In this epic safari experience, we join the dots across this astonishing park on foot, by balloon, canoe, boat and land rover – from Busanga to Lake Itezhi-Tezhi.
Kafue National Park, slightly larger than Wales and home to only a handful of lodges and human life. In this epic safari, we join the dots across this astonishing park on foot, by balloon, canoe, boat and landrover – from Busanga in the north to the southern end of Lake Itezhi-Tezhi.
Spending time in Kafue is akin to visiting four separate national parks without ever leaving one. Less than an hour by air from Lusaka, there is consistently great game viewing, including impressive dark-maned lions and their tree climbing friends, big elephants as well as more esoteric species such as lechwe and serval.
Working your way through the park from north to south is long but interesting, with many opportunities to stretch the legs with a first-class walking safari experience in Musekese – all expertly guided with passion and substance. Heading down to the middle of the park, the river changes character into a land of channels and countless islands. This is a great spot to relax and take in the cornucopia of beautiful birds.
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A print anthology of safari and wilderness travel with over 220 pages of travel inspiration.
For those fortunate enough to have experienced a few safaris, an increasing fear that we hear is the gentrification of the genre – the smoothing of the rough edges and the demise of the characterful in favour of the formulaic.
There may be some truth of this in some places, but certainly not Kafue National Park.
The mega-transect of the enormous Kafue National Park can be undertaken any time in Zambia’s dry season from May to November – however this particular wilderness really comes in to its own from August onwards as outlying water disappears and the vegetation dries back, making the wildlife both more concentrated and visible.
Further, because the Kafue is up on the Central African Plateau rather than in a low-lying valley it does not experience the extreme heat that of the Luangwa and Lower Zambezi from late September through October, so making the journey at this time is a perfectly sensible and very rewarding option. The hot-air ballooning on Busanga does not kick-off until early August so bear that in mind if this is a priority, it is the only place in Zambia where it’s offered and really rather special.
June and July can be pretty chilly, especially on the plains, but the upsides are crystal clear skies day and night and virtually not another soul around.
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“On our first full day, Sunday, we saw lazing cheetah, and hippo, and elephant browsing the trees, and lion – two yellow eyed males padding over the plain, oblivious to the thousand puku and lechwe antelope watching them.
“”In nudging family groups they paced, clustered like friends, all ages together. The giant parade grazed side by side and I felt invisible, insubstantial, delighted.
If a camp could be cloned and replanted in every wild place worth visiting it would be Musekese as it’s everything that a safari camp should be.
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Built entirely under a canopy of majestic fig and ebony trees and overlooking the Busanga Plains, a seasonally inundated grassland dotted with tree islands of which the camp is one.
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Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp is located on the site of the old Nanzhila Rest Camp which was built in the late 1950’s set in an area of miombo woodland in the remote area of the southern part of the Kafue Park.
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Kaingu has an attention to detail and level of service that would put many more prominent establishments to shame, Kaingu is an excellent place to relax at the beginning or end of a Kafue-journey.
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It takes genuine local knowledge to craft trips that go beyond the ordinary. The Natural High team have unrivalled experience and will take your ideas and turn them into your trip of a lifetime.
Need some more inspiration? Request a copy of Into The Wild, our comprehensive anthology of safaris and wilderness travel.
A print anthology of safari and wilderness travel with over 220 pages of travel inspiration.