Zambia

Zambia is where the walking safari began. Norman Carr first took guests out on foot in the Luangwa valley, and South Luangwa is still the place to learn the bush at walking pace: the tracks in the sand, the birds, what the impala are telling you about what is in the thicket. On foot the bush gets bigger and you get quieter. By the third morning you notice the tracks before your guide points them out.

We use two places. In South Luangwa you stay at Time + Tide Chinzombo, six villas on the Luangwa River. You walk in the cool of the morning with your guide, when the tracks are fresh, and drive in the afternoon and into the evening. At the other end of the journey you stay at Thorntree River Lodge on the Zambian bank of the Zambezi near Livingstone, upstream of Victoria Falls. From there you canoe the river at sunrise and take a helicopter over the Falls, approaching from upstream at eye level.

Your international flight lands in Lusaka, where a Pilatus PC-12 is waiting to fly you east to Mfuwe, a short drive from Chinzombo. From South Luangwa the PC-12 flies south into Zimbabwe for Mana Pools, and a Cessna Caravan follows the Zambezi west to the Falls. Zambia and Zimbabwe share the river and the Falls, and we use both banks.

We plan Zambia for June to October, the dry months, when the walking is at its best and the game gathers along the Luangwa.