Liuwa Plain National Park

Wildlife & Animals

Expert

Philip is our Zambia expert and author of more than 20 guidebooks to Africa.

While the variety of wildlife in Liuwa Plain National Park isn’t huge, the sheer numbers of grazers in the Wet season is phenomenal. Most numerous is the blue wildebeest. This is a great place to watch males, often referred to as ‘clowns of the savannah’, performing their acrobatic antics. Smaller herds of zebras and red lechwe are never far off.

ElephantNone

GiraffeNone

HippoNone

BuffaloOccasional

ZebraAbundant

WildebeestAbundant

White RhinoNone

Black RhinoNone

LionCommon

LeopardNone

CheetahOccasional

HyenaCommon

Wild DogVery Rare

Wildlife Highlights

With the herbivores come the predators. The story of Lady Liuwa, the famous lioness that featured in a 2010 National Geographic documentary, adds drama to the excellent lion sightings here. You’ll probably see monogamous pairs of side-striped jackals trotting around, and wild dogs were reintroduced in 2021. With luck, you might spot a cheetah too. Most fearsome on the plains, however, are clans of spotted hyenas, which prove to be fantastic hunters here.

Best Time for Wildlife Viewing

Wildlife viewing in Liuwa Plain is very seasonal; big herds of grazers arrive after the first rain. For self-drive visitors, November is the best month to visit, as the access roads become impassable later on. Time + Tide King Lewanika (the only luxury lodge accommodation in the park) is open from mid-October to mid-July, but game-drive tracks tend to be impassable from January to April/May.