Elephant Cafe: Dining + Experience Review
The Elephant Cafe in Zambia offers a truly unique and unforgettable dining experience that combines exquisite local cuisine with the majestic presence of elephants. Situated on the banks of the Zambezi River, this restaurant and elephant sanctuary provides a perfect blend of wildlife encounters with gourmet dining.
For the dinner experience, we began our journey at 4pm with a pick-up from our hotel and returned around 8pm.
Getting to the Elephant Cafe
There are two options to get to the Elephant Cafe as booking as part of their dining package for either lunch or dinner. You can opt for road or boat transport. The boat transport is more expensive, and you will have to pay a surcharge if not enough people choose this during your dining slot. This happened to us and we ended up paying the surcharge since we didn’t also have time to take a sunset boat cruise in Livingstone.
We thoroughly enjoyed the boat cruise. The price included a pickup from our hotel to the boat launch. A red carpet greeted us as we walked down to the boat, and we embarked on a brief 20-minute tour towards the Elephant Cafe.
We passed some hippos, a snake, and even a baby crocodile!
The Elephant Experience
After arriving, the staff warmly welcomed us and presented a safety briefing on how to engage with the elephants.
There were two elephants for us to interact with. The first elephant was huge and about 40 years old!
The second elephant was only 5 and was so tiny compared to the first. We had about 10 minutes with each elephant, feeding and touching them. They are just such incredible creatures.
The elephants are fed treats and they know it’s coming! They went through so many bags and were eager for more. The caretakers will refill your bag of treats until your time with the elephants is over.
The Elephant Cafe deeply commits to the conservation and welfare of elephants. It is a sanctuary for rescued, displaced, and orphaned elephants due to human-wildlife conflict, poaching, or other threats.
These elephants are given a haven where they can be cared for by a team of experts. In all cases, the elephants here are used to humans and choose to return to the cafe each evening. They are given free rein to graze wherever. In one case, an elephant left the herd for over a year and then came back pregnant. You’ll hear more cute stories like this while you learn about the elephants so I won’t spoil them here!
As the sun sets and we were called to dinner, the elephants were led away. We saw some monkeys throughout the rest of the evening.
By providing visitors with an up-close and personal encounter with these cute creatures, the cafe aims to foster a connection and understanding that can inspire conservation efforts.
Dining at the Elephant Cafe
The restaurant at the Elephant Cafe is a spacious and elegant open-air structure, designed to offer views of the river and its wildlife. Dietary restrictions should be provided in advance as the three-course meal is pre-set. We said we were pescetarian and we had a delicious offering throughout the evening made with local ingredients.
Dinner is an early affair and starts around 5:30pm.
The staff created a warm and inviting atmosphere while explaining the background of the Elephant Cafe. We were first offered a bowl of local nuts.
Next, we started with butternut soup.
Followed by a delicate, Asian-inspired fish dish with a wild rice medley. Fishing in the Zambezi River is illegal, so the local fish is sourced from farms. l Ioved this dish, especially the rice!
And finally dessert.
The dinner rate includes wine and beer until 7pm. I made use of this by finishing my first glass with dinner and ordering a second right before 7pm to have with dessert.
These are all the local spices, fruits, and nuts used in our dishes throughout the evening.
The dinner at the Elephant Cafe is not only a culinary adventure but also a celebration of conservation, promoting awareness and appreciation for these magnificent creatures.
The cafe just after sunset.
Booking the Elephant Cafe
Dining at the Elephant Cafe isn’t cheap. In fact, I’m sure we hadn’t spent more on an evening (besides our wedding activities) ever before. Per person, we paid USD 280 for the dinner by boat experience with the boat surcharge. The cheapest option is USS 195 by car for either lunch or dinner. However, there is a High Tea option (on request) for USD 155.
When we booked, it was just us and another couple. The staff explained that pre-covid, they used to have a full house every night! We made our booking in advance but it seemed that the other couple booked only the day before. Wilhelm and I would have had the place to ourselves without their booking. In time, I hope that more tourists visit the cafe so that they can continue to sustain the elephants.
See all the dining packages here.
We booked via email at elephantcafe@safpar.com. The email communication was inconsistent in my opinion, but I tend to have bad luck with this kinda thing. We paid 50% in advance via bank transfer and then the remainder via credit card over the phone. In their emails, they said they would reach back out to us 3 days before our experience but they never did. We had to reach out and they were not clear on how to pay the remainder and didn’t confirm our reservation. But anyway, we paid over the phone and it was fine.
Was it worth it?
I loved the experience of visiting with the elephants and having a local dinner. Because we were in Zambia for just 5 days, we didn’t have a strict budget and therefore the experience was worth it to us. I have done an elephant experience before in South Africa. This was similar but the whole experience was more luxurious. If your budget allows it and you really want a special night out, the Elephant Cafe is worth it.
If you need more to do while in Livingstone, check out the top things to do there!