Zambia's Luangwa Valley has become renowned the world over as one of the last great wildlife reserves on Earth. Situated at its southern tip is the South Luangwa National Park - a place wherewalking safaris originated and which offers an abundance of game throughout the year.
This 9,050 square km park's focal point is the Luangwa River. It's the park's life blood and the water system which gives the South Luangwa its rich, lush vegetation in the summer months, drying almost to nothing in the harsh bareness of winter.
South Luangwa offers travellers a number of interesting specialist Luangwa Tours and Safaris and sublime Luangwa Lodge and Camp accommodation options.
When the Luangwa River is full, it’s filled with hippos, crocodile and birdlife. It's life-preserving waters fill ox-bow lagoons which in turn provide waterholes to a huge variety of game, from antelopes to large predators, which make…
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Zambia's Luangwa Valley has become renowned the world over as one of the last great wildlife reserves on Earth. Situated at its southern tip is the South Luangwa National Park - a place wherewalking safaris originated and which offers an abundance of game throughout the year.
This 9,050 square km park's focal point is the Luangwa River. It's the park's life blood and the water system which gives the South Luangwa its rich, lush vegetation in the summer months, drying almost to nothing in the harsh bareness of winter.
South Luangwa offers travellers a number of interesting specialist Luangwa Tours and Safaris and sublime Luangwa Lodge and Camp accommodation options.
When the Luangwa River is full, it’s filled with hippos, crocodile and birdlife. It's life-preserving waters fill ox-bow lagoons which in turn provide waterholes to a huge variety of game, from antelopes to large predators, which make up the park's 60 different animal species. This is complemented by more than 400 different bird species, more than 40 of which are raptors.
The park is legendary for its huge herds of elephants, but there are more unusual inhabitants here too - Thornicroft's giraffe is indigenous to the park, as is Crawshay's zebra, a subspecies of the common Burchells zebra. The difference is in the stripes - Burchell's zebra has "shadow" stripes between each stripe, whereas Crawshay's doesn't. There are also small herds of Cookson's wildebeest, a rare gnu sub-species which is also unique to the Luangwa.
WHEN TO TRAVEL ON A SOUTH LUANGWA SAFARI
Dry Season: (April to October) April and May are the best time to travel as the bush is still green and the lagoons still full. October is very hot, topping 40 deg C. Temperature: 11-30 deg C, October 20-40 deg C
Wet Season: (November to March) With the rains the bush becomes a jungle, but the birding remains excellent with summer migrants plentiful. Temperature: 20-33 deg C
TOP 10 ACTIVITIES ON A SOUTH LUANGWA SAFARI
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Watching the river rise during the rains
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Awesome African thunderstorms
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Counting hippos (if you can!)
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Croc-watching
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Filling your animal species tick list
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Relaxing by the river at sunset
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Waiting at an ox-bow lagoon and just watching
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An early-morning walking safari
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Learning to identify raptors
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Watching lion cubs at play
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IN 6-HOURS.
