Wildlife Camp, South Luangwa, Zambia

 


Wildlife Camp is situated just a few kilometres outside the main gate of South Luangwa National Park in North-eastern Zambia. It offers a good, sensibly-priced safari experience, with comfortable accommodation and friendly and knowledgeable staff.

There is an axiom of safari travel that states, roughly, "If the lodge has wildlife, or the name of an animal, in its name, then you won't see that wildlife!" I've stayed in enough of these places to be almost universally disappointed with their bold claims. Well, Wildlife Camp exceeds all expectations. We had squirrels and baboons in the bar, hippos mowing the lawns, impala and bushbuck walking past our windows and elephants sniffing at us on our balconies. Apparently there was even a leopard on the path between the bar and our chalets one night.

With all activities being included in the reasonable price, the experience is intensely safari-orientated. We would rise before dawn to break fast and drive to the gate for entrance into the park at 6am. This often involved dodging elephants and giraffe on the road to the park. After four hours in the park, we could have a proper brunch and then relax before returning to the park at 4pm for another four hours in the park broken by a brief stop for a sun-downer.

South Luangwa has to be the most enjoyable park I've ever visited in Africa. We were lucky enough to be staying for a week just as the rains were beginning to take hold. The wildife was abundant, relaxed and varied. We saw painted wolves, lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, waterbuck, bushbuck, buffalo and many more smaller mammals, birds and reptiles. South Luangwa is famous for its leopards and they didn't disappoint us, showing remarkable behaviour and patience. We even saw four different leopards in a single day.


I'm giving Wildlife Camp a solid 9/10. The food could have been a little better, but otherwise the experience was excellent and one I can't wait to repeat in the future.

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