Zambia trip report: South Luangwa National Park

This summer Tad embarked on an exploratory trip to Zambia, Malawi and Kruger National Park in South Africa. He recently published this trip report on his four days in the wilds of South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. Here is an excerpt:

The wild and remote game parks of Zambia feel like stepping back in time to the Africa of yesterday. The African bush experience here is quite simply magical and unique. Many travelers only know Zambia as the home of Victoria Falls and spend a few nights as an extension to a South Africa itinerary or prior to departing for the Okavango Delta in Botswana. This leaves the other spectacular Zambian national parks – South Luangwa, Kafue and Lower Zambezi – largely untouched and undiscovered by mass tourism. In July, I spent four days exploring South Luangwa and I was blown away – a truly wild and authentic African safari experience. In this first post in a series on South Luangwa, I’ll give an overview of the park, the walking safari experience, wildlife and travel logistics. Look for more specific detail on camps and lodges in a future post. 

South Luangwa is the premier game viewing park in Zambia and one of the most majestic in Africa. Compared to Kafue and Lower Zambezi, it is more developed in terms of number of camps but that is all relative as the camps are thinly spread over a massive area. This is the birthplace of the walking safari, pioneered by legendary guides and conservationists Norman Carr and Robin Pope. It is often part of a Vic Falls – Lower Zambezi – South Luangwa circuit and this combination offers a wide variety of active safari experiences from water-based canoe safaris and walking or mountain biking safaris to micro-light flights and bungee jumping over Victoria Falls.

Read more in Tad’s Trip Report: Wild and Authentic South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.