Experiences
by African Monarch Lodges
As the rains fall softly over the dark highland forests of southern Angola, the precious waters erode away at the landscape to form streams. Meandering down the slopes joining into powerful cascades over boulders, it finds its way down the escarpment on a journey southwards, beyond the borders of its origins.
Arriving at the vast floodplains of the Kwando River in Namibia and in the heart of KAZA, the World’d Largest Conservation Area for Wildlife, it spreads out, flowing through natural landscapes and claiming back its rightful purpose as a life-giving source. It is here where you will find the unobtrusive Nambwa Tented Lodge, nestled high amongst majestic Jackalberry, Sausage and Knobthorn trees.
On a private island in the middle of the Kwando River, a little further south and adjacent to the Horseshoe Bend lies Kazile Island Lodge, a unique lodge only reachable by boat.
Our unquenchable desire to create memorable African experiences takes you on foot, by boat or vehicle, up close and personal with some of the biggest herds of elephants that traverse the largest conservation area in Africa.
"At every touchpoint we have an opportunity to thrill and to ensure each moment with us becomes a moment to be remembered. We engage from our souls. We make an impact and we do so calmly!”
We are in the heart of the Kavango Zambezi Trans Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA) and part of the large Peace Park initiative.
Guided Game Drive
Guided Game Drive
Duration: 3 hours
Boat Cruise
Boat Cruise
Duration: 2.5-3 hours
Guided Bush Walk
Guided Bush Walk
Duration: 2-3 hours
Bush Dining
Bush Dining
Duration: 2.5-3 hours
The Sijwa Project Tour
The Sijwa Project Tour
Romantic Picnic
Romantic Picnic
Dining under the African Sky
Dining under the African Sky
Weddings
Weddings
Healing Retreats & Yoga Safaris
Healing Retreats & Yoga Safaris
To Quench a Thirst
The elephant hesitates, one forefoot in the air swinging slowly back and forth. It has our scent, its trunk held upward to the wind. We sit still. I talk to it softly so that there is no pretense that we are inanimate. I imitate the low rumbling, which elephants use to reassure each other in times of distress. It is a poor mimicry, but the elephant listens, its ears forward. Its forefoot comes down. It shakes its head. I rumble again. Again it listens but this time it relaxes and turning, walks to the water with a heavy nodding of its head. And like the breach of a dyke the elephants flow out of the bush from behind us. At first in a single file trickle, that grows slowly wider, until finally the dust hangs thick from the rush of hundreds of huge round feet clamouring to quench their thirst.
I am endlessly fascinated by the hierarchy of elephants, who drinks first, who waits, who declares the coast clear, who turns and stands defiant in defense. The bulls may dominate with their size, but elephants are a matriarchal society and it is the experienced cows that lead. It was a cow that declared us safe and advanced past us to the water. I look for her, with her singular shaped tusks, amongst the crowd of great grey bodies. She is across the channel, wet with mud. She has drunk her fill and is now luxuriating in a mud bath. The mud is black, but in the afternoon light her skin is fragmented into a myriad reflections of gold and blue. The bulge of her belly is like the mosaicked dome of a mosque.
I take my eye from the lens. There are more than a hundred elephants now. Some drink, others spray mud along their flanks. A few sink their tusks into the soft soil, their haunches high in the air. The young roll and jostle in the wet clay. Two tall trees frame the savannah behind, its corn yellow grass running to a hazy horizon. In the pause I become aware of the breath in my chest. It is something more than air, than the taste of dust. It is not liquid but it satisfies something in me like cool water to a thirst.
Rates & Information
“I believe there is no sickness of the heart too great it cannot be cured by a dose of Africa.
Families must go there to learn why they belong together on this earth,
adolescents to discover humility,
lovers to plumb old but untried wells of passion,
honeymooners to seal marriages with a shared sense of bafflement,
those shopworn with life to find a tonic for futility,
the aged to recognize a symmetry to twilight.
I know this all sounds a bit much,
but if I have ever seen magic,
it has been in Africa.”
John Hemingway
Pack the Essentials
Anyone who’s been on safari knows that no two game activities are ever the same! At African Monarch Lodges we offer morning and afternoon game drives, boat cruises, morning walks as well as an extraordinary visit to our Sijwa Project. Activity times will vary depending on the season. Guests traverse within the Bwabwata National Park, inside Africa’s largest conservation area where it is known that around 3,000 elephants roam these plains. It is a birders paradise with 450 bird species to identify.
What to Pack
- Binoculars
- A good camera
- Always bring sunglasses, a hat, sunblock, insect repellant and in the winter months a sweater or fleece, especially in the evenings.
- We provide blankets and hot water bottles in winter if it’s cold, and there are also ponchos if it is raining.
- It’s best to wear pale and neutral colours when on the wild experiences so not to attract the animals’ attention any more than is strictly necessary!
