Chiawa Camp

This is one of the best places in Africa to see game from the water: elephant, buffalo, hippo and dinosaur-sized crocodiles. The surrounding national park also teems with game – day and night – and the birdlife is wonderful. Even if you’re not a twitcher, paddle downriver on a canoe to see everything from red-breasted carmine bee-eaters to great goliath herons.

See it all by canoe, riverboat, game drive and bush walk. The team of guides is extremely professional and knowledgeable and has won the Best Guides in Africa award.

The fishing is fantastic here – from fighting tiger fish to 40kg vundu catfish. The wily and strong tiger fish, a cross between a trout and piranha with ferocious-looking sharp teeth that shred most fishing lines, is an irresistible challenge for any angler. It’s offered all year round, but best late-Agust to mid-November.

More than three-quarters of all staff are local, and trained to help in conservation education elsewhere in the area. The Cumings family has been involved in conservation, education, Aids prevention and community projects for decades. The camp annually raises money for conservation, school uniforms, educational tools and subsidised guide training – one of the reasons it wins Best Guides in Africa awards.

Children over 8 are welcome; it is very wild here though, so children have to be strictly supervised. Children may join in their parents’ activities, as well as spending time in the camp, learning about tracks, plants, insects and fish. Canoeing and walking safaris are restricted to those over 12.

The camp is a 30-minute flight from Lusaka, then an 80-minute game drive from Jeki airstrip – or a three-hour drive then a two-hour boat trip on the Zambezi.