South Luangwa National Park

There are safari parks, and there is South Luangwa.

I have been fortunate to have been on several safaris in my lifetime; in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Botswana. Every experience is unique; each wildlife reserve offers something different. South Luangwa for me tops the lot: the facilities are outstanding; the wildlife is abundant, and the remoteness and sheer size of the park mean there are few others to share with. Not here do you find vehicles jockeying for position near a carnivore.

I visited with my eldest son in early August 2107, the beginning of the busy season. We wanted to a walking safari, and our tour operator recommended Remote Safaris, as they have three lodges an easy walking distance apart towards the northern part of the reserve. Although the lodges were fully booked in the peak period of September and October, they were less than 50% occupied. We stayed three nights in the main camp of before walking to … Crocodile River. We were the only occupants in the two satellite camps.

The combination of walking and vehicle game experiences meant we had many sightings, including leopard (three times from vehicle), lion, and wild dog, who passed within five metres of us when walking on our final day.

Hippos are abundant in the Luangwa river; elephants abound, and we had many sightings of zebra, giraffe, and antelopes. Every sighting even of the common herbivores gave us a different perspective, especially when walking; there is that extra feeling of adventure when you tiptoe slowly near an antelope, or freeze when elephant is close.

The scenery adds to the experience. The sublime mapone forest, with many trees devastated by elephants, contrasts with the rich vegetation around the river. According to our guide, some guests request a long walk simply to experience the feeling of isolation and peace.

The birdlife is amazing. We viewed 78 species and photographed many close up. Our guide told us much about footprints and plant life as we made our way through the bush.

South Luangwa is expensive. It is difficult to visit for overseas travellers, requiring a flight into ….and then on onward journey to your camp. But the reward is experiencing something very special: abundant wildlife in a remote location where, for the most part, you alone are the sole human participant.

Close to being the finest National Park in Africa

I've already been to South Luangwa National park 3 times and will be going again next year. This is simply an outstanding place in every way, shape and form. It has an outstanding bush vibe as well as exceptional guiding. The night drives and walking are unbeatable.

The wildlife is just superb. I saw so many elephants, hippos, lions, leopards and antelope. The birdlife was just superb.

You will love it - see lots without huge crowds.

It has almost all major animals except rhino. Not overwhelmed with tourist vehicles - a bit more private experience. Our guide was super - including positioning the vehicle for best photo angles. Have been to parks in 4 countries and this is my favorite for the overall experience.

Beyond our imagination and exceeded our wildest dreams

South luangwa national park is truly the most "natural" place we have ever visited. And we are avid wildlife hikers. The sheer volume of wildlife - of many many species - everywhere was something we'd never experienced. The number of species of birds, animals, insects was wondrous. The bush camp company guides are local and very very knowledgeable about the wildlife and also reading the 'signs', watching the animal interactions, behaviour to know what was happening. I cannot recommend enough helping to keep this park as it is. For some of these animals it is the last bastion. And our outings were respectful of nature and animals.

The park of never ending experiences

I have traveled to this park over 20 different times over the last 10 years and really that should say it all!
Every time I go without a doubt I experience something new. This attests to the diversity of the park and the general quality of the guides available.
As a photographer, this is the park in which I have captured my most amazing shots! (Google Payam Mazloum Photography to see for yourselves).
As for accommodations, depending on how much you are willing to spend, there is a large variety of quality locations, but regardless of where you stay, the safari experience will be consistently amazing.

an amazing wildlife experience

South Luangwa National Park

We had our trip to South Luangwa National Park on April 2015.
The journey has been organized by me and some friends of mine, very fond of African Safaris, using a local agency, Jackalberry Safaris, led by a south african guide, Mr Gavin Opie, a deep expert of the area.
We flew with Ehiopian Airlines from Italy to Malawi, and then drove to Zambia.
We staid in a small cottages in a camp, in the nearby of the Park entrance.
We decided to have the trip on April because we wanted to visit the Park at the end of the rainy and green season, in order to see Nature in its all magnificence. Sure we took some rain (and with open cars could be a problem ) but I must admit that it has been worth. Furthermore we could watch lots of birds, particularly present in the Park in this period.
The Park is very different form the classical African savannah of Kenya and Tanzania. Open areas are limited, and bush and woods are predominant… it is not so easy to spot animals, first of all predators, but when it happens ..the images that you catch are wonderful.
One of the targets of the safari were wild dogs.. but unfortunately we didn’t succed in spotting them…we saw the paws … we looked for them a lot..but nothing.
We did some night safaris, an interesting experience. During one of those safaris we had the privilege to watch an amazing hunting scene: eight lionesses captured and devoured in few minutes an imapala right in front of us. Unforgettable moments.
Because of the dense vegetation (and so the difficulty in spotting quickly predators) and because of the mud, we could not have walking safaris, another particularity of this Park….a good excuse to come back soon….
At the end I must say the a Safari in the South Luangwa National Park is a really amazing wildlife experience (few people, few cars… only Nature) even if for photography maybe less interesting than a trip to open areas like Kenya or Tanzania.

