JPS Luxury Safaris

South Luangwa National Park

South Luangwa National Park is a superb riverine and savannah landscape made up by the languidly snaking Luangwa River flowing from north to south on its route to the mighty Zambezi. This river is one of the only left in Africa which is completely left uninfluenced by man from source to delta, and therefore carves out the sandy rich soils at its own discretion each rainy season, when it turns from a shallow muddy river into a raging torrent.
 
The valley is created by a southerly sub-rift in the Great Rift Valley and the wildlife of the South Luangwa occupies this depression, the river itself being a vital source of water at its lowest point in the dry season. This makes the banks of the river a concentrated hotspot for predator and prey, and increasingly so as the land dries out throughout the dry season.
 
It is important to select camps in the furthest reaches of the National Park to sense the real beauty of the South Luangwa with its wonderfully low visitor numbers. Some of the best big game walking safari guides in the world make South Luangwa their home and therefore the quality of walking safaris is extremely high. Game drives are fantastic in the day but are even more exciting at night when leopards hunt in the cooler air and action packed lion interactions are a common occurrence.
 
The camps in the far north and the far south of the park feel wilder than those in the centre and offer beautifully isolated walking and driving safari combination activity options. In the south guests could decide to do a drive in the morning and the bathe in the shallow clear Kapamba river to cool off with a gin and tonic to follow. Walking from small comfortable bushcamp to small comfortable bushcamp is often a lovely option in certain areas and there is a great chance to really get to know the intimate bushcamps’ down-to-earth guides and staff. From Tafika camp guests can even fly over the river and channels in a microlight aircraft, observing big game from above. The conservation of the South Luangwa wilderness is intrinsically tied to the good operation of well-managed safari camps in the National Park and therefore choosing to safari here brings direct benefits to the wildlife and its protection.

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» Orient Express
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