If one thinks of Africa’s great wildlife concentrations, what country usually comes to mind? Kenya, Tanzania … Botswana, perhaps? How often does the name Zambia crop up? Zambia is one of those places that most people pass over when planning a safari. Most associate this nation with the touristy town of Livingstone in the extreme south of the country, where visitors jostle for a glimpse of the Victoria Falls. The visit is usually brief, and guests fly in and out of Livingstone without seeing much else of the country. And yet the vast, largely untrammelled swathe of the country to the north probably has the highest concentration and best variety of wildlife on the continent, if not the world.
The capital, Lusaka, lies in the centre of the country. It makes the perfect launch pad from which to explore this African Shangri-La. From this hub one can choose any direction, like spokes on a wheel.
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Going west has more surprises. A little more than 100 km from Lusaka are the twin parks with the decidedly un-African names of Blue Lagoon and Lochinvar. Blue Lagoon has only recently been opened to the public, as it was originally a preserve set up by a retired environmentally-minded colonel of the British Army. Thanks to their long seclusion from the public, these parks are spectacular examples of pure nature.
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Further west from the twin parks is Zambia’s oldest and largest wildlife park, Kafue. Like most of Zambia’s parks, it remains relatively unknown and unexplored. It has a diverse range of habitats and, like the other parks mentioned, is teeming with a huge diversity of wildlife. Kafue has more species of ungulates than anywhere else south of the Congo basin. This includes varieties like roan and sable antelope, as well as the extremely rare blue and yellow-backed duiker. It is also one of the best places to view leopard and, a rarity for Zambia, cheetah. The later are oddly found as happily ensconced among the dense Miombo woodlands as they are in their preferred habitat of flat open plains. Kafue boasts some of the highest concentrations of painted dogs anywhere in Africa as well as, it is said, the largest of Africa’s crocodiles.
What makes Zambia so special is that the animals roam on gigantic tracts of relatively unspoiled plains and forests, and all are less than a day’s drive from the capital city. Any visitor here will get the feeling that they alone bear witness to nature’s finest of spectacles. It is as if, like Livingstone himself, they are discovering the heart of Africa for the first time.
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