SAFARI & TOUR OF SOUTH LUANGWA IN ZAMBIA

Safari Exploring & Touring South Luangwa National Park

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South Luangwa National Park, established in 1972, is the second largest park in Zambia. Zambia's lush Luangwa Valley and is the continents finest wildlife reserve. The Luangwa Valley is littered with ox-bow lakes and abandoned watercourses, surrounded by graceful mature woodlands. The Luangwa River is the most intact major river system in Africa and is the life blood of the park's 9050 square kilometers. There are 60 different animal species and over 400 different bird species in habiting a diverse landscapes and vegetation: South Luangwa National Park wildlife include huge herds of elephant and buffalo. Of particular interest are the two subspecies unique to the Luangwa Valley: the beautiful thornicroft giraffe (with its dark patterned skin) and Cookson's wildebeest. The valley's main predators are lion, leopard and spotted hyena. During the day, lion seldom hide and are often seen, where as leopards hunt by night. South Luangwa's night drives are fascinating not only for the chance of seeing a leopard but for the many interesting animals that only come to life at night including genets cats, civets, servals, hyenas, and bushbabies as well as owls, nightjars, the foraging hippos, honey badgers and lion.

Birdwatching is superb in South Luangwa National Park. Near the end of the dry season, when the river and oxbow lagoons begin to recede, hundreds of large waterbirds can be seen wading through the shallows. The red faced yellow billed storks move along with their beaks open underwater, disturbing the muddy liquid with their feet until the fish flop into their mouths. The pelicans tend to operate in lines abreast, driving the fish before them into shallows before scooping them up into their beak pouches. The striking 1.6m saddle bill stork makes quick darting movements into the water. Then there's the marabou stork, great white egrets, black headed herons, open billed storks and the stately goliath heron that can stand in the same position for hours before pouncing. Of the most beautiful are the elegant crowned cranes, with their golden tufts congregating in large flocks at the salt pans. Around the same time, just before the rains set in, in November, the palearctic migrants from Northern Europe and the intra-African migrants arrive to exploit the feeding opportunities that the warm rainy season brings. These include the red chested cuckoo, white storks, European swallows. Swifts, hobbies and bee-eaters, as well as birds of prey such as the Steppe eagles and Steppe buzzards that come all the way from Russia. A special sight is the hundreds of brightly coloured carmine bee-eaters nesting in the steep sandy banks of the river. With about 400 of Zambia's 732 species of birds appearing in the Valley, including 39 birds of prey and 47 migrant species, there is plenty for the birdwatcher to spot, whatever the season.

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