Kafue National Park

Unique!

Kafue National Park - A classic African safari destination

Kafue is Zambia's largest park, and one of the largest in Africa. It encompasses a range of habitats, but is dominated by Miombo woodland and seasonal 'Dambo' Savannah. The wildlife in Kafue remains very prolific. It is extremely good for elephants, and large herds can be seen throughout the year. Other ungulates, including Impala, Eland, Kudu and Puku are also common. Most 'typical' African carnivores (Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Hyena, Wild dog) can be seen in Kafue, although none are particularly common and an element of luck is usually required to spot these. In all, most 'classic' safari species can be seen in Kafue with the exception of Rhinocerous (formerly occured, now extinct) and Giraffe. The birdwatching possibilities in Kafue are excellent, and the Nanzilla plains in the South are one of the few places where the Black-cheeked Lovebird can be observed. Kafue is not a well-visited destination and remains somewhat off the beaten track. Consequently the infrastructure is limited and independent travellers will need to prepare much of what they need for their trip in advance. (Some good accomodation possibilities exist around the parks periphary, although almost nothing is available in the interior). However, the quiet nature of Kafue is also one of its biggest appeals. A visitor can travel large distances without seeing a single other tourist, and will have vast landscapes and abundant African wildlife to themselves. In all, Kafue in something of a challenging safari destination, although will reward adventurous travellers with a classic African landscape which they will be able to enjoy almost entirely to themselves.

Mainly untouched, full of life, no tourists but us.

We stayed 3 nights at the Mawimbi Bush cam and had the camp for ourselves and an extraorinary guide and staff.
This park is huge. We unfortunately missed the Busanga plains that were too far away but we just saw 2 other tourist cars in 2 days.
Our best wildlife highlights there: sable antelope, hartebeest, Leopard and bushpig
The diversisty of game species was great. Elephants were there but more skittish than in the Luangwa valley.

We really fell in love with Kafue which is still relatively unknown : time to enjoy it very soon.

Road on the way was not so bad,and in the park, we saw a lot.
Camp site was also exiting, so close to wildlife and unexpectedly clean and comfortable.
Food was also nice, thanks to our nice guide who knows a lot about nature.

Utter remoteness in this vast park yet still close encounters ensued.

I travelled with my family to stay at the Busanga Plains camp, a fly camp of Mukambi. The six hour drive from the lodge to Busanga was a true African experience. Although we had little time to stop and digest the animals (we were on a schedule) and were subjected to the traditional African massage, we saw a vast array of mammals and birds and the drive's length just cemented how remote our camp was.
The bush camp was incredible, from the restaurant terrace several hundred red lechwe could be seen grazing and perhaps a dozen fish eagles screeching, truly a wonder. The tents provided everything we needed, obviously being a temporary camp it was nothing on the main lodge but it was fulfilled our needs perfectly. The food also was fantastic. Waking up first thing in the morning and sitting in the restaurant watching the lechwe in the low mist is a truly magical experience that I would recommend to any animal lover.
The drives were top notch; the Busanga lions are the most beautiful I have seen, with fantastic dark manes. We were lucky to get close to a fresh buffalo kill and watch them interact. We encountered great herds of Roan, wildebeest, zebra and a few bachelor elephants amongst others. For the purists, we did not encounter another vehicle on our trip, a true indication of our remoteness and allowed all these sightings to be personal. Our guide was excellent, very knowledgable and worked tirelessly to track down the species my siblings wanted for their tick-lists.
A great destination.

Kafue : A Truly Wonderful Experience

We recently visited the Kafue National Park in Zambia. Having visited Southern Africa for safaris several times before (South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana) we decided that we wanted to visit somewhere a little bit different and a little bit rawer. It was suggested that we visit Zambia and the Kafue. We were not disappointed.
Kafue has the feel of a park the is yet to be truly discovered. The natural beauty of the country and the low key feel of the park made for a unique visit. There is plenty of wildlife to be seen, cheetahs was a first for us, and the amount of different birdlife on the river is remarkable. There is maybe not the amount of wildlife that we have seen in other countries but there is certainly the diversity to make up for it, plus you can drive all day with your guide and on most days not see another vehicle or boat. You get the impression that some of the wildlife there have never seen a jeep or a boat before too!
We visited three camps and they were all excellent. The standards are very high with regard to guiding and the accommodations. Everything was just.......great.
In summary, a truly wonderful experience and we are now discussing on how can better this for our next visit to Africa. It's not going to be easy.

Kafue National Park, Birderwatchers Paradise, Big-game galore

Recently we spent 3 nights out of a 12 night safari at a camp along the Kafue River on the northern edge of the Kafue National Park. During the days we both boated along the Kafue River and drove into the park in Land Cruisers. The bird life along the river was amazing. I was able to identify with the help of the local guide over 70 bird species - Bee-eaters, Hornbills, Barbets, Africa Finfoot, Eagles, Geese, Herons, etc. Too numerous to list them all. The big game species were also very special. Along with Elephants, Wildebeest, Bushbucks, Red Lechwe, Warthog and other big game species, we also saw unique species not seen elsewhere on our travels. Such as Puku, Yellow Baboon, Velvet Monkey and Grey Defassa Waterbuck. While traveling in boats we had close encounters with Hippos and Crocs. On after dark drives we saw genet and serval's. As we were there in early June there were no bugs, and no rain. A perfect time and place to experience all that Africa has to offer.

A safari to see wild wildlife. Unlike some safaris the animals arent used to a human presence

Kafue is a huge park, we adventured only in South Kafue. It is an amazing safari for wild adventure feeling. Located in Zambia and more difficult to access than other big parks it gets few tourist. Kafue used to have a problem with poaching so it was known even by locals to not animals, this is starting to change. Kafue contrast to Chobe in that the animals take notice of you and some times flee, or in the case of one elephant get defensive. On the other hand Chobe felt like a zoo, yeah you see lots of animals but most dont even give you a second glance as you join the line of land rovers circling the water front.

We drove our on 4x4 and the roads were well maintained. In fact since we came from Kalomo the parks roads were better maintained those to get there. If you need to be babbied then this is probably not the safari for you. The lodge we stayed at provided everything we needed, beer, water and fire wood. They did have other accomidations but I can't comment on those as we camped.

Highlights were seeing two lion cubs that were less than 2 months old and seeing no other safari vehicles. In the three days we were in the park I think we passed 3 vehicles, and two of them were together.

Just what I was looking for in an African safari.

The weather was first of all fantastic. The accommodations were some of the best that i have ever seen with wonderful food and great areas to hang out. All the guides that we had made the trip great and they were willing to answer all questions that we had. They were very well educated even the professor I went with was impressed.