What makes it special
Zambia is a country of rivers and its safari map is drawn by them. The plateau sits mostly between 1,000 and 1,400 metres, and three systems cut into it: the Zambezi along the southern border, the Kafue down the middle, and the Luangwa dropping through a rift valley in the east. In the north the land tips the other way into the Congo basin, where the Chambeshi rises and spreads into the Bangweulu swamps. Twenty national parks and thirty-four game management areas cover a large share of some 752,600 square kilometres, and most of them see almost nobody.
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By air. Kenneth Kaunda International (LUN) at Lusaka is the hub for everything except the falls. Routings run through Johannesburg on Airlink and South African, Addis Ababa on Ethiopian, Nairobi on Kenya Airways and Dubai on Emirates; there is no direct service from Europe. Proflight Zambia carries the domestic network and is the airline an itinerary actually depends on, flying Lusaka to Mfuwe (MFU) for South Luangwa, to Livingstone (LVI) and seasonally into the Lower Zambezi. Mfuwe also connects to Lilongwe, which is the cleanest way to attach Malawi to a Luangwa trip.
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May to June — the country reopens, and it is still green. The rains end in April and camps come back through May and June with the bush tall and water high. Game viewing is not yet at its best, since animals are dispersed and the grass hides them, but the light is clean, the Lower Zambezi canoeing is at its most pleasant and rates sit below peak. June mornings in the Luangwa Valley drop into single figures Celsius and clients are always surprised by that — a fleece for the dawn drive belongs in the packing list.
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