Zambia Travel Guide

Because I enjoyed it very much I give it an excellent grade. It was also much better than other surrounding parks (Malawi ones), but those were all also much smaller.

Rugged and Remote!

Travel in Zambia is a quintessential African experience. People are poor, friendly and hard working. Bicycles laden with firewood or produce or water jugs or families or pigs fill the roads. Chaos and confusion reign at border crossings. The scenery is sublime, and the National Parks are remote. It requires an impressive amount of travel endurance just to make the drive into parks such as South Luangwa and Kafue. But go there. Do not miss Zambia!

The real Africa.

I've been living and working in Zambia for 4 years now. Mainly in the Luangwa Valley, but also in Liuwa Plain National Park.
South Luangwa is one of the premier parks in Southern Africa, with abundant and diverse wildlife and a true remote feeling. North Luangwa is even remoter, about as remote as you can get in Africa those days.
In South Luangwa lions are commonly seen, and the nightdrives offer a good chance of seeing the nocturnal animals, including the ever elusive leopard, which is often seen.
Wild dogs are also regularly seen and the Luangwa Valley host (near) endemice subspecies of Thornicroft's Giraffe, Crawshay's Zebra and Cookson's Wildebeest.
With over 400 bird species recorded the Luangwa Valley is a birders dream. Specialties are the southern carmine bee-eater colonies from late August to November. Pel's fishing owl is also regularly seen, as are numerous other raptors.
South Luangwa is the home of walking safaris, originally started by Norman Carr. While you might not see the likes of lions and elephants as well as from a vehicle, walking between those animals is a truly exhilirating experience!


Liuwa Plain National Park (I visited in October-November 2010) is a park for the advanced Africa traveller. Very remote and offering wide views or a vast, flat plain. It hosts the second biggest wildebeest migration (after the Serengeti-Masaai Mara migration) of about 40,000 wildebeest (the number is growing). Wild dogs and cheetah are home on and around the plain, where hyaenas are numerous. The lion population, which was down to 1 female (lady Liuwa) is slowly being restored and 2 males (in 2009) and 2 subadult females (in 2011) have been reintroduced.
The plains are a birders dreams, with tens of thousand migratory birds (like Caspian Plover, Pratincoles). Pelicans, grey crowned cranes, wattled cranes, fuellerborn's longclaws are numerous. Liuwa Plain NP is a truly unique experience.

Lower Zambezi National Park (August 2008, 2009) is an exclusive park. The actual safari area is quite small, but the game is plentiful and the (luxury) camps don't just offer game drives and walks, but also boating and fishing (releasing of the catch).

Zambia is an extraordinary country because of its lovely people and beautiful wildlife and scenery.

The wildlife was amazing. I went on safari in Tanzania after Zambia and I think I saw more interesting animals in Zambia. The scenery -- the bush, the rural areas, Vic Falls -- was all amazing as well. Accommodation was easy to find in general and not too expensive. I liked the food - nshima, fish, beef - a lot. We didn't really use any guides or private transport. For more information, you can read about my experiences in Zambia on my blog at www.aperturezambia.blogspot.com .

Copper and Elephants - the Real Africa

What is the "Real Africa"? Is it wild places teeming with wild animals? Is it remote swamps filled with mysterious birds? Is it raging rivers and plunging waterfalls? Is it bustling cities and towns awash with warm, friendly people? If this is real Africa, Zambia has it all and more.

Zambia is a wonderfull country! I travelled across this land in different trips and had no problems at all. People are overall very friendly and allways willing to help the visitors. I saw just two parks and I can not give an overall rating on the safari destinations in general but, as far as I have experienced, I was very satisfied

Ye it is the real Africa!

Zambia, Safari Experience 04MAY 2008

I found the Safari park “Track and Trail” from the internet and paid my fees in US dollars in advance. Everything went very smoothly. The safairi park is situated in South-Luangwa, which was recommened to me by relatives.

I was picked up at Mfuwe airport by kirsten, one of the owners, who took me in a jeep to the park, that in itself was quite an experience as we drove into the sunset. Safari parks aside, one of the most spectacular thinbgs about Zambia is her sunsets which alwasy leave me gobsmacked.

By the time we arrived at the campsite it was dark, where I enjoyed a few mosi beers, tot eh sopund of hippos grunting nearby. The rules of the site where “no walking around unsupervised” which meant drinking beer and the usual toilet trips were slightly annoying even if it was for my own safety. Please don’t get me wrong, I was actually terrrified walking around and didnt want to walk around on my own!! I took my beer backc to my beautiful chalet, where I saw a note and a whistle. More house rules, “If you meet an animal please blow this whistle – DO NOT USE FOR SPIDERS”. My first reaction was to go looking for spiders in the bed!! Sleeping for me was very difficult, I was not used to the great African orchestra of baboons, birds, frogs, bats, insects and above all the deep grunts and belches from the many hippos. I have to admit I did not get very much sleep, but I really did not mind the 05:00 call, where I was was met for breakfast. Derek, my guide, was extremely knowledgeable and not only did I see “the usual” elephants, bufalo, zebra, baboons and the like, but also teh very rare african wild dog. The entire safari was completed with stories, anecdotes, legends, science and traditions which I will not go into here.

After a siesta, we had a night safari, includinbg a small pinic in the wilderness. The night safari was astonishing and was “very african” you even got the feeling you were part of a David Attenborough documentary. The evening meal was served with love, wow, I had informed Kirsten I was a vegetarian, and she made the most wonderful meals. She even made her own peanutbutter which was better than any I have had in Holland.

The following day, I had another spectacular safari in the morning, and I was dropped off at Mfuwe airport form y flight.

If I can summarise:

location – excellent
Food – to die for
Wildlife – stunning
Staff – they went beyond the meaning of service
Beer – a little expensive

Would I recommend it? YES!

A beautiful place brimming with friendly people, amazing wildlife encounters and stunning landscapes

I have enjoyed fantastic safaris in Zambia in the months of January, February, March and April. The birdlife, mammals and trees are fascinating, and I managed to see everything on a fairly close up level so got good photographs.
I have stayed in a range of beautiful locations, including lakeside lodges and simple accomodation.
The weather was dry, apart from a few huge thunderstorms, I would return to Zambia at this time of year again.
The local peopl I met were friendly and very photogenic.

The "real" Africa experience

Having visited Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Uganda, Namibia and South Africa, my favorite safari country is Zambia. Specially (North) Kafue and North Luangwa.

The scenery of the Busanga plains is exceptional, and for the rest Kafue will always surprise you with better and more thrilling game sighting while you are alone. So much unlike Tanzania and Kenya where every big cat cannot move without 20 safari vehicles on its tail.

North Luangwa is great for day long bushwalks, encountering the big 5 on foot. A vast space with *no* other man around for many, many miles. If you start to think what might happen if you break a bone on a long walk, far, far away from any help and infrastructure, North Luangwa is not for you.

If you like to encounter lions, stand in between 200 buffalos when you stepped out of the tall grass, this is the place to go.

Isolated non-commercial wildlife haven with heavenly bush camps.

We loved the bush camps in Zambia and stayed with Norman Carr in the South Luangwa. The time of year was a little disappointing for wildlife at a couple of the camps but the ones nearer to the river were fantastic. The guides were very knowledgeable and friendly and happy to please. Weather was spot on and there was no issue with flies. We also stayed at the Camp on the Zambezi and this was absolutely the highlight - an abundance of wildlife, no rush of safari vehicles at every sighting and the most friendly helpful people.