Africa’s second-largest wildebeest migration
Reminiscent in some respects of the Serengeti, Liuwa Plain protects a vast grassy stretch of the Zambezi floodplain, punctuated by seasonal pans, permanent lakes, fields of wildflowers, and isolated tracts of woodland. The park has a very remote and wild feel: you need to cross a river pontoon to access it, and once there, the deep sandy soil means that high clearance and 4x4 are essential.
The main wildlife highlight of Liuwa is Africa's second-largest wildebeest migration. Nobody seems sure exactly how many wildebeest there are (estimates range from 35,000 to more than 50,000), but if you visit at the right time of year – optimally from late October into January, which is also calving season – you can expect to see herds of several thousand kicking up sand and baaing like disgruntled sheep as they sweep across the plains.
We enjoyed some excellent predator viewing in Liuwa. Lion sightings included one of the most handsome males I have ever encountered, as well as a small pride feeding on a fresh kill. Although Liuwa has something of a reputation for good cheetah sightings, we only saw one individual over the course of our six-day stay, and it was very skittish. We also encountered caracal (once) and side-striped jackal (daily). The park supports around 500 spotted hyenas, and because they are unusually habituated, we were able to spend many hours parked at different hyena dens, enjoying the interaction between these highly sociable carnivores.
The bird watching in Liuwa is absolutely outstanding. It’s the best place in Zambia to see several marsh and grassland species, notably wattled crane, grey crowned crane, secretary bird, Denham’s bustard, rosy-throated longclaw and long-tailed widowbird. The open pans are good for lapwings, plovers, sandpipers and other shorebirds, while flotillas of pelicans forage on the open water, and slaty egret, rufous-bellied heron and greater painted-snipe might be seen in the fringing vegetation. The undoubted avian highlight of Liuwa, however, are the mesmerizing flocks of several thousand near-threatened black-winged pratincole that swarm cloud-like above the plains.
Despite its wilderness feel and high densities of certain species, Liuwa is not much of a Big Five reserve. Leopards and rhinos are absent altogether, elephants are occasional visitors, and we saw buffaloes only once during our visit (admittedly a fabulous sighting of a hundred-strong herd drinking at a pan). Other notable absentees include giraffe and hippo, and while the wildebeest herds are often accompanied by plains zebra and red lechwe, the only other antelopes that could be considered common are the twitchy oribi and gray duiker.
To me, Liuwa Plain was an absolute highlight of Zambia, not least because of the sense of space associated with its wide-open plains and immense skies. But the lack of mammalian variety makes it quite a niche destination, and it’s questionable whether it would be suited to a first-time safari-goer.