Day 1 Thu 01 Oct 2026, Arrive Lusaka and transfer to Mfuwe
Arrive in Lusaka airport after the long flight from home at the International Terminal. Go through Immigration to enter Zambia (this should be very straightforward. If in need of help, please look out for the Proflight ground staff who can help you queue-jump if you need to). You now need to go to the Domestic Terminal. There are porters to help you if you need them. Then take your connecting internal flight (approx. 1 hour) to Mfuwe.
On arrival in Mfuwe Airport, Mary-Anne and your transfer driver will be waiting for you to take you to your accommodation at Thornicroft Lodge on the banks of the Luangwa River (50 minutes’ drive in a safari vehicle), facing the South Luangwa National Park.
Thornicroft is a simple bush lodge close to the main gate and to the village of Mfuwe. It has comfortable stone and thatch chalets and a lovely main building in which to meet and to use as your studio in the African bush. There are two grades of riverfront rooms (all en-suite, with good hot showers, cosy beds, fans, and mosquito nets) as well as the campsite rooms (with shared bathroom facilities).
Thornicroft was built and run by Mary-Anne and friends. Since the pandemic it is now under new ownership.
Tomorrow you will also find there’s a swimming pool to dip into, and comfy chairs along the riverbank to sit and watch in wonder at life on the Luangwa.
Please take extra care around the camp, it is unfenced, and wildlife can wander through at any time! Elephants are frequent visitors and despite their size are very quiet, so keep your eyes peeled and listen carefully to the manager/guides safety briefing.
When you’ve had a chance to settle in, our tutors will gather everyone for an introduction and to discuss with the group how we want to make the most of our time sketching wildlife and landscapes.
Mary-Anne and Tom will also collect our park fees tonight (currently USD25 per person per day for international visitors).
Have a good sleep so you are ready to rise and shine for your first morning game drive!
Dinner and overnight at Thornicroft Lodge (drinks are not included, please pay for them directly at the end of your stay)
Day 2 Fri 02 Sept 2026, Thornicroft Lodge, South Luangwa National Park
The lodge watchman will wake you at around 5:00am by knocking on your door, ready for breakfast at the lodge at 5:30am to watch the beautiful sunrise over the river.
We will make an early start after a light breakfast of juice, tea/coffee, cereals and toast, taking all our materials with us, aiming to pay the park fees and be inside the park soon after 6:00am. The first drive in South Luangwa National Park is one of wonder and awe!
Please note that we will be spread over three vehicles but will mostly travel together. Make the most of your tutors during the drives and during the breaks when we will demo and sketch with you.
For the first few hours we will sketch animals from the open vehicle, so that your sketch books open with a mass of squiggles and lines which you will be able to use as source material for later compositions (they will eventually turn into familiar animals!).
Mary-Anne and Tom will help the momentum of these sketches by giving you exercises and encouragement. They will draw alongside you as well; it is fascinating to watch their sketchbook pages fill…
As in all of our trips, anyone who has come to look at the view rather than sketch will be royally rewarded by what they see.
We anticipate that you will be full of questions about sketching and painting for our tutors, and about the wildlife and the habitat of the Luangwa Valley for our guides.
If at any time you see that your neighbour in the vehicle needs a better view, please make way for them generously for their photographic or sketching needs. Please ask the guide when you want to stand (never near lions!).
Our safari guides are there to help spot the wildlife and to teach us about the fascinating habitat of this most southern part of the Great Rift Valley.
As Art Safari has been present here in the Valley since 2003, our guides are well tuned to the pace of our groups and enjoy the challenges of finding suitable and varied subjects for us to draw and paint.
You will have all the information and storytelling of a safari, while your guide simultaneously drives, talks, and spots impossibly hard-to-see animals.
If there’s time later in the morning, we will settle down on camp stools in the shade for a landscape view before returning to camp for brunch and a well-earned rest.
Safari time is always busy!
We have an afternoon break after brunch and would like to spend some of this time doing demos, looking at your artwork and teaching – but a post-prandial nap is also advisable!
