CC Africa Safaris & Tours has a comprehensive selection of safari tours throughout
Zambia. View our Zambia
safaris.
• The Luangwa Valley
• Victoria Falls
• The Lower Zambezi National Park
LIVINGSTONE
Livingstone town, former capital of Zambia, was named after the famous
Scottish explorer, Dr David Livingstone.
The town has much to interest the visitor, including the Livingstone
Museum, which houses many of the explorer’s possessions and journals,
and the Railway Museum, with a rich history of steam trains and railway
memorabilia. A few kilometres upstream of the falls is the Mosi-Oa-Tunya
National Park which runs along a strip of riverine forest. Although
the park is only 66km² it provides a home for numerous antelope
species, zebra, giraffe and white rhinoceros.
VICTORIA FALLS
Victoria Falls is one of the world’s greatest natural spectacles.
Declared a World Heritage Site, the Falls are a place of legend,
romance and myth. Long before the Dr David Livingstone “discovered”
them on November 16, 1855, the local Batonga people had named them
Mosi- Oa-Tunya, “the smoke that thunders”.
Activities include bungi jumping off the railway bridge, white
water rafting through the Batoka Gorge downstream of the Falls (said
to be the world’s most exciting stretch of rafting), body boarding
the huge standing waves set up as the river bounces off underwater
boulders, or floating above the Falls in a tandem microlight. Sundowner
cruises on the broad sweep of Zambezi River upstream of the Falls
are an exquisite way to experience an African sunset, while the
more energetic can hire canoes for gentle, guided paddling trips.
A network of trails leads through the rainforest surrounding the smoke
that thunders. When the river is at its lowest, as little as 20 000m³
flows over the lip of the Falls per minute into the Devil’s Cataract,
but when the mighty Zambezi is raging in April and May, this can be
as much as 500 000m³.
LAKE KARIBA
Lake Kariba is a vast expanse of water 220km long and 40km wide
straddling the mighty Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Zambian side is virtually undeveloped, offering a true wilderness
and total escape. The tranquillity of watching the deep orange sun
sink on the one side of the lake and the moon rise over the shimmering
waters on the other is a sight to be treasured. The lake shore is
alive with big and small game. For anglers, some of the world’s
best freshwater game fish, such as tiger fish, bream and tilapia,
can be found in the lake.
LOWER ZAMBEZI NATIONAL PARK
This is Zambia’s newest park and as such, is still relatively
undeveloped, but its beauty lies in its absolute wilderness state.
The park lies opposite the famous Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe,
so the whole area on both sides of the river is a massive wildlife
sanctuary. The river’s edge is overhung with a thick riverine
fringe. Further inland is a floodplain fringed with Mopane forest
and Winterthorn trees. The Lower Zambezi National Park covers an
area of 4 092km², but most of the game is found along the valley
floor. There is an escarpment along the northern end, which acts
as a physical barrier to most of the park’s animal species.
The sparkling waters of the Zambezi are a focal point for the abundant
wildlife that includes large herds of elephant, hippo, buffalo, zebra,
lion, leopard, various antelope species and tigerfish.
KAFUE NATIONAL PARK
Kafue is Zambia’s oldest park and by far the largest, covering
22 400km².
From the astounding Busanga Plains in the north-western section
of the park to the wilderness and the lush dambos (wetlands) of
the south, the park is endowed with great diversity of landscape
and a rich variety of wild animals and birds.
The vast plains of Busanga teem with herds of zebra, blue wildebeest,
buffalo, puku, roan, sable, impala and their attendant predators,
serval, cheetah, lion and leopard. The southern section of the park
is known for large herds of elephant, zebra and buffalo.
SOUTH LUANGWA NATIONAL PARK
The Luangwa valley is one of Africa’s prime wildlife sanctuaries,
with concentrations and varieties of game and birdlife that have
made it world famous. As the Luangwa valley forms part of the Great
Rift Valley, its scenery is varied and dramatic.
The valley floor drops down some 800m below the surrounding plateau,
with the Luangwa river carving its tortuous course through the centre.
Vegetation ranges from dense woodland to open grassy plains, and
oxbow lagoons act as natural water holes.
The valley is home to huge herds of elephant, large numbers of
antelope, most notably impala, puku, kudu, bushbuck and waterbuck.
Lion are common and the park is also famous for leopard. Night drives
are fascinating as one has the opportunity to view genets, civets,
servals, hyenas, porcupines and bush babies. Bird-watching is superb
in the valley, as there are over 400 different bird species.
Towards the end of the dry season, when the river and oxbow lagoons
begin to recede, hundreds of large water birds can be seen wading
through the shallows.
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