Spanning 4,636km², North Luangwa National Park is situated in the oldest section of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, and is the northern-most park of the Luangwa Valley. The North Luangwa National Park lies within the greater North Luangwa protected ecosystem, which covers 22,000km².
Remote and expansive, this unique African ecosystem is habitat for diverse species of African fauna and flora. Known for being pristine and largely undiscovered, it’s the only in park Zambia that’s home to the Big Five. Elephants, leopards, hyena, lions, baboons and huge herds of buffalo roam the grasslands of the reserve, as well as Cookson’s wildebeest, zebra, and warthog. Antelope species of the park include bushbuck, puku and impala, hartebeest, reedbuck and eland Vervet monkeys and hundreds of bird species live within the mopane woodlands and riverine forests. Other African trees you’ll find here include acacias, sausage trees, vegetable ivory palms, red mahogany and leadwood. For keen birdwatchers, crowned cranes, purple-crested loeries, broad-billed rollers, Lilian’s lovebirds, carmine bee-eaters, giant eagle owls and Pel’s fishing owls are typically spotted, as well as the occasional black coucal, bat hawk, and osprey.
In North Luangwa, visitors have the opportunity to take part in walking safaris. Chaperoned by experienced game guides, visitors can explore the park on foot, allowing them a unique and authentic perspective of African game and the African bushveld. Sections of park such as the Mwaleshi area do not permit game drives and can only be traversed on foot. Though the Mwaleshi river flows during the wet season, in the dry season it’s reduced to water-holes where animals come to drink.
