South Luangwa

South Luangwa: History & Culture

Discover South Luangwa

South Luangwa National Park lies in Zambia’s Eastern Province, in the Luangwa Valley, part of the East African Rift system. It is widely regarded as the birthplace of the walking safari, and its leopard, wild dog and bird populations are among the richest in Southern Africa.

South Luangwa National Park at a glance

• Country: Zambia
• Province: Eastern Province
• Size: 9,050 km² (3,490 sq mi)
• Boundaries: the Muchinga Escarpment to the west; the Luangwa River, which it follows closely, to the east
• Gateway town: Mfuwe, just outside the park’s eastern boundary
• Status: gazetted as South Luangwa Game Reserve on 27 May 1938, upgraded to national park status in 1972; a Lion Conservation Unit since 2005 alongside North Luangwa National Park

The birthplace of the walking safari

South Luangwa’s reputation rests on one man: the British conservationist Norman Carr. In 1950 Carr established the first game-viewing camp open to the public in what was then Northern Rhodesia, working with Senior Chief Nsefu of the Kunda people, who agreed to set aside a portion of tribal land as a game reserve. Proceeds from the camp went back to the community, an early example of conservation-through-tourism. Guests came to watch and photograph animals rather than shoot them, and South Luangwa became what is still called the home of the photographic and walking safari. Carr later founded Norman Carr Safaris, which still operates camps in the valley, and the Kapani School Project, running since 1986, which has brought wildlife education to local children.

Wildlife of the Luangwa Valley

Predators and the Luangwa’s own giraffe

The Nsefu Sector supports some of the highest recorded leopard densities in Southern Africa, alongside stable populations of lion, spotted hyena and African wild dog. The park is also the only place on Earth where Thornicroft’s giraffe occurs; an estimated 550 survive in the wild, found nowhere else, distinguished by markings that stop above the knee. Elephant, buffalo, hippo and a wide range of antelope are common along the river.

Birdlife

More than 460 bird species have been recorded in South Luangwa, including Lilian’s lovegird, the Narina trogon, Pel’s fishing owl and the western banded snake eagle. Between August and September, large flocks of southern carmine bee-eaters arrive to breed in burrows along the riverbanks, one of the valley’s most photographed spectacles.

History and conservation

The valley’s wildlife was first given formal protection as the Luangwa Game Reserve in 1904, though poaching went largely unchecked in its early decades. Reorganisation in 1938 split the area into three reserves — North Luangwa, Lukusuzi and South Luangwa — and South Luangwa Game Reserve, together with adjoining tribal land, became a national park in 1972. Since 2005 it has been managed jointly with North Luangwa National Park as a single Lion Conservation Unit.

Planning your visit

Mfuwe Airport (MFU), just outside the park, has flights to Lusaka and connections toward the Lower Zambezi and Lilongwe in Malawi. Exact entry fees, opening hours and which camps operate through the wet season were not confirmed in this research and are left out rather than guessed; check current details with the Zambia Department of National Parks and Wildlife or your accommodation before travelling. The dry season, roughly May to October, is when game viewing is easiest and most camps are open; some remote areas close during the rains.

Why visit South Luangwa

South Luangwa combines the place where the modern walking safari began with some of Southern Africa’s densest leopard populations, a giraffe subspecies found nowhere else on Earth, and a river valley busy with hippo, elephant and more than 460 bird species. For a slower, on-foot safari tradition rather than only game drives, it remains one of the places that defined the genre.

Photo by Prabir K Bhattacharyya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.