Luangwa Safari House is a private house situated on Robin Pope's Nkwali land, approximately 1km from camp. Built on the edge of a seasonal lagoon and with a backdrop of the Chindeni Hills, the game, including herds of elephants and journeys of giraffe, use this area to feed and water throughout the day. During the dryer months you can be lunching on the deck with up to forty elephants around you.
Outwardly the house has a traditional feel. However, venture inside and you find that each room has a totally individual and unique style. The sizeable living room is dominated by large comfy sofas and a huge marble dining table. The room stretches up two storeys, some twelve meters, to the thatched roof with wooden staircases rising out of the floor to take you to the upstairs bedrooms. Many of the fittings are hand-made metalwork, including a huge thirty lamp metal chandelier. The open front of the room leads out onto a quartz tiled terrace with large plunge pool to one side.
From this terrace a magnificent risen walkway leads to a wooden deck surrounding a small group of huge ebony trees in the middle of the lagoon. There is a large leather sofa, and a hanging chair plus dining table and chairs for al fresco meals. The waterhole is only metres from the deck, and sitting quietly you will be close to families of elephant that come to bathe.
The house has four bedrooms, each with extra large beds with mosquito nets. There is a wooden ceiling fan inside each net. The beds have all been designed differently, from two poster beds to raised futon style. The materials used in the bedrooms are hand painted and specifically designed, made locally at Tribal Textiles. Each bathroom has a different theme for the fittings, reflecting the colours of the rooms. From copper for the "Coral room" (including a hand-made copper bath) to recycled sandblasted aluminium in the "Blue Agate" bedroom. These fittings have been matched with unusual pieces of Zambian marble hand-picked by Jo and Robin Pope.
The upstairs rooms have a suspended wooden balcony, where you can sit out at night with a moonlit view over the bush to the distant hills. The downstairs bedrooms each have a private tiled verandah with large morris chairs for quiet moments.
At the start of your safari, the guide and host will sit with you and discuss all aspects of your stay from food to game activities to children’s bed times. Children are extremely well catered for and the host is there to ensure that each child has the best safari possible for their age and interests.
