Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sometimes growing in beautiful groves. As you move away from the river onto higher
ground, the woodland gets denser and finding animals takes more patience.
Not that you'll ever be disappointed by Luangwa's wildlife. The park is famous for its
herds of buffaloes, which are particularly large and dramatic when they congregate in the
dry season and march en masse to the river to drink. Elephant numbers are also very
healthy, even though ivory poaching in the 1980s had a dramatic effect on the population.
Elephants are not at all skittish as they are very used to human activity and wildlife
vehicles, especially around Mfuwe. This park is also a great place to see lions and leo-
pards (especially on night drives), and local specialities include Cookson's wildebeest (an
unusual light-coloured subspecies) and the endemic Thornicroft's giraffe, distinguished
from other giraffes by a dark neck pattern.
Even the zebras here are unusual; called Crawshay's zebras, their stripes are thin, nu-
merous and extend down to the hooves, under the belly, with no shadow stripe - they are
an intermediate form between the 'standard' East African form and the extra-stripy sub-
species in Mozambique.
There's a stunning variety of 'plains game'; the numerous antelope species include
bushbuck, waterbuck, kudu, impala and puku. Roan antelopes, hartebeests and reedbucks
are all here, but encountered less often.
Luangwa's population of wild dogs, one of the rarest animals in Zambia (and Africa)
seems to be on the increase, especially around the Mfuwe area from November to Janu-
ary; there has been a resurgence in numbers around the Nsefu sector as well. An organisa-
tion that works to protect and rehabilitate wild dog populations is the
Zambia Carnivore
Programme
(
www.zambiacarnivores.org
)
- healthy packs require huge areas to roam for
their nomadic lifestyles, and it is trying to open up a viable corridor for the dogs between
South Luangwa and the Lower Zambezi National Parks.
The birdlife in South Luangwa is also tremendous. As small lagoons dry out, fish
writhe in the shallows and birds mass together as 'fishing parties.' Pelicans and yellow-
billed storks stuff themselves silly, and become so heavy they can't fly. Herons, spoonbills
and marabou storks join the fun, while grasses and seeds around the lagoons attract a
moving coloured carpet of queleas and Lilian's lovebirds. Other ornithological highlights
are the stately crowned cranes and the unfeasibly colourful Carmine bee-eaters, whose mi-
gration here every August is one of the world's great wildlife spectacles - some visitors
come just to see these flocks of beautiful birds busy nesting in the sandy river banks.
