Zambia: Walking Safaris in South Luangwa and Canoeing the Zambezi

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Zambia is the best-kept secret of the African safari. It was here, in the Luangwa Valley, that the walking safari concept was born, pioneered by Norman Carr in the 1950s. Today Zambia still offers the purest and least crowded experience in all of Southern Africa, where you can walk for hours on the trail of a leopard or paddle a canoe among hippos without seeing another vehicle all day. The journey starts in Livingstone, the Zambian town that shares Victoria Falls with Zimbabwe. From the Zambian side you access the Devil's Pool, the natural rock pool right at the lip of the 354-ft fall where you can swim and peer over the edge. The microlight flight over the falls is an experience that leaves you speechless: the immensity of Mosi-oa-Tunya, The Smoke That Thunders, with its 5,604-ft width, can only be grasped from the air. From Livingstone you fly to South Luangwa National Park, considered by many the best safari destination in Africa. Here there are no buses and no crowds: only open vehicles and, above all, walking safaris at dawn. Walking through the savanna following the fresh tracks of a lion or a leopard with an expert armed guide is the most intense and genuine experience the African safari has to offer. Luangwa is also one of the best places in the world to spot leopards, with one of the highest densities on the continent. The itinerary ends in Lower Zambezi National Park, where safaris are done by canoe. Paddling silently along the Zambezi, dodging hippos and watching elephants bathe on the banks, is a completely different and thrilling perspective on African wildlife.