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.
At 4750 square kilometres, Lower Zambezi National Park is a comparatively new addition to the crown of attractions available in Zambia. What a jewel it is at the heart of a very important conservation area which also includes Mana Pools National Park across the river in Zimbabwe and several substantial game management areas. Flying in low over the Escarpment is just start of your adventure into this amazing corner of the world.
The scenery in Lower Zambezi is magnificent, centred on the mighty Zambezi River, whose meandering waters are responsible for depositing the unusually rich soils that line the river, creating broad grassy floodplains and impressive stands of open mahogany and ebony forests. Your first Glimpse of this valley will leave you in awe of this majestic river and its surroundings.
The ever constant and reassuring Zambezi Escarpment rises a short distance from the river creates a majestic backdrop for this hidden world and forms a natural barrier for the wildlife of the Lower Zambezi National park
The area contains excellent densities of wildlife, notably elephants, lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, hippos and crocodiles. There are also good chances for interaction with wild-dogs.
From a safari perspective, the most outstanding aspect of this area is the very wide range of activities on offer, including vehicle safari, night vehicle safari, walking safari, motorboat safari and canoe safari. Viewing elephants, hippos, crocodiles and other animals from the water is a particular highlight.
The national park itself is home a handful of exceptionally good safari camps, whilst the Game Management Area to the west contains a much larger number of lodges offering lower rates than the camps inside the National Park.
The area is also greatly advantaged by the fact that most of the camps here are privately owned and operated. It is one of those places where you actually get to meet the people involved, benefit from their experience and share their passion.
At Victoria Falls, the earth splits open and swallows one of Africa’s greatest rivers, the mighty Zambezi, creating the largest sheet of falling water on earth. As the water hits the narrow depths of the Batoka Gorge beneath, it blasts a cloud of mist skywards, lending the falls their local name ‘mosi-oa-tunya’ (the smoke that thunders). When the Zambezi is at its fullest, the mist hangs a permanent raincloud above the falls, showering visitors on even the sunniest of days and visible for miles around.
Above the falls on the upper Zambezi, boats cruise the tranquil water at sunset while the distant spray catches the fading light downstream. Below the falls, the Batoka Gorge’s rocky walls funnel the lower Zambezi into a chain of world-class rapids, prime for white water rafting.
Aside from being a UNESCO world heritage site and a natural world wonder, Victoria Falls also forms a natural border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The falls can be seen from both countries, and for the most part the same activities are offered on both sides, from helicopter scenic flights to village visits and souvenir shopping.
Whether your idea of getting away from it all is a relaxed high tea in colonial grandeur or a heart-stopping bungee jump off a bridge, Victoria Falls keeps both the faint of heart and the most insatiable of adrenalin junkies busy for days.
From Zambia, a side on view of the falls is on offer with views into the Batoka Gorge, as well as the possibility of perching yourself at the edge of the falls on the vertigo-inducing Livingstone Island.
From Zimbabwe, you’ll get a full-frontal view of three quarters of the falls’ 1.7km wide curtain of water from viewpoints and footpaths meandering through a rainforest kept hot and humid by the spray of the falls.
