This park is found in the eastern part of Zambia and it is a world’s wildlife haven of which its southern ends are characterized by River Luangwa which is the greatest wildlife point as they converge here for water. The park has got an intensive number of lagoons and the best place in Africa; this was first gazzeted as a game reserve. A number of tourist flocked in to the reserve for photographic tours and in 1972 it was fully given a national park status.
Despite of the park being with a small area, the flora found here in this park makes you to accept why it has got an abundance of wildlife, the landscape is covered by the bush. Due to the fact that it has got a thick bush, this makes wildlife viewing tactical and therefore the park has got no permanent source of water. This makes all the animals to converge on the river shores for water. Here is where herds of elephant colonize to feed on the juicy leaves from the trees along the Riverine
Luangwa valley if found in the tail of the Great Africa Lift Valley and it extends 4000km to the red sea sloping to Pungwe river in Mozambique, therefore the park is bordered by a steep escarpment to the west and in the east by Luangwa River. The western boundary of the park is formed by the Muchinga escarpment and in the north, the eastern bank of the river is in Eastern Province, and as access to the park is only from that side, it is usually thought of as being wholly in Eastern Province.
Wildlife in the park
The park is occupied by almost every type of animals you expect to see while you are on your trip to this park, the park gas got the largest concentration of the big animals including the lions, leopard, buffaloes and the elephants except rhinos that have been poached to extinction from the park. The park is also occupied by the different predators and mammals including the variety of antelopes with Craw shay’s zebra, Vervet monkey and baboon, spotted hyenas, wild dogs, Thornicroft’s giraffes and Cookson’s wildebeest are among the few mentioned mammals and predators within this park. The river also harbor a great number of hippos and crocodiles that are always seen bathing in the waters as a way of cooling their temperatures.
Bird life within the park
To al, visitors who have got love for birding, South Luangwa is one of the true bird destinations in Africa with 378 bird species recorded here, as soon as you enter the park up on the trees, bird voices will be the welcoming hosts within the park and as you slope to the river shore, an abundance occur here. This necessitates you to move along with your camera since a guide who is well conversant with bird names including the herons, eagle, bee-eater, brown-hooded kingfishers, darters, cormorants, egrets, storks and fish eagles, there are also uncommon residents include ospreys, spoonbills and African skimmers.
