South Luangwa National Park

Walking safaris! South Luangwa is the birthplace of walking safaris in Big 5 country, and still one of the most magical places to do it in. Some of the best game guides in the business share their knowledge here, showing you the big and small wonders of the African bush. The night drives in southern Luangwa are also legendary, with regular sightings of leopards, civets and gennets. This is one of the wildest and most beautiful Parks I have had the pleasure of spending time in.

The national park in Zambia with the best infrastructure and the highest densities of animals and a very diverse landscape. All this offers a premier safari experience competing with the best areas in the whole of Africa.

The South Luangwa River attracts heaps of animals, and one can camp just outside the park, on the banks of the river. It is my ideal safari experience, to be immersed IN the wilderness. No need to drive all day. Just live in the outdoors and be an organic member of it all.

One of the most unique experience.

The wildlife was magnificant. We've seen all of the big animals, except for the Rhino (obviously:( ). Lodging was also fantastic and a hippo joined us at the breakfast once, until he was spooked away by one of the guards.
The guide was alright, knew the wildlife just fine, but his driving skills were quite bad. We got stuck in the pile of sand, and he literally had no knowledge how to use the winch... The jeep was also very old and got broken down quite a few times.

At that time the park was more exciting and less touristic than other parks in south and east Africa

The wildlife was abundant but it was the variety of tours that made the South Luangwa days outstanding. We went on ordinary day safaris, night safaris and hiking safaris. The old Landcruiser without doors and roof was an extra thrill booster. The guide Jason knew where to find the animals and also managed to avoid too close encounters while walking. Extremely exciting experience. Highly recomended!

Incredible wildlife in dense areas

Shenton Safaris in South Luangwa (Kaingo and Mwamba Camps) a must-do.

We have just come back from the most amazing holiday in South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi. We stayed with the Shenton owned small exclusive safari camps Kaingo Camp and Mwamba Camp in South Luangwa. We absolutely loved both camps. The wonderful staff and guides at both camps were amazing, the food absolutely delicious and the accommodation very good. I am dreaming of our return.

A rough diamond of safari destinations

South Luangwa N.P. was the most developed destination of our Zambia Safari and we had our best sightings of wildlife there. Compared to the other parks, it was easy to get around (e.g. roadsigns, maps, good roads ). And even if a lot of lodges are near to the gates, it wasn't as crowded as other famous national parks in Kenia or Tanzania.
We had a great - but hot -time there, meeting nice people and enjoing the comfort of beautifully situated lodges.

Great for leopards, saw wild dogs, lions, very nice lodge

We stayed at Flat Dogs Camp just across the river from the Park for 5 nights. That is a lovely facility with great food. The elephants wander freely by the hatched-roof "tents". sometimes snacking on them. It was the dry season so most of the wildlife was crowded near the river which meant lots of wildlife sightings, but also quite a few other vehicles. Our drives away from the river had far fewer vehicles and found wild dogs, and other good wildlife. One nice feature is the park allows night drives (until 8pm) which were not allowed in Botswana parks. We greatly enjoyed seeing the nocturnal animals. The weather was warm but not too hot, there were almost no bugs. Everyone in our group of 7 had a great time there and highly recommend it.

Wonderful park with lots of cats, elephants, and birds. Stay on the river at Track & Trail Lodge

Great park with heaps of animals. A brand new tar road leads from Chipata to Mfuwe which cuts down that drive time from 7hrs to 1-2hrs, but also increases the traffic in the park. Mfuwe airport is also an easy place to fly into on Pro-flight and many lodges offer pickup on the spot.

Park is known for it's cats. This park probably gives you the best chance of seeing lions and leopards. We drove into the park and immediately stumbled on 10 lions feeding on a carcass followed by a elderly leopard hunting. Birds are fantastic too, as always in Zambia. Lots of hippos, crocs and elephants. It can get crowded with safari vehicles in the busy season, but still enough lions to go around and the river at low water is beautiful.

Stay at one of the lodges on the river and you will not be disappointed -- I chose Track&Trail which was superb. I'm an avid photographer, but the owner is a real pro. Shooting with him, getting pointers, and most importantly having a photographer driving the vehicle made a HUGE difference. Elephants, hippos, and monkeys regularly walked through the camp. I packed my own food and camped on a platform at the lodge, but dinner at the lodge was great -- family style barbeque which was delicious and there was a great homemade aioli sauce.

I've also heard there are some great lodges in this area if you have small children. Ask the lodge if they have babysitting or nanny services.