Zambia

Wild rivers and walking safaris

Why visit Zambia?

Zambia is one of Africa’s great wilderness destinations, renowned for remote national parks, exceptional walking safaris and wildlife-rich river valleys. South Luangwa, Lower Zambezi and Kafue offer intimate game viewing far from the crowds, with the Luangwa, Kafue and Zambezi rivers sustaining remarkable habitats throughout the country.

Its vast, unspoiled landscapes are ideal for game drives, guided walks, canoeing and river cruises, with small bush camps delivering an authentic safari experience and some of Southern Africa’s finest wildlife encounters.

Enquire about Zambia

Capital City

Lusaka

Currency

Zambian Kwacha

Official Languages

English, Bemba, Nyanja, Lozi, Tonga, Luvale, Lunda and Kaonde

International Airport

Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport (Livingstone), Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (Lusaka), Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (Copperbelt)

Climate

November to March: hot rainy season, roughly 30 to 19 degrees Celsius
Mid March to mid May: hot, roughly 28 to 15 degrees Celsius
Mid May to August: cool, dry and sunny, roughly 26 to 7 degrees Celsius
September to November: very hot, roughly 34 to 18 degrees Celsius

Victoria Falls water levels shift with the year's rains:

January and February: the Zambezi begins to rise; while levels stay fairly low you can take in the full scale of the Falls without being drenched in spray, with rainbows everywhere
March to May: the wet season ends and the Falls run at full flood beneath a vast cloud of spray
June: the water settles to mid level, a great month offering the best of both worlds
July and August: widely considered the finest time to visit, with water spanning the Falls' full width of up to 1.7 kilometres at a level that can be perfectly captured
September: mid to low water, the moment to appreciate the sheer scale of the gorge and its geology
October to December: the lowest levels, with little water over the Eastern Cataract on the Zambian side while the Zimbabwean side keeps flowing

Where to go

Explore Zambia

Mosi oa Tunya National Park

Zambia's smallest national park sits between Livingstone and the Zambezi and takes its name from the Lozi words for Victoria Falls: the Smoke that Thunders. Beyond the Falls themselves, this UNESCO World Heritage site is a safe haven free of predators, sheltering an abundance of herbivores and the whole of Zambia's white rhino population.

South Luangwa

In the valley of the Luangwa River in the east, wildlife gathers around the river and its oxbow lagoons while the Muchinga escarpment forms a barrier along the park's northwestern edge, concentrating animals to remarkable densities. It is the easiest place to find species that exist nowhere else, like Thornicroft's giraffe and Crawshay's zebra.

Kafue National Park

Zambia's oldest and largest national park covers a great sweep of the west, where large herds roam the shores of Lake Itezhi Tezhi, the Kafue River and its tributaries. Typically elusive leopards are a surprisingly common sight in its forests, and despite lying only two hours from Livingstone it remains largely unexplored and untouched by mass tourism.

Lower Zambezi National Park

On the border with Zimbabwe, directly opposite Mana Pools, the Lower Zambezi hosts elephant herds of up to one hundred strong along the valley. The river draws hippos, Nile crocodiles, herbivore herds and the predators that follow them, all of which can be perfectly watched from a leisurely cruise or a canoe.

Liuwa Plain National Park

Liuwa means plains in the Lozi language, and these grasslands originally served as a royal hunting ground. Today the park stages a spectacular wildlife migration, as thousands of blue wildebeest, zebra and other grazers gather at the beginning of the wet season.