Zambia

South Luangwa is Zambia’s premier park. Many places are claimed to be “one of the remaining wilderness areas” or “one of the last wildlife sanctuaries” but the South Luangwa National Park can live up to all these names and more.

The Luangwa Valley is vast, remote, home to both people and a truly impressive number of animals. The South Luangwa park is 9050 sq. km with the river, its tributaries and the riverine strips being the focus of the wildlife viewing. There are the diverse habitats, from huge ox bow lagoons of varying stages of maturity, woodlands, ebony groves, grassland and thickets, that host truly impressive numbers of wildlife. The birdlife is also excellent with around 450 species to be seen.

The Luangwa River remains one of the last untouched major river systems in the world. Each year the river drops to almost knee deep and then in the Emerald Season rises to the top of the banks. The river is up to 4 metres deep and averages 400 metre wide and at peak will flow at 47 million gallons per hour. That is a lot of water. Boating safaris during the high water months are an adventure.

The South Luangwa is known as the home of the walking safari and all the camps offer walks. There are also smaller bush camps or mobile tented camps for those who would like to experience a dedicated walking safari. Walking through big game country is a truly exciting experience and as South Luangwa led the way for guide training and licensing in Zambia the standard of guiding here is superb.

The abundance of leopards in the Luangwa is famous and although not guaranteed it is usual for everyone passing through on a three or more night safari to see at least one. The Luangwa has two endemic species – the Thornicoft giraffe which is found mostly in the central area of the park and the Cookson’s wildebeest which is more scattered and only in the north. Usually it is great number of game that impresses people.

The Lower Zambezi, a key national park of Zambia, is only a 30 minute flight from Lusaka. Half the size of the South Luangwa (4092 sq km), this park lies between the rugged and dramatic Zambezi escarpment and the wide and spectacular Zambezi River.

The Zambezi runs for 120 km through the park and with the protection of the Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe on the opposite side this is a haven for wildlife. There are many channels, lagoons, sandbanks and islands along the river and then open plains, woodland and bush areas behind the riverine strip. The river is a massive attraction to this park – to spend time boating, drifting, canoeing on this extraordinary river with breathtaking views all around is a wonderful experience.

When on the water there is always wildlife in sight, be it a few buffalos feeding in the reeds, elephants crossing an island or swimming to the next one or even, if you are lucky, lions lying out along the bank. Interspersed along the river there are small family pods of hippo resting up against shallow sand banks and the skulking crocodiles sliding silently into the water. Amongst the reeds and grass of the islands are many water birds – and you can silently drift so close to both the wildlife and the birds you want to hold your breath.

Game viewing is not only from the river but of course by vehicle or foot through the many plains and wooded areas of the park. The game viewing can be spectacular with approximately 50 mammal and 400 bird species.

On the western border there is a very special tributary, the Chongwe River, which is superb for canoeing or walking. At the foot of the escarpment the river drops over a cliff, with the falls creating a large pool. The local community believes this is a place of magic – it is not hard to see why.

Fishing is a key activity in the Zambezi and you can fly fish as well as cast and reel. The key species are tigerfish, vundu, (similar to a “catfish” or barbell) and banded tilapia. The tigerfish gives a good fight will leap and twist out of the water in the sunlight – they are sought after by many keen fishermen. The best months for the tigers are September to November.

Kafue is Zambia’s oldest park and the second largest national park in the world (22400 sq. km and about the size of Wales) and yet it is not a park with a success story. For many years the park was mostly unvisited and it is only recently that camps have started to develop. Any undeveloped wildlife area will attract poaching and thus the game has been reduced but it is still exceptional – more in diversity than in numbers.

The park has three main rivers – the Lunga, Lufupa and the Kafue Rivers that combine and feed into the Itezhi Tezhi Lake in the South. In the north the astounding Busanga Plains is an area of swamp, some 750 sq km, that is totally inaccessible in the rains. But by May, as the water recedes, the birds flock in, the puku and thousands of red lechwe and other species including zebra and buffalo, move back with the water line and the wide open plains become a great wildlife attraction. The predators here are not only the famous tree climbing lions but also the cheetah which is a rare sighting in Zambia. The plains are edged by miombo woodland that cover most of the park – broken by the open dambos which become prolific in the south.

These habitats host antelope species which are mostly not seen elsewhere in Zambia, and if are then rarely. Included are sable, roan, blue wildebeest, Lichenstein’s hartebeest, oribi, duiker and defassa waterbuck. So having stayed in the South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi you are unlikely to have seen any of these, hence including a visit to Kafue, for the wildlife enthusiast, is most rewarding. And for any birder, again there will be species you have not yet picked up including wattled crane, purple crested lourie and possibly the Pel’s fishing owl.

Further south from the plains the game will be harder to see but game drives are still most rewarding. Leopard, lion and cheetah continue to be seen throughout most of the park. For the casual or keen fisherman, there is a chance for superb fishing in the rivers with good bream, barbell and fresh water pike.

The Kafue river runs into the Itezhi Tezhi Lake – a dammed lake of some 370 sq.km at the south end of the park. This is a popular destination for fishermen as it is teaming with bream and the variable shore line of submerges trees, grass lawns, rocky outcrops makes for interesting walking and birding.

Arguably the most magnificent waterfall in the world, the Victoria Falls is only one of two sites which have remained on the list of The Seven Natural Wonders of the World (the other one being The Grand Canyon).

It is the largest single curtain of falling water in the world with a width of 1 mile, or 1.7 kilometres. It is just over half that of Iguassu Falls (1.6 miles or 2.7 kms) but with a drops of between 238 feet or 74m, and 360 feet or 108m, it is twice as high as Niagara Falls (167 feet or 51m). During the wet season over 500 million litres (19 million cubic feet) of water plummets over the edge into the Zambezi River and this incredible amount of water generates a huge amount of spray which shoots 1,000 feet into the sky and can be seen 30 miles away, hence the name Mosi-oa-Tunya (smoke that thunders).

Dr. Livingstone had been told about the Falls before he reached them from upriver on 16 November 1855 and was paddled across to a small island that now bears the name Livingstone Island in Zambia. Livingstone had previously been impressed by the Ngonye Falls further upstream, but found the new Falls much more impressive, and gave them their English name in honour of Queen Victoria. He wrote of the Falls in March 1856, ‘No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight’.

As a town, Livingstone is an interesting place. It used to be the capital of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and its streets are still lined with Victorian-era colonial buildings.

Visiting the Victoria Falls in Livingstone on the Zambia side of the Zambezi is the perfect combination with any southern Africa safari in Zambia, Botswana, Namibia or South Africa.