Zambia: South Luangwa and the Lower Zambezi on Foot and by Canoe

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Lusaka

   Kenneth Kaunda International Airport to your hotel in Lusaka

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Lusaka
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (LUN), about 25 km north-east of central Lusaka, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the forty-minute drive into the city. Lusaka is a working capital rather than a sightseeing one, so today is for resting after the long flight, and we keep it short on purpose: one night here, then out to the parks in the morning. Plan to land by mid-afternoon if you can. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the days ahead: how a walking safari works and why the scout carries a rifle, what to wear on foot, the soft-bag limit on the small planes, and how the camps run their days around dawn and dusk. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, and an early night before tomorrow's flight to Mfuwe.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (LUN)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : Fly to Mfuwe and a first night drive

   Lusaka by air to Mfuwe, then by road to a lodge on the Luangwa River

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : South Luangwa
   Détail du jour 2

   After breakfast we drive back to the airport for the domestic flight east to Mfuwe, about an hour and a quarter over the plateau and down into the Luangwa Valley, a southern arm of the Great Rift. By road the same journey is a long day of about 700 km. From Mfuwe Airport it is about 45 minutes through villages and farmland to our lodge on the bank of the Luangwa River, just outside the park, where elephants often walk through the grounds. Lunch is at the lodge, then a rest through the heat. Around four we cross into South Luangwa National Park in an open vehicle for the first game drive: puku and impala on the floodplain, giraffe of the local Thornicroft form, hippos packed into the shrinking pools. At sunset we stop for a drink, then the guide switches on a spotlight and the drive becomes a night drive, the best chance on the trip for leopard, genet and hyena.

   Compris

   • Domestic flight from Lusaka to Mfuwe
   • Afternoon game drive in South Luangwa National Park, running into a night drive
   • Sundowner on the drive
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

   Temps libre : Midday free at the lodge

   Activité : Soft bags only on the domestic and light-aircraft flights, about 15 to 20 kg each; the exact limit is confirmed with your flights.

   

3. Jour 3 : A first walking safari

   South Luangwa on foot, a village near Mfuwe, then an evening drive

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : South Luangwa
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave the lodge at first light with tea and a rusk, because the first three hours of the day are when animals move and the air is cool. Your walking guide leads, an armed wildlife scout walks at the front, and we follow in single file at a slow pace, usually no more than six to a party, so a full group goes out as two walks. On foot the small things come forward: lion tracks pressed into the sand of a dry riverbed, the dung of each animal and what it ate, termite mounds, the alarm call of a puku. After brunch back at the lodge, a short drive takes us to a village near Mfuwe, where a local host shows us the homesteads, the school and the fields, and talks about life beside a national park. Then rest through the heat, and out again at four on a drive that runs past sunset into the dark.

   Compris

   • Morning walking safari with a licensed walking guide and an armed scout
   • Visit to a village near Mfuwe with a local host
   • Afternoon game drive and night drive
   • All meals at the lodge

   Option plus facile : Take the morning game drive instead of the walk.

   Temps libre : Midday free at the lodge

   Activité : The walk is about 3 to 4 hours at a slow pace, typically 5 to 8 km on flat ground. Walks need neutral clothing and closed shoes, and camps set a minimum walking age, usually 12 to 16, which we confirm with the camp.

   

4. Jour 4 : Into the bush camp

   Lodge near Mfuwe across the park to a seasonal bush camp

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : South Luangwa
   Détail du jour 4

   A last early walk or drive from the lodge, then brunch, and we move deeper into South Luangwa. The transfer to the bush camp is on park tracks in the open vehicle, about one and a half to two and a half hours depending on the camp, and it is a game drive in its own right, through mopane woodland, ebony groves and open plains where the tracks are quieter than near Mfuwe. Seasonal bush camps are built after the rains and taken down before the next ones. Ours is small: a handful of reed, thatch or canvas chalets with their own flush toilet and hot shower, solar lights, no Wi-Fi, and meals at one table or around the fire. After tea we walk out from camp in the late afternoon light to a lagoon or a bend in the river for sunset. Dinner is under the stars, and at night you hear hippos grazing and lions calling across the valley.

   Compris

   • Morning walk or game drive from the lodge
   • Game drive across the park to the bush camp
   • Late-afternoon walk from camp to a sunset viewpoint
   • All meals at the lodge and camp

   Option plus facile : Stay in the vehicle for the sunset instead of the late walk.

   Activité : The transfer is slow on purpose: it is the day's game drive, with stops for whatever we find.

5. Jour 5 : A full day on foot from the bush camp

   Walks along the Luangwa and its dry tributaries

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : South Luangwa
   Détail du jour 5

   This is the day the trip is built around. We set out from camp on foot at first light, with the walking guide and the scout, and follow the riverbank and a sand riverbed for the longest walk of the trip, up to about four hours with a stop for coffee in the shade. Walking teaches you to read the bush: where the buffalo crossed in the night, which tree the leopard used, why the carmine bee-eaters nest in the sandbank. Animals are approached downwind and watched from a respectful distance; the guide decides how close is close enough. Back at camp there is brunch and a long rest in the heat, with a hide or the riverbank for anyone who wants to sit and watch. In the late afternoon we go out again, on foot or by vehicle, and come back to camp after dark for a last dinner around the fire in the Luangwa Valley.

   Compris

   • Long morning walking safari with a walking guide and an armed scout
   • Late-afternoon walk or game drive, with a sundowner
   • All meals at the bush camp

   Option plus facile : A shorter loop of about two hours, or a morning game drive with the camp vehicle.

   Option plus active : The full four-hour walk, which is the default for anyone who wants it.

