South Luangwa is often named as one of Africa’s best national park combining fantastic wildlife experiences and top quality guiding. South Luangwa is all about exploring the bush on foot. The famous walking safaris originated here and it is possibly Africa’s finest walking destination.
Exploring the bush on foot is an especially interesting tranquil way to discover the small hidden treasures of this wildlife haven.
The Luangwa River with its distinctive ox-bow lagoons is said to have one of the most intense concentration of hippos and crocodiles in Africa. At night you will silently fall asleep with their snorts and grunts.
South Luangwa National park is home to over 60 mammal species and 400 birds. It has three endemic species, the beautiful Thornicroft giraffe with a more striking coloration than giraffes in the rests of Southern Africa, Cookson’s wildebeest that is slightly more reddish and the Crawshay’s Zebra, a subspecies of the plains Zebra, lacking the shadow stripes between the black stripes.
Habitat
South Luangwa’s vegetation is characterized by the ever-present miombo forests, interspersed with open dambos and mopane forests. There are a few large open pains most notably the large Mutanda plains in the heart of the Nsefu Sector up North. The most interesting habitat of the Luangwa valley is without a doubt the lush riverine vegetation along the Luangwa River with its distinctive ox-bows.
Amongst the most impressive tree species you will find the giant mahoganzy trees, sausage trees, knobthorns and African ebony trees
Sightings
South Luangwa is sometimes dubbed the valley of the Leopards and your chances of seeing this beautiful predator are therefore particularly high. The density of game ensures that your wildlife experience here will be second to none and you can certainly tick off a majority of the big game here
The night drives that are offered by all camps, open up a whole new world under the glare of the spotlight. You will have a good chance to spot shy nocturnal species such as civet, serval and porcupine.
Birding with over 400 species is amongst the best in Zambia. Some local specialities include Pels fishing owl, huge colonies of the migrant carmine bee-eaters and Lillian’s lovebird and huge breeding colonies of yellow billed storks.
Seasons
Some areas of South Luangwa National park are accessible all year round and the green season can be very rewarding for keen birders and photographers. For general game viewing we recommend to visit this park in the drier winter months of the year from May to end of October.
Game Management Area South Luangwa National park
This camp/ lodge is situated in the Game Management Area of South Luangwa.
Zambia has zoned land areas around most of its National Parks which are known as Game Management Areas They act as buffer zones to the National Parks, allowing for free movement of animals between the Parks and GMAs. This ensures that the wildlife in the GMAs is constantly replenished from the populations in the National Parks and in some cases vice-versa.
While the game density may not be as high as in the actual park itself one can still experience plenty of game that wonders in and out of the park boundaries.
In general the more affordable properties are located here. Most of the camps and lodges located in the Game Management Area conduct their game viewing within the park borders
