South Luangwa National Park

Wildlife immersion in its truest sense.

We stayed at the Kaingo lodge (www.kaingo.com) for a few nights.

While it was expensive and hard to access, it was a safari in its purest sense. We saw lots of wildlife, including many lions and our first leopards on our time in southern Africa(including one eating an impala in a tree at night).

Accommodation was at it should be, but be careful to not leave your room at night as there are no barriers to the wildlife coming through camp. I actually had an elephant walk just outside my window and start munching on leaves on a tree!

One of the best

I stayed in two different places, one just outside of the park (Wildlife Camp - which is good value for money, situated in a preservation area) and one bush camp (Nkonzi - an affordable and very stylish lodging). It was the second time I came here for a whole week. Don't expect to see cheeta or rhino, but apart from those species you'll get to see almost every animal you can think of. Leopards almost every day, bunches of wild dogs, lions, southern grounded hornbill ... The night drives are incredible. especially our guide at Wildlife Camp knew sounds and tracks so well he managed to give us incredible sightings. Bushbabies, servals, a civet, leopards, chasing lions, ... The walking safari guides are also very knowledgeable and an absolute must if you visit this park.

Absolutely Worth the Effort to Get There

South Luangwa is a bit off the beaten path but a rich reward for whomever makes the journey. Confined between a dense forest and a wide river, animals are plentiful in this park. I have seen more cats in one day then weeks at other flagship parks in southern Africa. I have made to trek's there because the photo opportunities and wildlife viewing are unparalleled; even in the wet season. I stayed at Mfuwe Lodge twice! The people, the food, the guides and the rooms are above and beyond. On my first night during my first trip we found a leopard in a tree right above us...amazing. On my first night during my second trip we came across a leopard moments before it took out a bush hare. It was over before I could understand what was happening. I love this park and will definitely go again.

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Amazing and affordable.

There are innumerable advantages that South Luangwa National Park hold above the local competition, not least of which is the affordability of the surrounding lodges. I arrived from Lusaka via local bus for about 40.00$, another 25.00$ taxi fare got me to my lodge (flat dogs) and 20.00$/night secured me a cabin with 2 bedrooms, 4 beds, A/C, fans and a shower. Another 40.00$/game drive, night or day + 20.00$/day park entry fee and that pretty much covered my expense. Food at the lodges tends to be expensive (15.00$ - 25.00$) however a quick excursion to town will allow you to soak in some local atmosphere and eat at local restaurants for about 1.00$ a meal. The wildlife is by no means confined to the park, I often opened the front door to my cabin to find elephants standing within 20 meters, hippos, banded mongooses, giraffes, grey crowned cranes, fish eagles, vervet monkeys and baboons are all frequent visitors to the lodge and the list goes on. The park itself was great, absolutely packed with fantastic wildlife, one of the few to offer spotlight game drives at night and not too crowded. For some photos of the park feel free to view - https://www.flickr.com/photos/84579258@N06/albums/72157676475945555

Close to being the finest National Park in Africa

South Luangwa National Park is one of the very finest National Parks in Africa .It's superb in every way; the scenery is beautiful and varied, there are huge amounts of wildlife, the night drives are superb,and so is walking.
It also has a superb wilderness vibe. The guiding is uniformly excellent. Many of the camps have a superb bush feel to them. I've already been there three times,furthermore,I'll be returning again next year.

A memorable experience in every way

This was our first trip to South Luangwa, indeed our first to Zambia having usually visited Tanzania. We stayed at the Shenton camps - Kaingo and Mwamba and they were absolutely perfect. Small and very friendly with wonderful food, great accommodation and very knowledgeable staff and guides. We were collected from the airport and had a very enjoyable 'safari' to the first camp. We were blessed with good weather all the time we were there and enjoyed our twice (sometimes three) daily game drives from completely open vehicles which was very welcome as we are photographers with long lenses. The park is very well managed and maintained, and the wildlife sightings were phenomenal. Thanks to our brilliant guide/driver, we had 24 separate leopard sightings,and were fortunate enough to see the Pel's Fishing Owl several times. As for the Carmine Bee-eaters - well!! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in South Luangwa and will most definitely be returning.

