After touring many major parks in Africa like Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha, Masai Mara, the Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater, I’m ready to shout it from the rooftops: South Luangwa National Park is my favorite.
I give it top marks for two reasons — 1) its wildlife is impressive in variety and quantity, and 2) compared to other parks South Luangwa is practically devoid of tourists. The Serengeti draws crowds based on name recognition alone, but South Luangwa doesn’t have that kind of branding. It’s just a small park in the middle of Zambia so I suspect that’s why it’s largely overlooked by tourists visiting Africa. But if you want to experience wildlife in close proximity without a dozen other safari vehicles getting in each other’s way, South Luangwa is the way to go. It also has a decent population of leopards, which is one of the hardest animals to spot on safari — your odds of seeing them here are better than most other parks in Africa.
Today I’ll share my favorite safari photos from our sunrise game drive (except for two dozen elephant pics, which I’ll save for tomorrow because they’re worthy of their own post). This morning’s game drive is not included in our Nomad Tours itinerary so it costs roughly $40 extra and it’s worth every penny. Less than half of our group elects to go and we’re treated to a very special game drive.
We depart in the dark before sunrise, but shortly thereafter the sky burns gold along the horizon.
That’s Renate and Klaus below, two of my favorite people. They are going on a walking safari, which is another optional activity for about the same price. Their tour guide will focus on smaller creatures all the way down to tiny bugs — it sounds like a fascinating glimpse into a different part of the game park ecosystem.
Our driver arranges entrance tickets at the gate, and then we cross over the main bridge into the park. Hippos are active in the early morning light.
We spot an array of African antelopes (say that five times fast) in the first 20 minutes. This first batch is a bunch of impalas, which are recognizable by the big ‘M’ on their butts. “Like the golden arches of McDonalds, because they are fast food for leopards,” says our driver. Not the first time I’ve heard that line but it cracks me up just the same.
I believe this next creature is a male puku.
I think these are also puku — all females except for one male who leads the group.
A mama and her babe!
This is exciting — we find a giant eagle owl resting its eyes.
And then we stumble upon a few giraffes. Just another day on safari.
The terrain at South Luangwa National Park is diverse — there’s a giant river, smaller rivers, swamps, and stretches of woods for creatures to hide right near the roads. This makes it easier to get close to animals. In the Serengeti it’s all endless plains (the word Serengeti literally translates to ‘endless’ in Swahili) so the animals there roam only when they feel safe enough to be exposed in plain sight. But in South Luangwa, there are hiding spots everywhere so animals can easily duck away whenever they feel threatened by creatures higher up the food chain. It leads to more animal sightings, like this kudu below.
Check out hippos submerged in this rusty red swamp:
Nearby the swampy water turns bright green:
There are crocodiles all over this swamp, in some cases barely poking out above the water… but their spiky tails give them away.
Crocs open their mouths to control body temperature. So this guy below isn’t posing in a threatening way, he’s just absorbing as much warmth from the sun as possible to help out his cold-blooded body.
Who wants to stay in one of these swamp-side cottages? There could be hippos directly outside your front door!
“Into the woods, we have to go…”
I mentioned the Luangwa River yesterday; it’s the same river we’re camping on a few miles away.
Our driver is excellent at spotting birds. This one is a type of bee-eater:
And this one is a lilac-breasted roller, named for the vibrant color of its throat.
This is a jacana bird, which is better known as “the Jesus bird” because it walks on water. (That one makes me chuckle.)
I have no idea what kind of bird this is. Travel blogger fail.
Next up we pass a pride of sleepy lions.
But guess who’s not sleepy — that group of zebras standing at attention in the distance. Perhaps they just spotted the lions? I imagine them nervously backtracking, anxious to avoid an attack on their weakest member.
Our driver stops at a safe spot across the river where we should be safe from wildlife. Time for coffee, tea, and biscuits.
Here’s our group — this is such a lovely morning, and there’s no where else I’d rather be than right here with these people. It’s one of my favorite days of our 30-day itinerary from Nairobi to Joburg.
We know there are leopards all over the park, it’s just a matter of spotting them (pun intended). During the day they sometimes cool off in the shade of upper tree branches. We keep our eyes peeled but it’s hard to find them among all these hiding places.
On our way out of the park we encounter a herd of buffalo.
Buffalos stomp through the swamp, the mud rising up to their bellies.
I’m leaving off a few major elephant encounters we have because this post is photo-heavy as it is. Pachyderm pics coming tomorrow!
I visited Zambia on a 30-day Nairobi to Joburg tour with Nomad Tours. They discounted my tour in exchange for blogging and photography; opinions are my own.
