Elephants in the Hotel

You'd think this is a rustic cabin somewhere in the northwest. No. This is a hotel in a national parkland in Zambia. What is special about this hotel is its guests: wild elephants. The elephants usually come during November at which time more human guests arrive so they can share in this unusual, unique experience. The elephants come of their own accord. It is certainly a rare and magnificent sight.

The Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia happens to have been built next to a mango grove that one family of elephants have always visited when the fruit ripens. They returned one year and found the luxury accommodation in the way, they simply walked through the lobby to reach their beloved grove of trees.

Elephants march through hotel lobby after it was built on their migration trail!

The animals come in two-by-two. Hotel staff and visitors have gotten used to the elephants' impromptu strolls through the lobby. Now the family group, headed by matriarch Wonky Tusk, return every November and stay for four to six weeks to gorge on mangos - up to four times a day.

Living in the 5,000 square mile national park, the ten-strong elephant herd is led to the lodge each day by Wonky Tusk. The hotel was built directly in the path of the elephants' route to one of their favorite foods .... Mangos.

Employing 150 staff, the management of the lodge report that there have been no incidents involving the wild elephants to date. The elephants get reasonably close to the staff, as you can see in the pictures of the elephants in the reception area, but they do not allow the guests to get that close.


The elephants are not aggressive, still guests are not allowed to interact with the animals. They can stand in the lounge but only as long as there is a barrier between the elephants and the guests.

It is the elephant's choice to be here and they have been coming here for the last ten years. There are other wild mango trees around, but they prefer the lodge's. It is the only herd that comes through, and they come and go as they please.