Zambia’s diverse wildlife make it the ideal destination for a safari. Kim Emmanuel looks at some of the unique offerings.

Bat migration

Khetiwe Chiumya Puta, Marketing and Public Relations Manager at Protea Hotels Zambia, suggests witnessing the bat migration at Kasanka National Park.

This natural phenomenon takes place for about 90 days from late October to mid-December, with the arrival of 10 million straw-coloured fruit bats. The bats leave the forest every evening and return in the early hours of the morning when visitors may be able to film the Crowned eagle, the Fish eagle and Martial eagle hunting the bats.

Kasanka National Park offers treetop hides in private locations in the Bat Forest to view the migration. Guests can also expect sightings of sitatunga, blue monkey, puku, and elephant.

Endemic species and abundant wildlife

According to Keira Irwin, Commercial Director at Proflight, there are two species of mammal endemic to the Luangwa Valley, the Thornicroft’s giraffe and the Cookson’s wildebeest.

South Luangwa National Park also hosts a variety of wildlife, birds and vegetation with 60 different animal species and over 400 different bird species.

“The South Luangwa used to be home to the world’s largest populations of both elephant and Black rhino and, while numbers of both species have declined dramatically, the national park is one of the most diverse in terms of habitat and numbers of wildlife species in Africa,” said Irwin.

Mariska Yntema, Product Developer at Jenman African Safaris, says the Luangwa River is “infested” with hippos and crocodiles. “It offers one of the highest concentration of hippos on the continent. I visited the park and counted as many as 60 hippo converging in the bends of the river.”

Zambia Tourism estimates that there are about 50 hippos per kilometre on the Luangwa River.

Yntema said she really enjoyed the night drives in South Luangwa. “Guides were amazing and found us a family of three porcupines which came right up to the vehicle. We even followed lions with cubs on a hunt.”

Tree-climbing lions

“Kafue’s famous tree-climbing lions have a prominent presence in the Busanga Plains and we often find fresh tracks of lions walking right through the camp, and hear them calling every night and most mornings too. Other big cat sightings include cheetah, leopard and serval, in addition to the plentiful plains game,” said Ron Goatley, Wilderness Safaris Zambezi MD.

There are no cheetah in the Luangwa or Zambezi national parks. They only occur in the west of Zambia, with Liuwa Plains and the Kafue holding the last viable populations.

They can be found in mixed woodland and riverine areas where they prey on impala, puku and other antelope. Cheetah are found throughout the Kafue, from Nanzhila in the south to the Busanga in the north.

Birdlife

Yntema describes Zambia’s birdlife as “extraordinary”. “Zambia is well known for the flocks of Southern Carmine bee eaters that migrate there, and make huge nests on the river banks.”

Near the end of the dry season (October), when the lagoons begin to recede, red-faced yellow-billed storks can be seen fishing with their beaks open underwater.

Pelicans, the 1.6-metre Saddle-bill stork, Marabou stork, Great White egrets, Black-headed herons, Open-billed storks, Goliath herons and Crowned cranes are some of the other bird species that can be seen in the area.

Just before the rainy season in November, the migrants from Northern Europe and the intra-African migrants arrive to exploit the feeding opportunities that come along with the rainy season. These include the Red-chested cuckoo, White storks, European swallows, swifts, hobbies and bee-eaters, as well as birds of prey such as the Steppe eagles and Steppe buzzards that come from Russia.