Zambia Safaris
Discover wild Zambia: where leopards outnumber tourists and the Zambezi sets the pace
Zambia Safaris | South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi & Beyond
Zambia is one of Africa’s great safari destinations, and one that rewards travellers with a depth of wilderness experience that is increasingly rare on the continent. This is a country of vast, largely untouched national parks, exceptional guiding, and a genuine commitment to low-volume, high-quality tourism that keeps its finest areas feeling wild and remote. From the legendary walking safaris of South Luangwa and the canoe trails of the Lower Zambezi to the enormous, bird-rich floodplains of Kafue and the total solitude of North Luangwa, Zambia consistently delivers safaris that guests describe as among the finest of their lives.
Zambia shares the thundering spectacle of Victoria Falls with Zimbabwe, and the town of Livingstone on the Zambian bank is a natural and rewarding start or end point for any itinerary. The falls themselves are extraordinary from either side of the border, and Livingstone’s collection of safari lodges along the Upper Zambezi provides a comfortable and atmospheric base from which to explore them.
We have been designing Zambia safaris for many years and know the country’s parks, camps and lodges in detail. Whether you are drawn by the promise of a walking safari in the South Luangwa, a canoeing adventure on the Zambezi, or something more unusual such as the bat migration at Kasanka or the wildebeest herds of Liuwa Plains, we will put together an itinerary that makes the most of this remarkable country.
Why Choose a Safari in Zambia?
Zambia’s appeal lies in its authenticity. The national parks here are genuine wilderness areas, many of them vast and lightly visited, and the safari experience feels markedly different from the busier circuits of East Africa or the more developed reserves of South Africa. You are unlikely to share a sighting with another vehicle in most parts of Zambia, and in places like North Luangwa or Liuwa Plains, the solitude is absolute.
The standard of guiding in Zambia is exceptionally high. Zambia was the country where the modern walking safari was born, pioneered by conservationist Norman Carr in South Luangwa in the 1950s and 1960s, and that tradition of expert, immersive, on-foot guiding remains central to the Zambian safari experience today. The guides who lead these walks are among the most knowledgeable and skilled in Africa.
The diversity of activities on offer is another strength. Zambia is one of the few countries where you can walk with lions on foot, canoe past elephant herds on the Zambezi, fish for tigerfish on the river, take a boat safari over flooded grasslands in the Emerald Season, and witness one of the most extraordinary wildlife spectacles on earth in the form of the Kasanka bat migration. A well-designed Zambia safari can be as varied and surprising as you choose to make it.
Combining Zambia with Other Destinations
Zambia connects naturally with several neighbouring countries to create excellent multi-destination itineraries. The most popular combination is Zambia with Zimbabwe: Livingstone and Victoria Falls sit directly across the border from each other, and a trip that takes in South Luangwa or the Lower Zambezi alongside Hwange or Mana Pools gives a beautifully varied safari covering two exceptional countries.
Zambia also combines well with Botswana. Flying between the Lower Zambezi or South Luangwa and the Okavango Delta is straightforward, and the contrast between Zambia’s wilder, more rugged character and the Delta’s intimate water-based safari makes for a deeply satisfying pairing. We are happy to design a combined itinerary across any of these destinations based on your interests, travel dates and budget.
ZAMBIA Safari Ideas
iconic parks, unforgettable nights, and the untamed heart of Africa’s greatest walking safari destination
Plan Your Zambia Safari
Let’s design your Zambia safari. Tell us when you’re travelling and what matters most to you, and we’ll build an itinerary around the camps, seasons, and experiences that fit perfectly.
Where to Go on a Zambia Safari
Zambia has twenty national parks covering roughly thirty per cent of the country’s land area, a remarkable commitment to conservation. Below are the destinations we recommend most highly, together with some of the more unusual options for travellers seeking something beyond the mainstream.
South Luangwa National Park
South Luangwa is Zambia’s flagship safari destination and, for many experienced travellers, one of the finest wildlife areas in all of Africa. Located in the Luangwa Valley in the east of the country, the park is defined by the Luangwa River and its extraordinary network of oxbow lagoons, which concentrate wildlife along their banks in numbers that can be quite overwhelming. Pods of several hundred hippos jostle in the deeper channels. Enormous crocodiles bask on the sandbanks. And in the riparian forest behind the river, leopards move with a frequency and visibility that is unmatched almost anywhere else on the continent.
The game viewing in South Luangwa is consistently outstanding. Lions, wild dogs, hyenas, elephant, buffalo, kudu, eland and the endemic puku antelope are all reliably present. The park is also home to three species found nowhere else: Thornicroft’s giraffe, Cookson’s wildebeest and Crawshay’s zebra, all unique subspecies of the Luangwa Valley. With over 400 bird species recorded, South Luangwa is also superb for birding throughout the year.