Contact with the animals and the people of Zambia caused me to leave a piece of my heart there.

Before leaving home, I told my friends that if after going all that way and spending what it took to go on the trip, if all I saw were impala and other grazing animals, I would be really upset. Ten minutes into the South Luangwa National Park near Mfuwe, we encountered our first elephants, then giraffe, then zebra. Thirty minutes into the park we came across our first lion pride sleeping in the bush. We passed by a tree where a leopard had carried its kill to keep away other predators.

By the end of the day, we had seen nearly all of the animals we were to experience over the next two weeks.
We later came across a leopard that came out of the bush and walked around a companion vehicle on its way to a kill it had stashed in the bush. We followed it and watched as it began eating. We came back on our night ride to find the leopard asleep in a tree near where we had encountered it earlier in the day. We took a tea break along the river and observed a bloat of hippos dozing in the middle of the river with red and yellow billed oxpeckers scrambling over them.

We went back to the park in the evening for a night drive and came across about a dozen elephants or more that appeared to be three separate families. There was tension in the air as they stood around on the bank of the river until two adolescents from two families approached each other and started playfully pushing each other. We watched the interaction of these elephants for about an hour. Just about dusk, they slowly made their way down the embankment to the waters edge. We started to drive away and then heard a mighty elephant trumpet and then sound like something had crashed into the water. We went back to find that the matriarch had signaled with her sound and they all began to wade across the river to start a night of foraging outside the park and safety.

We spent two weeks in Zambia in three different safari camps. Everyday was packed with encounters with animals. Temperatures were mild (60-80 F 16-24 C). Sunshine every day. We slept under mosquito netting, but were never aware that there were any. We ate all our meals in the open air, some under cover of the thatched dining halls, some in the open. We did not experience any insects flying around us. Meals were expertly prepared and managed to handle several with dietary issues with ease.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect that has left a memory that I can't shake is how outstanding the people and guides at each of our camps were. The guides were eerily superb in being able to spot wildlife, from the largest animals to the smallest of insects. On one night drive, the guide stopped at a small bush and began pulling away the branches to point out a chameleon he had spotted from the headlight reflecting off the eye of the creature.

Our interaction with our guides and staff at the camps showed they had great pride in their work and wanted us to have the best experience possible. Saying that they were warm and friendly sounds like a cliché. But I found my wife wanting to hug them all in greeting and saying good bye. As we pulled away from our third camp to begin our journey home, I looked over to find tears running down my wife's cheeks. She said that for all the wildlife and experiences that we had, she was going to miss the people we met the most.

Very interesting place with a lot of different ecosystems. Bird's and obviously the marvelous leopard. Plan a stay of at least 3 or 4 days because he is not always easy to see !

Game density and diversity are both excellent in the park, with four of the Big Five present as well as hippos, giraffes, greater kudu, spotted hyenas and many other incredible species. The park's vistas over the river are beautiful, however it is scrubbier woodland further into the park, presenting a more complicated backdrop for photography. The bush vibe is largely great, however it was slightly undermined at times by self-drive vehicles crowding into view or ignoring the etiquette that drivers and guides overwhelmingly adhere to. Birding is similarly excellent- I spotted around 90 species while I was in the park, including stars like martial eagles, grey-crowned cranes and so many more.

South Luangwa is Zambia's flaghsip park for so many good reasons :
Wildlife is extremely abundant and leopard sighting is probably the best in africa (not to mention the hippo density which at 25000 is the highest in the world)
We stayed at the very exclusive Mfue Lodge : everything was great here, except maybe the high number of visitors in the area: to avoid that we moved 86 km inside the Park in the Zungulila Bushcamp which has been our greatest safari experience so far (very exclusive bushcamp, amazing scenery, delicious food, very friendly staff, excellent guiding and hyenas laughing at night all around us): we saw a pack of 20 wild dogs and of course we had the traditionnal zambian sunset drink along the luangwa river !

Visitors numbers can seem high at the Mfue gate but as soon as you drive inside the park : wildlife is for yourself !!