South Luangwa National Park

A great park with a high density of a lot of species. Great diversity of habitat.

South Luangwa National Park was fantastic. The road there was in bad condition, but Flat Dogs camp was one of the best camsites ever, right on the river and beautifully maintained and run. Many animals crossed right into the camp and some days we just sat and watched without going into the park itself. We even saw leopard on the park side of the river from camp. Game drives into the park were great.

An excellent park for most of Africa's animals.

We spent an excellent 2 full days here with Kiboko Safari tours (based in Lilongwe) in October 2010. The weather was hot, but not unbearable. We saw practically everything - hippos, giraffe, lions, zebra, crocodiles, civerts, many birds, elephants, monkeys, antelope, buffalo, chameleon, etc. The photos and video of what we saw are on here:
http://hpjw.co.uk/holidays/1011Zambia/

The journey from Lilongwe was about 5 hours, half on tarmac, half on dust roads. Our camp (Track and Trail lodge) was at the side of the river where the hippos spent all day and you could relax with a cool drink between the morning and evening game drives. The food was perfectly acceptable and our guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. All in all a great place to visit. We have previously visited Chobe, Kruger and Etosha, and this is probably our favourite of the 4.

South Luangwa is probably the best park for wildlife in all of Africa. I myself have seen leopards there countless times, and have never met someone who went there and didn't see a leopard. With the luangwa river going through the park, fishing is also another activity. I suggest the Mushroom lodge, a place that offers fine dining and the best game-viewing Africa has to offer.

South Luangwa is one of my favorite safari experiences. The African Sunset is breathtaking and magnificent. The wildlife in this area is just stunning.

Excellent wildlife viewing, not crowded. Great access to Mozambique and Malawi.

Guide was great and knowledgable, but we so zero lions or leopards.

Don't get me wrong, the park, accomodations, and guides are all wonderful, however due to years of poaching, lions, and leopards are scarce. Also, smaller elephants have bred since the larger ones with tusks have been killed off. The elephants that my wife and I saw were without tusks. It was very unfortunate.

Please support South Luangwa National Park by going to visit, just be sure to keep an open mind and a heavy heart for these animals and this area.

The concentration and variety of wildlife is astonishing including all the animal and birds you would ever hope to see. There are also three Luangwa Valley sub-species: Thornicroft giraffe, Crawshey's zebra and Cookson's wildebeest. We saw them all, up close and personal.

The most mind-blowing park we visited--simply amazing!

We spent 10 days at South Luangwa National Park: we could easily spend 50.

The wildlife was incredibly diverse and abundant. We saw over 100 species of birds, including eagle owls; lions every day, including a lion killing a buffalo; 100s of crocodiles; various species of antelopes; zebras, giraffes etc. Moreover, the quality of the guides is superb. Guides must undertake rigorous and lengthy training and testing before taking clients.

This was the last park we visited on our 45 day Southern Africa trip, which included Etosha National Park, Waterberg Plateau National Park, Mana Pools National Park, Lower Zambezi National Park, and Moremi Preserve. Of all the parks we visited, this is the one we would most like to revisit.

Managed to see lots of animals, and got to drive all over the park, but didn't see too many other tourists.