South Luangwa is the spiritual home of the walking safari. Norman Carr established the first commercial walking safaris here in the 1950s, and the tradition he began has been refined and perfected over the decades since. A walking safari in South Luangwa, led by a skilled and highly qualified guide, is one of the most rewarding and genuinely immersive safari experiences available anywhere in Africa. The focus shifts from the volume of sightings to the quality and depth of engagement with the natural world, and guests consistently describe these walks as the highlight of their entire trip.
The camp options in South Luangwa range from riverfront lodges with every comfort to authentic and intimate bush camps deep in the wilderness, accessible only during the dry season. We recommend combining two or three camps of different characters for a week-long visit, which gives a beautifully rounded experience of the park. The main access point is Mfuwe Airport, served by daily scheduled flights from Lusaka.
Lower Zambezi National Park
The Lower Zambezi National Park occupies the northern bank of the Zambezi River in the south of the country, directly across the water from Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools National Park. The two parks form a continuous wildlife corridor along one of Africa’s greatest rivers, and the combined area is one of the most important wilderness blocks on the continent.
The river itself is the heart of the Lower Zambezi experience. Enormous herds of elephant cross the Zambezi regularly, particularly during the dry season, and the sight of a hundred or more elephants swimming and wading across the river in the late afternoon light is one of those wildlife moments that stays with you long after you return home. Lion, leopard, hyena and large herds of buffalo are regularly encountered, and the river supports exceptional populations of hippo and crocodile.
The range of activities here is one of the Lower Zambezi’s greatest strengths. Canoe safaris on the Zambezi offer a completely different perspective on the wildlife, drifting quietly past game on both banks without the noise of an engine. Boat cruises and fishing trips in pursuit of the hard-fighting tigerfish are enormously popular. Game drives and guided walks round out the offering, making this one of the most varied activity destinations in Zambia. For guests who love being on the water, the Lower Zambezi is exceptional.
Kafue National Park
At over 22,000 square kilometres, Kafue is the second largest national park in the world and Zambia’s oldest protected area. Despite its size and ecological importance, it remains significantly less visited than South Luangwa or the Lower Zambezi, which makes it an appealing choice for travellers who prize solitude and genuine wilderness above all else. The diversity of habitats across the park is remarkable, moving from miombo woodland and open grassland in the south to the extraordinary Busanga Plains in the north, one of the most important seasonal wetlands in Africa.
The Busanga Plains are the jewel of Kafue and the reason most visitors make the journey to this remote corner of the park. During the dry season, the vast floodplains support extraordinary concentrations of wildlife: large prides of lions hunt across the open grassland, cheetah are regularly encountered, red lechwe number in the thousands, puku and oribi are abundant, and the rare roan and sable antelope are seen here with a frequency unusual elsewhere in Zambia. Over 500 bird species have been recorded in Kafue, making it one of the finest birding destinations in southern Africa.
Kafue is not a destination for first-time safari-goers seeking a packed game drive schedule; it is a destination for those who want to sit with the wilderness, absorb the scale of it, and experience Africa at its least disturbed.
North Luangwa National Park
North Luangwa is the Luangwa Valley at its most raw and uncompromising. Sharing the same broad ecosystem as South Luangwa to the south, the north is far less developed, with just a handful of simple bush camps operating during the open season from July to October. There are no tarred roads, no permanent lodges and no concession to comfort beyond what is necessary. What the park offers instead is an Africa that feels genuinely untouched, guided by some of the most experienced walking guides in the country.
Walking safaris are the primary activity here, and the quality of guiding is exceptional. The camp that most guests gravitate to is Mwaleshi Camp, a simple and atmospheric collection of chalets on the banks of the beautiful Mwaleshi River, operated by Remote Africa Safaris. Game drives are available for guests who want them, and when water levels allow, river crossings open up exploration across a wider area of the park. North Luangwa is emphatically not for everyone, but for those who are ready for it, it is an extraordinary and deeply affecting experience.
Livingstone and Victoria Falls
Most Zambia safaris begin or end in Livingstone, the historic town on the Zambian bank of the Zambezi and the closest settlement to the falls on this side of the border. Livingstone was once the capital of what was then Northern Rhodesia, and its broad main street is still lined with elegant colonial-era architecture that gives the town a character quite different from most other safari gateways in the region.
