Kafuntas Story

Where does the name Kafunta come from?

The name Kafunta has been used for a long time before the lodge was built. There is even a story to tell about the name Kafunta:

“Chief Kakumbi (I) was called Lowey. He was very tough and kept slaves. There was a flat stone next to what is now known as the Kafunta River. It is a seasonal river that joins the Luangwa River, but in the rainy season it is very fast and powerful. The chief wanted the stone for his chair and made the slaves carry it to his palace. It was very big and heavy. The slaves named the river “KAFUNTHA” which means crazy in Nyanja, the local language. They thought the chief must have been mad to ask them to move such a heavy stone.
And that’s how Kafunta got its name.”

Life in Mfuwe in the early days has been very different than it is today. A village elder, Fwalu, is a storyteller and uncle to Chief Kakumbi (VI), the Chief of this area. He was born in 1914 and lived at Kafunta, the site of Chief Kakumbi’s palace in those days. (The site of the old palace is only a few kilometers downstream from the present day Kafunta River Lodge). He can tell hiw life used to be: “I used to hunt by setting traps in the ground and by using a bow and arrow with poison from an indigenous climbing plant called the “poison rope”. As a young man I even killed a Buffalo, Elephant and Rhino by bow and arrow. We would eat rhino meat but leave the horns, as they had no value then. Ivory however, was traded with the people from Nyasaland (present day Malawi) for cloth. If there was no ivory even children were traded! There was no money.
We used to play games such as forms of netball and golf using palm fruit. It was very unusual in those days, unlike today, for a child to die. Malaria was unknown, though T.B. was there. I remember there was a lot of fighting with neighbouring tribes and our round huts had double layer of fencing for protection. We grew sorghum and caught fish but kept no animals. I think those days (i.e. the 1920′s, 30′s and 40′s) were better, because today there is no respect, food is not plentiful and there is too much illness and death.”

Kafuntas Story continues till present day. How did the Cowans end up in this remote corner of Africa?

Ron and Anke, Owners

Ron and Anke Cowan, the directors of Kafunta Safaris met in Australia in 1988. Ron is from Sydney, Australia whilst Anke is a real northern light from East Friesia of the German north sea coast. After having met in Australia they started traveling together in Asia and crosse Russia in the Transsiberien Railroad to reach Ankes Home in Northern Germany. For Anke it was coming home while Ron now had the task to get to know the country and culture or his love.

Mayebe it is the straight forwardness of northern Germans in combination with the layed back way of life of an Australien thatmakes them so special succesful:

“In 1990 they began a trip that changed our life deeply and lasting. In a Land Rover we started traveling south. Leaving Europe, we entered the African continent through Morocco. Crossing the Sahara we took the dessert into our soul, traveled through West Africa to Zaire and finally reached East Africa. From there it was only a bit further to Malawi. Till then we had passed through 20 African countries during our incredible trip. Many of their exploits can be seen in the photo albums at the lodge.
In 1992 we started work in Malawi. Based outside Lilongwe, we built a lodge and ran trips around Malawi and to the Luangwa Valley. Needless to say, we fell in love with the Luangwa Valley!

Here we met Herman Miles, who had plans to build Wildlife Camp, we joined his company and became business partners. Wildlife camp was built the following year and Kafunta River Lodge in 1997. Kafunta River Lodge opened on 3rd July 1998. We ran the Wildlife Camp until April 2000 when it was decided to split the company. Herman took over Wildlife Camp while Kafunta River Lodge became our home. Just in time as our son Luke was born in 1999. Just before that we got marriend under a huge acacia in the vecinity of Kafunta.  Many of our staff are from the area and have worked with us during construction of the lodge. When the lodge opened these staff remained and were trained to fill safari industry positions, exchanging their contruction helmets for chefs hats/guides caps. Today we employ over 30 to 70 people depending on the season.

Our team that has been with us for such a long time has become family to us. Together with them we can achieve that we have such a personalised and individual Service and great atmosphere.