Name: Zinga Backpackers
Address: Magoye Road 25, Livingstone, Livingstone, Livingstone, 10101, Zambia
Rating: 8

Shopping on site

Computer

Smoking areas

Ticket assistance

Gift shop

Garden

Television in lobby

Terrace

Express check-in

No elevators

Reception desk

General

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Concierge services

Dry-cleaning

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Coffee/tea for guests

Breakfast

Common kitchen

Restaurant

Microwave oven

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Multi-language staff

Languages Spoken

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Library

Barbecue grill(s)

Billiards

Picnic area

Barbeque

Sun Deck

Recreation

Parking

Pool facilities

Pool and beach

Conference Hall

Business

Fitness facilities

Sports

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hostel

Livingstone Airport

Victoria Falls Airport

Zinga Backpackers

Livingstone

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

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2-beds

20-beds

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24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

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37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Please save yourself the money and do NOT even think about booking at Zinga Backpackers- I have been traveling for 3 years now and this is by far the absolute worst hostel experience I have ever had. 

I am extremely disappointed with my stay at Zinga Backpackers, and what you're about to read and see photos of is absolutely unacceptable.

BE AWARE OF SCAMMING FROM THE WORKER 
The owner arranged a day trip for my friend and I to go to Victoria Falls. He completely overcharged us (claimed he was giving us a discount which just isn’t right). My friend paid him around $100 usd and he owed her change. She was staying at a different hostel. He NEVER gave her back her $30 change even though he said that he would go over to her hostel and give it to her. He also claims he went there which just is NOT true. 

We are still trying to get the change and stayed there a week ago. He promised to walk over to her place and give it to her before I checked out of this hostel, and he still never did. 

I called him multiple times on the last day asking for it, and he had disappeared from the hostel. He simply kept telling me It was fine and that we would get the cash. We never got the ash. I finally got ahold of him, and he told me he would send it on Paypal. He hasn’t sent it yet still, and it’s been a week since. 

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DIRTY AND UNDERKEPT

The room was OK, but the entire hostel looked like it had been abandoned and the bathroom and kitchen was absolutely unlivable and gross.

Please take a look at the bathrooms, kitchen, and other areas in my photos. This is not livable and very dirty and could even get people sick. This should NOT be a place that is advertised for people to stay. I mean, this is the dirtiest place I have ever stayed. It’s nothing as advertised online whatsoever. The photos online do not show the actual interior of what this place looks like.

____________________________

LACK OF STAFF (not 24 hours as advertised)

There was very little staff. The main worker was gone most of the day and only responded occasionally. There is NOT a 24 hours staff and they only want to help you if you’re interested in booking any activities with them. 

Because of the lack of communication from the hostel owner/worker, Getting a taxi to the Zimbabwe border was also very messy. The taxi driver that I told was being arranged for me at 11 am never was arranged, and so arranged was about 45 minutes late(when I specifically mentioned I had to be picked up at a specific time due to work), which caused me to be an hour late to my job. And this all was because the main worker was not reading my messages when I was trying to coordinate. It was a disaster. He kept telling me everything was fine, but it’s not fine when I have a job to be at, and I was trying to arrange my ride to the border for days.

Please understand my concerns about this horrible experience and take into consideration the things I need to say.

___________________________________

Things that are on the hostel world website that Zinga Backpackers “advertises” on Hostelworld that they do not have or offer:

Swimming Pool - Empty and unusable 

Self-catering kitchen- The kitchen looks like a war zone, and you could get sick from using any of their utensils.

Travel and booking advice - they will scam you and take your money after you pay for a “discounted day trip.”

Free wifi- wifi is non-existent. The owner did help me get a portable router so I could work, which was nice, but upon my arrival, he kept telling me the wifi works, and it's great. I tried it and couldn’t even get a single bar of connection. He then had to go out and get me a router and set me up with a phone hot spot. 

Free pick-up from the airport or bus station- This was not free. He told me it would be free. it wasn’t. Again, they will surprise you upon check-in and charge you with a transportation cost and then not give you your change back. 

Staff members- their staff members are gone 99% of the time and don't answer their phones. They are only around when you are willing to give them money for day trips.   

Free breakfast included- No breakfast was mentioned whatsoever.

Do NOT stay here- Scamming & Unresponsive Staff and dirty atmosphere. Horrible Experience

Amazing rhino walk experience with Zinga Packpackers. Great organisation and sense of service. Very friendly, they did their best to find us the best deals. Definitely recommend the rhino tour and the hostel too!