The Victoria Falls are, of course, the centrepiece of any visit to Livingstone. Seen from the Zambian side, the views along the gorge are magnificent, and a number of the walkways here offer perspectives not available from the Zimbabwean bank. We recommend that guests with time on their hands visit both sides; the falls are genuinely different from each direction and the full experience requires both vantage points.
Beyond the falls, Livingstone offers a generous array of activities. The thin strip of Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park runs along the Zambian bank of the Zambezi and supports elephant, giraffe, buffalo and zebra, with guided walks and game drives available. Sunset cruises on the Upper Zambezi, white-water rafting through the Batoka Gorge, helicopter flights, and the extraordinary swim at Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island (accessible during low water between roughly December and February) make Livingstone one of southern Africa’s most activity-rich destinations.
The accommodation options in Livingstone range from large riverside lodges with full facilities to smaller, more intimate camps strung out along the Zambezi. We are familiar with all of them and happy to advise on the best fit for your trip.
Liuwa Plains National Park
In the far west of Zambia, close to the Angolan border, Liuwa Plains National Park is one of Africa’s most remote and least-visited destinations. The park’s vast open grasslands were historically managed as a royal game reserve by the Lozi people under the authority of the King of Barotseland, a tradition of community-led conservation that has left the area in a remarkable state of ecological health.
Liuwa’s defining spectacle is its wildebeest migration. Each November, tens of thousands of blue wildebeest pour south across the border from Angola, joining resident herds of zebra, tsessebe, red lechwe and oribi on the floodplains in what is sometimes described as Africa’s forgotten migration. Unlike the Masai Mara or Serengeti, there are very few other visitors here; you may well watch a wildebeest herd stretching to the horizon with no other vehicle in sight.
The park also has one of the most affecting conservation stories in Africa. By the 1990s, intensive poaching had reduced Liuwa’s lion population to a single individual: a lioness named Lady Liuwa, who lived alone on the plains for more than a decade. African Parks took over management of the park in 2003 and began a careful reintroduction programme. New lions were brought in, bonds were formed, cubs were born, and Lady Liuwa lived to see a pride re-established around her before dying of natural causes in 2017. The lion population continues to grow, and the story of Lady Liuwa has become one of the most powerful symbols of what sustained conservation effort can achieve.
Kasanka National Park and the Bat Migration
Kasanka is one of Zambia’s smallest national parks, but it hosts what is arguably the most spectacular wildlife event in Africa. Each year in late November, approximately eight to ten million African straw-coloured fruit bats arrive from across sub-Saharan Africa to roost in a small patch of swamp forest within the park, drawn by the fruiting of the mushitu trees. For a period of four to six weeks, this tiny area of forest supports the largest mammal migration on the planet, by sheer numbers of individuals.
Watching the bats return to roost before dawn, when the sky blackens with millions of wings and the noise of their movement is audible from a considerable distance, is an experience quite unlike anything else in the natural world. By New Year they are gone, dispersing back across the continent. Kasanka is worth visiting beyond the bat season too: the park sits on the edge of the Bangweulu Wetlands, a magnificent birding area where the Shoebill Stork can be seen, one of Africa’s most sought-after birds. The wetlands support a wide range of waterfowl and wading birds, and a visit here with a specialist birding guide is enormously rewarding.
When to Visit Zambia
Zambia’s safari season divides into two quite distinct periods, each with its own character and appeal. The dry season runs from May through to October and is the traditional peak safari time. As the land dries out and the vegetation thins, wildlife concentrates along the rivers and around water sources, making game viewing increasingly productive through the season. July and August are cool, clear and comfortable, with excellent conditions for walking safaris. September and October bring intensifying heat and dramatic wildlife activity as the waterholes shrink and predator-prey dynamics sharpen.
The wet season, known locally as the Emerald Season, runs from November through to April. During this period, the landscape is transformed: the bush turns vivid green, wildflowers bloom across the floodplains, and summer migratory birds arrive from across Africa in extraordinary numbers. Some camps close during the deep wet months of January and February, but those that remain open offer a genuinely special experience. Boating safaris in the South Luangwa’s flooded oxbow lagoons, exceptional photography in the lush bush, and the near-total absence of other tourists make the Emerald Season a favourite for experienced safari-goers.
It is worth noting that certain destinations have specific seasonal considerations. Kafue’s Busanga Plains camps open only from June to October as the floodplains remain inaccessible for the rest of the year. North Luangwa is accessible only from July to October. Kasanka’s bat migration takes place in late November and early December, making it a compelling add-on for those travelling at that time of year.
Contact us to chat about your safari to Zambia
Frequently Asked Questions about a safari to Zambia
Is Zambia a good destination for a first safari?
