benjamin was fun too, and if I do this again I will ask for these two. Plenty game as the rains were due the following week so the beasts had to come to the river. Group size was perfect, 6 punters& 2 guides. Do it!

Awesome trip - simply has to be done!

This trip was awesome. Canoeing, walking and wild camping. Surrounded by all the wild life and beautiful scenery. You get so close to the animals so you will get some great photos and memory's that will last a lifetime. As you are working as a team with the group and the two guides you will quickly become good friends with everyone.

We canoed down the Lower Zambezi river a party of 8 with two guides Cuthbert & Ahmed - what a fantastic experience watching Hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffalo, to name but a few of the animals we were able to see. Both Cuthbert & Ahmed had so much knowledge and experience and could answer all our questions about the animals and the area and knew how to keep us safe.

This trip far exceeded my expectations in every way. The wildlife encounters were amazing, hippos everywhere, crocs, birds, impala, kudus, waterbuck, buffalo etc etc. On the second day I was beginning to worry that I would not see an elephant, then they were everywhere and being on the water allowed us to see them from a different perspective as well as on foot, at the campsite and on 4 wheels.

Saw so many hippo, crocs, elephants and a few buffalo in the 10 days! Hard paddling, especially the 1st day, but wonderful animals and scenery make it all so worthwhile!

A great vacation, exactly like I had expected it to be from the travel schedule provided by Exodus. Camping on various islands close to elephants, hippos and crocs under the stars was just the best. No additional luxuries needed!!

An amazing trip - a true adventure - far from the madding crowds - loved every minute of it.

Fantastic experience, the best way to see wildlife and great way to relax.

An amazing experience.You get really close to nature!

A superb trip, full of wildlife and wilderness adventure. And, almost as scary, a classroom full of 6 year olds.

What a fantastic holiday. The whole experience from booking with Exodus, to canoeing with a great bunch of fellow travellers, to camping besides elephants, to singing with lovely African kids.....this trip didn't disappoint.

What a trip. This is an amazing way to see wildlife up close and personal. Right from the start you are immersed in the wilds and you will be seeing all manner of animals as you cruise down the Zambezi. This has got to be one of my favourite holidays so far and I would recommend this to anyone.

A simply amazing trip it was exactly what I expected it to be. Wonderful experiences!!!

This was my twentieth visit to Southern Africa and one of the best ever. Seeing a remote part of the continent from a canoe on the Zambezi gives a unique perspective of the continent and a chance to view game with minimal disturbance to the animals.

A great travel experience

Aside from a VERY rocky start to the holiday (see below), this was an absolutely AMAZING experience, which the group took to calling HIPPO-DODGE-EM-US, CROC-IDYLLIC and ELE-FANTASTIC!  The Lower Zambezi was simply stunning; the repeated and close-up experiences with elephants were moving and gorgeous; the hippos were funny and beautiful and scary all at once; the vervet monkeys were cute and cheeky, as were the baboons; the warthogs and water buffalo were wonderful...I could go on and on!  Check out the song I wrote on http://www.monicamaxwest.com/web%20audio/Taking%20It%20Easy.mp3!

An exciting, challenging, hilarious adventure, this trip takes you into the bush to share briefly the territory of the animals living there, observing their behaviour first hand.  Canoeing in formation on the Zambezi is magical, scary and strenuous, depending on wind strength, hippo pods, time of day: a brilliant way to see so many creatures close up and at ease.

A truly superb trip - one simply can not get closer than this to wildlife and nature. The scenery and landscapes keep changing, the animal sightings are countless, nature puts on a show beyond imagination every hour of every day... and the local leaders are fantastic, making the experience even more wonderful with their competence and insights.

A unique trip that provided great opportunities to view the wildlife close up and experience nature as it had intended. 

This was a fantastic trip with just the right mix of activity(canoeing) and wildlife watching, the guide was excellent and couldn't have looked after us better, it was an experience I'll remember all my life.

A great way to see Zambia and interact with the river life.  Great exercise without being overly challenging.

A stress-free way to spend 7 days! The pace is gentle (although if windy, expect to work harder), but the rewards of watching wildlife in their natural settings are well worth any tired muscles at the end of the day. There's plenty of time to relax too (who knew midday naps could be so much fun!).

A great holiday if you want to get back to nature.  I really loved being on the river, although at times it wasn't for the faint hearted!  Dodging the hippos in particular at times could be nerve wracking although the leader (CB) gave us confidence that he knew the best routes to take.