Great rhino walk with Zinga Packpackers

We really enjoyed our stay, it’s basic but there is everything you need and the people are soo friendly. We loved the atmosphere and the kindness of those people working there. They even helped us wash our clothes!
I can strongly recommend it :)


Very good, we enjoyed our stay

Gift is a drug addict, promissing you to provide wonderful activities but giving nothing at all! he takes your money without giving back anything. The most awful place I have ever been! ants everywhere no running water for toilets or shower! 
Don't go there you will regret it at its most!

The most awful place!!!

I'm not sure where all these positive reviews are coming from...I don't even know where to begin with Zinga's. I have never had a worse living situation in my entire life. It all started with us arriving and asking the manager there (who was not the usual general manager Guy that so many people write highly about) where our two, 6-person huts which we had paid to stay in. Turns out there were not 2, 6-person huts but rather many different rooms all over--including one in the reception area (just a mattress on the floor). On the website, Zinga's promises breakfast, Friday BBQs, WiFi, water, etc. Upon arrival, none of these things were available. We stayed there for 5 days and had no WiFi, no drinking water besides one bottle we got upon arrival, breakfast one morning, and the "Friday BBQ" included each of us paying him K40 each for him to put one steak on the grill and barely feed anyone. My friend and I are both vegetarians and he told us he would get us some veggie burgers, which actually ended up being us each getting half of one patty. I should also add that the man who was running the place (who said his name was Dominic) was always in a state of either being drunk or being hungover, and was always barefoot. 

The real entertainment starts when, on the second night, 30+ Irish people showed up claiming that they also had booked a trip at Zinga's. Our group of 12 had taken up almost all the beds, so we were confused as to where they would stay. These poor people had ridden on a bus for 16 hours, only to arrive and have nowhere to stay. Dominic then told them that they had a "Zinga's 2" and a "Zinga's 3" that they could stay at, so we were all hopeful. It turns out that the 2nd and 3rd Zinga's were just neighbors' houses and other hostels that he had been banging on and asking to see if they had any empty beds and could take the Irish people in. 

I will finish off my review by saying that my friend and I who were staying in a hut together had to move our own bedding and luggage to a new room because after the first night we woke up covered in bites all over our bodies because our bed was filled with mites and ants. We asked one of the maids to help us get rid of them from our room first and she told us that the bugs "aren't killed easily" and left. 

I honestly don't know how this place is still running and how so many people had a good experience here. I think the manager who usually runs the place was not there and thus we got stuck in a terrible situation. I wish we would've stayed at Fawlty Towers or Jolly Boys so that we never had to go to Zinga's.

Nightmare Stay...Do Not Go to Zinga's

I feel strange writing a review on Zinga, as despite paying ahead of my trip for a group of 30+ volunteers and confirming this a number of times, we arrived only to be told by the ‘manager’ there were no rooms in the hostel but there was in Zinga 2 and Zinga 3 which we’re located at different locations in Livingstone. At this point I should mention that the so-called ‘manager’ was extremely intoxicated so having a reasonable conversation was out of the questions. After a lot of waiting around for a straight answer he called a ‘bus’ which was just his relative with a car to drop some of the volunteers to a different location. They came back after a few minutes - it turned out they had just been driving to random hostels with the ‘manager’ begging the owners to give them rooms as he was clearly panicking over the mess he made. He tried to insist on driving even though he was extremely drunk and couldn’t even keep his eyes open. Eventually we asked him to just stop lying and admit he didn’t have rooms with us as he was still claiming to (zinga 2 and 3 don’t exist). We asked for a refund, only to be met with hysteria from him. We were basically left in Livingstone at midnight in dark with a large group trying to find accomodation on a bank holiday weekend. It was a complete mess and I would not recommend this hostel to anyone. The management is totally incompetent and I’m not even sure how they’re still going. We are still waiting for our refund.

Worst experience I’ve ever had with a hostel!

Staying at Zinga Backpackers was like staying with old friends. It was a very short stay, but I loved everything about this place from the decor to its layout, the quotes on the walls and my Obama hut which had an outdoor shower. The bed was very comfortable and talking a cold shower under the hot Zambian sun was very refreshing

Good Vibe, Great People

We had a fantastic 2 nights at Zinga. It is a little walk out of town but it’s great!! The manager is the most friendly guy ever met. Everything you want is possible just ask for it. Would definitely go there again.

Best staff you can imagine 

Really great staff. All staff were open and accomodating to me during my stay. The private room I booked was what appeared to be a very traditional hut and a nice change to the norm. Hostel is in a great location. It was a bit lacking in atmosphere during my stay as it was low on guests but all staff were working hard on the gardens and looking to be sprucing things up for the busier season ahead. All in all, lots of potential here. Also, great service in booking me onto last minute activities. 

Potential is there 

Easy going staff and always willing to help. I truly recommend this hotel for people who want to enjoy Livingstone.

Zinga Backpackers

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