   Temps libre : Midday free at camp

   Activité : The longest walk of the trip, up to about 4 hours and 8 to 10 km on flat but soft sand. Bring a hat, water and broken-in shoes. Vehicle time today is the optional afternoon game drive, about 2.5 hours.

6. Jour 6 : Fly to the Lower Zambezi

   Bush camp to Mfuwe, then by light aircraft to the Lower Zambezi

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Lower Zambezi
   Détail du jour 6

   A short early walk or drive near camp, then breakfast and the slow game-drive transfer back across the park to Mfuwe Airport, up to about two and a half hours with stops for what we find, for the flight to the Lower Zambezi in a light aircraft, either direct or with a change in Lusaka; we confirm the routing with your dates. You land at a dirt airstrip in the Zambezi Valley, where the camp team meets the plane, and drive or boat a short way to camp on the river. The Lower Zambezi National Park runs along the north bank, with the Zambezi escarpment rising behind it, and across the water is Mana Pools in Zimbabwe, a UNESCO World Heritage site. After lunch and a rest we board the camp's river boat for the late afternoon: elephants crossing between islands, hippo pods, crocodiles on the sandbanks and African fish eagles calling from the trees. We stay on the water for sunset over the escarpment, then dinner at camp by the river.

   Compris

   • Light-aircraft flight from Mfuwe to the Lower Zambezi
   • Late-afternoon river boat trip on the Zambezi, with a sundowner
   • All meals at camp

   Temps libre : Early afternoon free at camp

   Activité : Today is a flight day, not a driving day: about 2.5 hours of road time is the game-drive transfer from the bush camp to Mfuwe, then a light-aircraft flight of roughly 1 to 2 hours depending on routing (direct or via Lusaka), confirmed with your final itinerary.

7. Jour 7 : Canoeing the Zambezi channels

   A morning on the water, an afternoon in the park

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Lower Zambezi
   Détail du jour 7

   After an early breakfast we take to the canoes, two guests to a boat with a guide leading, on one of the quieter side channels of the Zambezi in the Chiawa area. Paddling is easy and mostly downstream; the guide keeps us in the shallows and away from deep water where hippos rest. From a canoe you sit low and silent, so elephants feeding on the bank, waterbuck and herons let you drift close. We are off the water by late morning, before the wind and the heat build, for lunch at camp and a rest. In the afternoon we go into the Lower Zambezi National Park by open vehicle, through winterthorn woodland and along the floodplain, looking for lion, buffalo and leopard, with a sundowner stop, and back to camp as the light goes. As we understand the park rules, drives inside the national park end around sunset; spotlit night drives run only outside it, in the Chiawa Game Management Area, and we confirm with the camp whether one is offered.

   Compris

   • Morning canoe outing on a Zambezi side channel with a guide
   • Afternoon game drive in the Lower Zambezi National Park, with a sundowner
   • All meals at camp

   Option plus facile : Take the morning on the river boat instead of a canoe.

   Temps libre : Midday free at camp

   Activité : About 2 to 3 hours of easy paddling with stops; no experience needed. The camp may switch to the boat if the wind is up. The afternoon game drive is about 3 hours on park tracks and ends around sunset.

   

8. Jour 8 : Your choice on the Zambezi

   A walk or drive in the morning, a last sunset on the river

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Lower Zambezi
   Détail du jour 8

   The last full day is built around what you have liked best. In the morning, choose a walk in the Lower Zambezi with a guide and an armed scout, along the floodplain under the big ana trees whose pods the elephants shake down, or an early game drive, or a second canoe outing on a different channel. Brunch is at camp, and the middle of the day is genuinely free: swim if the camp has a pool, sit on the deck with binoculars, or try catch-and-release fishing for tigerfish, the Zambezi's best-known fighting fish, as an optional extra. In the late afternoon the whole group comes together on the river boat for a last sunset on the Zambezi, drifting past the islands as the light goes red on the escarpment and the hippos start to leave the water. Dinner is a farewell meal at camp, with a fire on the bank.

   Compris

   • Morning walk with a guide and an armed scout, a game drive or a second canoe outing: your choice
   • Sunset river boat trip on the Zambezi
   • Farewell dinner at camp

   Activités en option

   • Catch-and-release tigerfish fishing with the camp's boat and guide, priced at booking

   Option plus facile : The morning game drive, or a quiet morning at camp.

   Option plus active : The morning walk in the national park.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free at camp

   Activité : Vehicle time today is the morning game drive if you choose it, about 2.5 hours on park tracks, plus short transfers to the boat.

9. Jour 9 : Fly back to Lusaka

   Lower Zambezi by light aircraft to Kenneth Kaunda International Airport

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 9

   One more early outing if your flight allows: a short boat trip or a walk along the bank while the river is still and the light is soft. Then breakfast, a last look across to Mana Pools, and the short transfer back to the airstrip for the light-aircraft flight to Lusaka, about 30 to 45 minutes up and over the escarpment. The flight lands at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, so there is no road transfer across the city and you connect straight to your flight home. Your See Sight Tours guide flies with you, sees you into the terminal and checks your onward flight before saying goodbye. If you want more time in southern Africa, Victoria Falls is a short domestic flight from Lusaka, and we can add nights there before or after the trip; ask when you book, and we price it separately.

   Compris

   • Short early boat trip or walk, time permitting
   • Light-aircraft flight from the Lower Zambezi to Lusaka (LUN)

   Activité : Book an international flight leaving Lusaka after about 3 pm; the exact light-aircraft time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

Faune et météo : June and July are cool at dawn and green-gold; August and September are dry, clear and the best months for walking; October is very hot, often around 40 C at midday, with animals crowded at the last water. Most bush camps close in the rains.

• Lusaka1 nuit
• South Luangwa4 nuits
• Lower Zambezi3 nuits