Zambia can be an excellent first safari destination, particularly for travellers who want a genuine wilderness experience rather than a heavily managed game reserve. South Luangwa and the Lower Zambezi are both well set up for first-time visitors, with a good range of comfortable lodges, reliable game viewing and highly experienced guides. That said, Zambia’s parks are wilder and less predictable than some better-known destinations, which is precisely their appeal. We are happy to advise on the right level of camp and destination based on your experience and expectations.
What is a walking safari, and is it safe?
A walking safari involves exploring the bush on foot, led by a qualified and armed professional guide. Rather than viewing wildlife from a vehicle, you move at a human pace through the landscape, reading tracks, identifying plants and birds, and potentially encountering game at close quarters. It is an immersive and deeply rewarding experience that changes the way you see and understand the natural world. Walking safaris are conducted safely by highly trained guides who are intimately familiar with animal behaviour. South Luangwa is the spiritual home of the walking safari and the best place to experience it. Zambia’s walking guides are among the finest in Africa.
What makes South Luangwa special compared to other parks?
Several things set South Luangwa apart. The density of wildlife, particularly along the Luangwa River and its oxbow lagoons, is among the highest of any park in Africa. The leopard population is exceptional, and multiple sightings per game drive are entirely realistic. The walking safari tradition here is the finest on the continent, and the standard of guiding is outstanding. The park also has a wonderful diversity of camps, from large and comfortable riverside lodges to tiny, intimate bush camps deep in the wilderness, which allows for an itinerary that combines different styles and atmospheres within a single trip.
What is the Emerald Season, and is it worth visiting?
The Emerald Season is Zambia’s wet season, running from roughly November through to April. The name reflects the transformation the bush undergoes as the rains arrive: the landscape turns vivid green, wildflowers appear across the floodplains, and the rivers fill and spread into the surrounding land. Summer migratory birds arrive in large numbers, and the birding during this period is spectacular. Certain camps close during the deepest wet months, but those that stay open offer a genuinely beautiful and surprisingly active safari experience. Prices are lower, visitor numbers are minimal, and the atmosphere of the camps at this time of year is wonderfully intimate. For experienced safari-goers and keen photographers, the Emerald Season is well worth considering.
What is the Kasanka bat migration?
The Kasanka bat migration is the largest mammal migration on earth by number of individuals. Each year in late November, between eight and ten million African straw-coloured fruit bats converge on a small patch of swamp forest in Kasanka National Park, drawn by the seasonal fruiting of the trees. They roost through the day and disperse to feed at night, and the spectacle of millions of bats returning to the forest at dawn is one of the most extraordinary sights in the natural world. The migration lasts for approximately four to six weeks before the bats disperse again across the continent. It is a genuinely unusual addition to a Zambia itinerary and one that delights almost everyone who witnesses it.
Can I combine Zambia with Zimbabwe or Botswana?
Absolutely, and we design these combination itineraries regularly. The most natural pairing with Zambia is Zimbabwe: Livingstone and Victoria Falls sit at the same point on the Zambezi, and combining South Luangwa or the Lower Zambezi with Hwange or Mana Pools makes for an outstanding multi-country itinerary. Zambia and Botswana also combine beautifully, with the contrasting characters of Zambia’s walking-focused wilderness camps and Botswana’s water-based Okavango Delta camps creating a very satisfying variety. We will happily put together a personalised proposal for any combination.
What is the best time of year to visit Zambia?
For the most reliable and concentrated game viewing, July through to October is the peak dry season and our primary recommendation. September and October in particular offer extraordinary wildlife activity as water sources diminish and animals concentrate. For walking safaris, July and August are ideal, with cooler temperatures and excellent conditions underfoot. The Emerald Season from November to April offers a very different but equally rewarding experience, with exceptional birding, lush landscapes and far fewer visitors. Kasanka’s bat migration takes place in late November and early December.
How do I get to Zambia?
The main international gateways are Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda International Airport and Livingstone Airport, both of which receive scheduled flights from Johannesburg and other regional hubs. Livingstone Airport is served by international airlines including Kenya Airways. From Lusaka, scheduled and charter flights connect to Mfuwe Airport for South Luangwa, to Lower Zambezi airstrips, and to Kafue. Internal light aircraft transfers are the most efficient way to move between destinations, and we coordinate all logistics as part of every itinerary we design.
How long should I spend in Zambia?
A minimum of five to seven nights gives a meaningful experience of one or two destinations, and we would typically recommend at least three nights in South Luangwa as a standalone. For a fuller exploration of two or three parks, allow ten to fourteen nights. If you are combining Zambia with Zimbabwe or Botswana, twelve to sixteen nights across both countries works well and gives sufficient time in each area to appreciate the differences between them.
