South Luangwa

South Luangwa National Park is the best known of Zambia’s wildlife parks and probably the best known walking safari destination in all of Africa. Although there still camps that specialise in walking only safaris, nowadays guests have the option of exploring the park on foot or by open game viewing vehicle at most camps.


The wildlife in the park is prolific and not only do you see a wide variety of game species but there is also a lot of it. It’s not uncommon to get held up in a Luangwa ‘traffic jam”, such as a huge herd of buffalo, that want to cross the road and of course they have right of way.

 
South Luangwa park is open all year but it’s the dry season when the game is forced to stay close to the Luangwa River that is the best game viewing time and the most popular time to visit. The green season has its own rewards and is the time when the plains game, like impala drop their young. So not only are the many youngsters a joy to see it’s also a bounty for the predators of the park and can make for exceptional game experiences. Predators in the park include good populations of lion and wild dog but it’s the regular sightings of leopard that the South Luangwa has really become known for.

 
Accommodation in South Luangwa
The park offers a wide variety of accommodation options which range from budget lodges which are located outside the main park entrance to upmarket lodges and remote bush camps within the national park boundaries.  Where budget allows we recommend staying within the park, not because the game viewing is better as the park has no fences to keep the game in, but people staying at the lodges outside the park have to be out by night fall and so game drives will take place within reach of the main gate so you will see more vehicles on your game drive.

 
Getting to South Luangwa
Although it is possible to get to South Luangwa by vehicle, for expedience it is best reached by plane as distances are far. There are daily flights (sometimes more) from Lusaka into Mfuwe airport which services South Luangwa and it is possible to connect from other parts of Zambia by aircraft.