NATIONAL PARK, ZAMBIA
SOUTH LUANGWA
Area Highlights
🌍 Location: Eastern Zambia, along the Luangwa River valley
📏 Size: Approximately 9,000 km², one of Zambia’s largest and most renowned national parks
🏞 Scenery: Diverse landscapes of riverine forests, oxbow lagoons, mopane woodland, and sweeping savannah plains
🦁 Wildlife: Famous for high densities of leopards, along with lions, elephants, buffalo, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, and Thornicroft’s giraffe (a local endemic)
🐦 Birdlife: Over 400 species, including African skimmers, carmine bee-eaters, and large raptor populations
🚶 Walking safaris: Known as the birthplace of the walking safari, offering immersive, on-foot wildlife experiences led by expert guides
📸 Photography highlights: Iconic leopard encounters, dramatic river crossings, carmine bee-eater colonies, and golden light over the Luangwa River
🕰 History: Declared a game reserve in the early 20th century and officially a national park in 1972; cornerstone of Zambia’s conservation heritage
About South Luangwa
Very few places in Africa can offer the unique combination of South Luangwa National Park's open, grassy plains and mature, mesmerizing woodlands, crowned with the pristine, impressive Luangwa River. This area's reputation for abundant wildlife and unspoiled vegetation is well earned, so whether driving around or walking through, the intense beauty calls to you from every corner.
South Luangwa National Park is the highlight of eastern Zambia. Known to locals as simply 'the South Park,' it was initially founded as the Luangwa Game Park in 1904, and converted to one of three game reserves in 1938. The impressive park covers an area of about 9050 square kilometers of the Luangwa Valley floor, and lies anywhere from 500 meter to 800 meter above sea level. With its western and northwestern edge bounded by the Muchinga Escarpment, and the southern border lined with the meandering Luangwa River, there's no shortage of dramatic and fascinating topography in this stunning game-rich park.
Experts have dubbed South Luangwa to be one of the greatest wildlife sanctuaries in the world and not without reason. The concentration of animals around the Luangwa River, and its oxbow lagoons, is among the most intense in Africa.
