Zambia has 20 national parks, 36 game management areas and 42 Important Bird Areas, spread across the whole country, yet most visitors only ever hear about two or three of them. This map shows the main parks, from Liuwa Plain in the far west to Nsumbu on Lake Tanganyika. Hover over a park, or tap it on your phone, to see which of our safaris go there. Parks without a scheduled trip can still be part of a tailor-made route.
Five nights riverfront at Croc Valley Camp close out the Luangwa Valley traverse with the best wildlife of the whole trip — leopard, lion, and wild dogs — in the park that invented the walking safari.
Not every stop on a Luangwa Valley traverse is about wildlife sightings. Luambe is the one where the pressure on that wildlife becomes impossible to ignore — buffalo pushed out of the park, and lions sheltering in the village next door.
Day four of a Luangwa Valley traverse runs south through Chama’s remote villages into North Luangwa — a park so untouched we were the first vehicle on some loops this year.
Day three of a Luangwa Valley traverse trades wildlife for farmland, a punishing stretch of clay road, and a night in a genuinely strange piece of Zambian history — a dilapidated colonial-era castle that’s not for the faint-hearted.
Before the parks and the predators, a Luangwa Valley traverse starts with an escarpment drive, a border-post overnight, and a detour to Zambia’s oldest trading post — a quiet, sobering stop most visitors never hear about.
Most safari itineraries take you to one park. This one takes you through four — from a border-crossing stopover and a dilapidated colonial-era castle, through the remote, rarely-visited stretches of North Luangwa and Luambe, to leopard, lion, and wild dog sightings on the riverbank in South Luangwa. Twelve nights, mobile camping, the honest version of the valley.
From the bustling Great East Road to the wild landscapes of South Luangwa National Park, this safari journey captures the essence of Zambia. Experience village life, dramatic escarpment views, encounters with baboons and monkeys on the road into the valley, and unforgettable wildlife sightings including lions, elephants, hippos, and leopards in one of Africa’s last great wilderness areas.
