Ila Safari Lodge
A solar-powered Green Safaris lodge on Zambia's Kafue River: luxury tents, an electric game-drive fleet and elephants viewed from the infinity pool.
Ila Safari Lodge belongs to Green Safaris, and that affiliation tells you most of what matters: like its sibling Tongabezi, this is a lodge built around a real commitment to environmental sustainability and the empowerment of local communities. For travellers who want a safari that leaves the place better than it found it, Ila is squarely on the list.
The eco credentials are concrete rather than decorative. The lodge runs on solar-powered electricity and operates Zambia’s first electric game-drive vehicle: a silent way to move through the bush that leaves both the air and the wildlife undisturbed.
The setting is a secluded stretch of the Kafue River, and the architecture treats that tranquillity as the headline. Unpretentious and low-slung, it folds African chic and modern comfort into the landscape rather than imposing on it. Luxury tents see out each day; a cascading infinity pool is the spot to watch elephants moving en masse along the water.
Dining is generous, the kind of mouthwatering spread that pulls you in from the pool as dusk falls, and the days are paced around adventure and quiet in equal measure.
For travellers who want one of Zambia’s best boutique lodges (genuinely luxurious, genuinely regenerative), Ila Safari Lodge is a Luxa Terra kind of stay, proof that doing it properly and doing it beautifully are the same thing.