In the afternoons we return into the park to paint and sketch some more at around 3:30pm. We usually take sundowners with us and find a lovely spot for an evening drink. We can choose to stay out for night drives or return to camp earlier.
The night drives continue until about 7-7:30pm and give us opportunities to see the more nocturnal animals.
There is huge excitement for the rarities such as porcupine, honey badger, and of course for the leopards who like to hunt at this time of day. The bush becomes a different place – full of silences and noises, silhouettes and shapes that we haven’t been aware of in the daytime.
In the evenings (or after the morning drive) we tend to gather (in often fairly dim light) to discuss and admire our creative efforts, successes and ideas of the day. You may find this daunting at first, as you will often be showing unfinished and incomplete works, but it soon becomes a fun, binding and explorative time of day where we learn from everyone in the group and share the joy and excitement of our Art Safari through our different styles, colours and energies.
Throughout your time we hope you will continue to ask questions and learn from your tutors, improving your sketching and painting techniques and observational skills and playing with all the art materials you have brought with you.
Overnight at Thornicroft Lodge, Full Board
Day 3 Sat 03 Oct 2026, Thornicroft Lodge, South Luangwa National Park
The lodge watchman will wake you at around 5:00am.
Leaving at a similar time of around 6:00am we will travel a little further into the park for our morning of animal sketching and, after mid-morning tea, landscape painting in the shade, following the same pattern as the previous day.
Days with these wild animals are governed by what is happening in their lives and by what our guide leads us to that day.
We will hope to gather images of as many animals as we can, including lion, leopard, giraffe, hippo, crocodile, zebra and antelope, but also some of the birds of the bush.
South Luangwa is especially good for daytime sightings of leopard, so we hope to be able to draw at least one of these exquisite creatures during our few days here.
Every day make sure you also make some thumbnail sketches of the area you are in; you will start to notice the subtle differences (and the big ones) in habitat and light. At times it is all too easy just to focus in on the animals and to forget to concentrate on a sense of place. Luangwa is unique, let its individual wilderness appear in your photos and sketches.
Return for lunch and siesta.
During the afternoon breaks in camp, we may choose to spend some time working on the morning’s drawings, learning new techniques, do a longer painting along the riverbank, snooze or swim away the heat of the day. We will plan this together.
Refreshed and full of energy, we head into the park again for another game drive after tea and cake, taking sundowners with us.
If you prefer not to do every night drive, it is possible for one (or two) vehicles to come back to camp around 6pm, please discuss with your tutors and guides. Night drives are completely addictive once you’ve had fantastic sightings but can drag a bit if you’re in the wrong mood.
Overnight at Thornicroft Lodge, Full Board
Day 4 Sun 04 Oct 2025, Thornicroft Lodge, South Luangwa National Park
Depending on the heat, we may have a different routine today… We have planned a day of exploration . . .
We would like to embark on an all-day drive going further into the park than we have been before. Going out all day means that we have the time to see more and spend longer on one painting. We will have a picnic lunch en route as well as stops for photography and sketching.
We would drive out for the early part of the day before slowing down our pace for animal sketches and landscapes.
We would plan to return mid-afternoon back to the lodge, doubtless very ready for showers and sundowner drinks.
(We will discuss this as a group, as very often we decide we like to stick to the morning and evening drives.)
Overnight at Thornicroft Lodge, Full Board
Day 5 Mon 05 Oct 2026, Rest Day or South Luangwa National Park, Tribal Textiles, Mfuwe Village
This morning, we can choose whether we would like a rest day in camp or to go out on safari drives (a drive is extra cost/not included) perhaps incorporating a trip to Tribal Textiles, a sustainable home goods brand handcrafted in Zambia, visiting their inspiring textile works with the opportunity to see how they are made!
We have found that a rest day is generally very welcome at this stage in the safari and can even enhance the next few days – especially bearing in mind the heat and your overnight flight a couple of nights ago!
We can make the decision there (the day before).
If we stay in camp, we can have a later breakfast followed by intensive workshop with your tutors and studio time so that you can work up some of the sketches from the previous days.
