Zambia's Spectacular National Parks

The local Lozi people name it the “Smoke that Thunders”: a wholly fitting epithet for Africa’s liquid marvel, where the Zambezi River roars 300ft down a chasm on its zigzagging course between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The world’s greatest sheet of falling water is an epic sight, its power and beauty unrivaled, a place rich in wildlife and geological history where ancient basalt rock is drenched by those famous mists, curling up from the gorge like the soul of the river itself. 

From the thrilling sight of a leopard skulking through the grass to the dazzling red flash of a carmine bee-eater, South Luangwa will bowl you over with its wildlife. This is one of the finest game-viewing destinations in southern Africa, home to impalas and giraffes, lions, elephants, hippos and more than 400 species of bird. Hidden deep in the bush, private tented camps are among the finest places to take in the action, many of them overlooking the park’s marshy lagoons or the lifegiving currents of the Luangwa River.

Behold one of Africa’s most unspoilt national parks, an Eden of rich floodplains and streams that nourish its namesake river. Until 1983, the Lower Zambezi was the private reserve of the Zambian president, and entirely off-limits to visitors, promising an unforgettable safari experience barely touched by tourism. Head out from your secluded camp on drives, walks and canoe trips beneath the mahogany and mopane trees in search of elephants and hippos, lions, buffalos and wild dogs, with scarcely another human in sight.