Zambia · ZM

Lower Zambezi National Park

Lower Zambezi National Park is one of Zambia's great river safaris: a large, unspoilt preserve where the Zambezi runs wide through a green floodplain and elephants come down to the water's edge. Set in Lusaka Province some 120 km southeast of the capital, the park protects roughly 4,092 square kilometres of channels, islands, palm-dotted banks and woodland, with a rolling escarpment rising behind the valley. It was gazetted in 1983 and still feels wonderfully undeveloped. What makes it special is the mix of land and water. This is one of the few places in southern Africa where you can combine a classic game drive with a canoe drifting through quiet channels and a motorboat safari along the riverbank, all in a day. Opposite, on the far side of the Zambezi, lies Zimbabwe's famous Mana Pools National Park, so the river binds together one vast transfrontier wildlife sanctuary. The birdlife is outstanding, the herds of elephant can run to a hundred strong, and the silence of the valley at dusk is part of the magic.