South Luangwa: Beautiful place and Amazing wildlife

South Luangwa is my favorite national park. The accommodations are terrific and the wild life is amazing. I have been there over 4 times now, and it has never failed to be an amazing experience. The guides have so much knowledge about the park and the wildlife sitings are great in number, leopards, lions and hyenas being the most seen. The park is very beautiful and the sunsets are always so breathtaking. There are so many animals and birds, and it really is one of the best holiday destinations out there.

One of my best safari experiences ever!

Considering the fact that i had arrived at the end of the wet season, i did not expect to see too many animals. My main objective was to enjoy the lush scenery which i had not witnessed in this area of Africa before. We had barely reached camp and we saw elephants trundling quietly through the bush. When we reached camp, i was greeted with a stunning view of the Luangwa river. It was filled with hippos and i even saw a huge crocodile floating with the current as if it was a log. There were vervet monkeys and birds of all varieties inside our camp so i was amazed at how rich this area was for flora and fauna. I even saw pugmarks of big cats around the edges of our campsite. Indicating just how close we were to the African wilderness. This campsite was facing the national park, which was just a few hundred feet away across the river. We were amazed to see hippos climbing out of the river at dusk and come into our camping grounds! They stay closer to shore until we are all inside our tents, and then they can be heard munching grass right next to our tents! A hair raising experience for sure. The next day we went on two game drives, one of which was at night. And we saw so many animals that it was almost impossible to keep a track of all of them. We saw elephants, zebra, monitor lizards, all sorts of birds, lions, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, puku, impala, warthogs to name a few. We were lucky to get very close to some lions who posed for our cameras on trees. There was also an interaction between a hyena and lion, where the hyena unknowingly walked right up to a young male lion and then bolted for its life. But the real highlight was 4 separate leopard sightings on the evening drive! The first sighting was at dusk as we watched a leopard attempting to catch an impala. It got to within twenty five feet but still did not pounce. The Impala suddenly saw it and gave off its alarm call. The leopard stood up and walked off with its tail raised high. The other three sightings were in the night. In one instance we were watching a leopard relaxing next to a bush, when suddenly a huge lion appeared a hundred yards away roaring. The leopard disappeared in a flash. Even our safari guide was shocked and said he had never seen so many big cats during a wet season drive. At least for me, South Luangwa had lived up to its reputation for being the best leopard spotting game park in Africa. There were no rhinos here, though our guide told us it was only a temporary thing. And that they planned to reintroduce them into the park in the future. Another great selling point for South Luangwa was the relative isolation of the place. We never had more than two or three safari jeeps around an animal sighting at any one time. I have been to some of the more famous parks in other African countries, and you can easily have up to twenty vehicles around a popular animal. Our camp was more than good enough for me. Hot showers available at any time, good toilets, clothes washing basins, swimming pool, well stocked bar and plenty of space. It was also good to see electric plug points placed around the campsite. Safari jeeps picked us up from right next to our tents and dropped us back in the same place. Overall i was left feeling very satisfied with my experience here.

A surprising experience

This is not my first time in Africa: from 2009 I visited Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ethiopia, so I have a little of experience on safaris and natural park. What we found and saw in South Luangwa National Park was a "surprising experience" as I wrote in the title, because wildlife, scenery, our guide and the accomodation went over my expectation.
For the first time in Africa I saw lions hunting buffalos, just meters from our car (I know, there is a big part of luck in that ...), a lot of leopards, a lot of herbivores, not forgetting elephants and ippos.
We enjoy so much also "the walking safari" also if I was afraid before to go, but the experience of our guide (unluckly I forgot the name) made it only a pleasant walk.
Also the accomodation at Croc Valley Camp was excellent: nice cottages in the middle of the bush and a nice restaurant, and you know how italians are demaning on food.
Hope this short text could explain our satisfaction to stay at South Luangwa National Park and a great thank to our tour operator Africa Wild Truck from Blantyre (Malawi) who supported us in Zambia.
Alberto Rametta