You may like to do longer life studies of vervet monkeys, baboons and bush buck that inhabit the Thornicroft grounds. Larger mammals are often seen across the river (and sometimes in camp) so please keep alert for wildlife sightings all day long.
It is also useful to look in detail at the skeletal structure of several animals, checking how we paint skin, feather and fur, as well as mastering the structure and light on eyes and feet. This is likely to be a demo and workshop subject given to you by your tutors.
Use this time to paint unfinished sketches and try out a new technique you can practice on your drive tomorrow.
Some of you might be champing at the bit to get back into the park as being with wildlife is an all-consuming passion. You are welcome to take an extra drive or two if you are keen to keep up the momentum.
Overnight at Thornicroft Lodge, Full Board
Day 6 Tues 06 Oct 2026, Thornicroft Lodge, South Luangwa National Park
Returning to an early start, we head out into the park to see what it has in store for us today…
At this time of year, the bush still has a green hue and the grass, which has not yet been eaten, provides some cover for predators, but South Luangwa is so very plentiful with wildlife populations that there is always so much to see.
The dry season (June to September) is denning time for African wild dogs and during this time they are less mobile with a smaller home range which means they can be easier to see. Our last couple of Art Safaris to South Luwanga were treated to excellent wild dog sightings!
By now you will also be getting to know the different prides of lions in the Valley. Some of our guides know the genealogy of each pride and can cite the generations and characteristics of each. Similarly, leopards (which have smaller territories) are known to us and the habits and styles of each are fascinating.
Our sketchbooks are now filling with every animal and every habitat.
You will be noticing the different vegetation types, and which animal prefers each one, and remember to ask your guide the name of various species.
Keep a look out on the river, as this is a basking spot for the resident hippos.
All manner of mammals come to drink here, and it is superb for birding.
Watch out for little bee-eaters, kingfishers, sandpipers and egrets amongst the crocodiles… it is often the detail of the bush that makes it so intriguing!
Return for lunch and siesta before returning to the park to paint and sketch some more.
Overnight at Thornicroft Lodge, Full Board
Day 7 Wed 07 Oct 2026, Thornicroft Lodge, South Luangwa National Park
By now you will have got the measure of early mornings and drawing wildlife. South Luangwa’s wildlife populations are so very plentiful that there is always plenty to see.
As you can tell from the title of this tour, we will by now have sketched plenty of elephants – and most of them will be large, grey and unmistakable. However, in certain light settings, an elephant is far from grey. Use all of Tom’s colour techniques and have a go at experimenting with different hues yourself!
Have a think about the animals that might have escaped your attention so far – an impala eating a sausage tree flower is about as beautiful as wildlife can ever be! And make sure that you record the more common animals and birds as well as the megafauna.
We find another beautiful landscape spot after our mid-morning tea and stay there until leaving for lunch and a rest back at camp.
We spend the afternoon looking at some of the work we have created over the past few days.
This is a time to reflect and to plan, as no doubt many of you will want to continue working on your sketches, drawings and paintings when you return home.
We then go on our last drive into the park after tea, to bid farewell to this extraordinary game area and to enjoy sundowners before returning to camp.
Overnight at Thornicroft Lodge, Full Board
Day 8 Thu 08 Oct 2026, Departure to Lusaka Airport
Depending on the time of your onward flight, we may have time for a last early drive in the park (optional extra, but a lovely thing to do); leaving the packing until mid-morning if you are flying out in the afternoon.
Otherwise, this is a relaxing morning in camp to look at your paintings and sketches as a group and make decisions about which ones you might work up into final paintings when you arrive home.
Lunch at Thornicroft (included)
Pack and depart for Mfuwe Airport for your onward flight, or your continuation to a bush camp.
We hope you have had a wonderful stay at Thornicroft and have made friends amongst the staff too.
Please note that this itinerary is a guideline; your tour leader/tutor may vary the activities.
This is your holiday, so if you think we have left anything out, then please feel free to give us your input! We would like to make this a very special holiday for you.
You can contact Art Safari at any time on 01394 382235
We wish you a fantastic and exhilarating trip, brilliant sketches, paintings, laughter, inspiration, fun, and happy memories to last a lifetime!
