South Luangwa National Park abuts the Luangwa River in the South Eastern region of Zambia.
For us intrepid wildlife travellers, it was a veritable haven after two barren years.
My wife and I are very serious (but amateur) wildlife photographers and we had ‘targeted’ two species in particular that this area is famous for, that is leopards and wild dogs. We were not disappointed, and of course there were all the other main contenders in abundance, from lions, elephants, hippos, hyenas etc, etc. Mary and I always say the the real joy is seeing true wildlife in its own environment behaving naturally; please see the zebras just having fun in a small family group.
Zambia is unique in many ways, with a relatively sparce population of only 17 million, but having 7 different languages, not dialects. People in different regions do not understand each other’s language, so they use the common language of English. It is spoken widely by virtually everybody. Thus communication between us all is excellent.
The national park itself is quite different from many Africa countries, the landscape so variable from open grass plans, vast areas of water bodies, known as lagoons where the hippos spend much of their day, to the forested areas where elephants and giraffes lurk.
The camp Flatdogs is a colloquial name for crocodiles. It is without doubt the best we have ever stayed, by far. The accommodation was very spacious and comfortable, and the food…. what can one say. It would rank with any 3 /4 * restaurant. The owners have set extremely high standards with all aspect of service and the people running it day to day were quite delightful. Our guide for the duration, Bwalya, ranks with the best. A very bright young man with a mind boggling mental map of the whole park, and an almost encyclopedic memory for the flora and fauna.
As a famous character once said……. we will be back….definitely !
