User Reviews of South Luangwa National Park (61 Reviews)

South Luangwa: Beautiful place and Amazing wildlife

South Luangwa is my favorite national park. The accommodations are terrific and the wild life is amazing. I have been there over 4 times now, and it has never failed to be an amazing experience. The guides have so much knowledge about the park and the wildlife sitings are great in number, leopards, lions and hyenas being the most seen. The park is very beautiful and the sunsets are always so breathtaking. There are so many animals and birds, and it really is one of the best holiday destinations out there.

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A memorable experience in every way

This was our first trip to South Luangwa, indeed our first to Zambia having usually visited Tanzania. We stayed at the Shenton camps - Kaingo and Mwamba and they were absolutely perfect. Small and very friendly with wonderful food, great accommodation and very knowledgeable staff and guides. We were collected from the airport and had a very enjoyable 'safari' to the first camp. We were blessed with good weather all the time we were there and enjoyed our twice (sometimes three) daily game drives from completely open vehicles which was very welcome as we are photographers with long lenses. The park is very well managed and maintained, and the wildlife sightings were phenomenal. Thanks to our brilliant guide/driver, we had 24 separate leopard sightings,and were fortunate enough to see the Pel's Fishing Owl several times. As for the Carmine Bee-eaters - well!! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in South Luangwa and will most definitely be returning.

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Close to being the finest National Park in Africa

South Luangwa National Park is one of the very finest National Parks in Africa .It's superb in every way; the scenery is beautiful and varied, there are huge amounts of wildlife, the night drives are superb,and so is walking.
It also has a superb wilderness vibe. The guiding is uniformly excellent. Many of the camps have a superb bush feel to them. I've already been there three times,furthermore,I'll be returning again next year.

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Amazing and affordable.

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see above

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Absolutely Worth the Effort to Get There

South Luangwa is a bit off the beaten path but a rich reward for whomever makes the journey. Confined between a dense forest and a wide river, animals are plentiful in this park. I have seen more cats in one day then weeks at other flagship parks in southern Africa. I have made to trek's there because the photo opportunities and wildlife viewing are unparalleled; even in the wet season. I stayed at Mfuwe Lodge twice! The people, the food, the guides and the rooms are above and beyond. On my first night during my first trip we found a leopard in a tree right above us...amazing. On my first night during my second trip we came across a leopard moments before it took out a bush hare. It was over before I could understand what was happening. I love this park and will definitely go again.

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One of the best

I stayed in two different places, one just outside of the park (Wildlife Camp - which is good value for money, situated in a preservation area) and one bush camp (Nkonzi - an affordable and very stylish lodging). It was the second time I came here for a whole week. Don't expect to see cheeta or rhino, but apart from those species you'll get to see almost every animal you can think of. Leopards almost every day, bunches of wild dogs, lions, southern grounded hornbill ... The night drives are incredible. especially our guide at Wildlife Camp knew sounds and tracks so well he managed to give us incredible sightings. Bushbabies, servals, a civet, leopards, chasing lions, ... The walking safari guides are also very knowledgeable and an absolute must if you visit this park.

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South Luangwa is Zambia's flaghsip park for so many good reasons :
Wildlife is extremely abundant and leopard sighting is probably the best in africa (not to mention the hippo density which at 25000 is the highest in the world)
We stayed at the very exclusive Mfue Lodge : everything was great here, except maybe the high number of visitors in the area: to avoid that we moved 86 km inside the Park in the Zungulila Bushcamp which has been our greatest safari experience so far (very exclusive bushcamp, amazing scenery, delicious food, very friendly staff, excellent guiding and hyenas laughing at night all around us): we saw a pack of 20 wild dogs and of course we had the traditionnal zambian sunset drink along the luangwa river !

Visitors numbers can seem high at the Mfue gate but as soon as you drive inside the park : wildlife is for yourself !!

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Game density and diversity are both excellent in the park, with four of the Big Five present as well as hippos, giraffes, greater kudu, spotted hyenas and many other incredible species. The park's vistas over the river are beautiful, however it is scrubbier woodland further into the park, presenting a more complicated backdrop for photography. The bush vibe is largely great, however it was slightly undermined at times by self-drive vehicles crowding into view or ignoring the etiquette that drivers and guides overwhelmingly adhere to. Birding is similarly excellent- I spotted around 90 species while I was in the park, including stars like martial eagles, grey-crowned cranes and so many more.

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Very interesting place with a lot of different ecosystems. Bird's and obviously the marvelous leopard. Plan a stay of at least 3 or 4 days because he is not always easy to see !

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