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Zambian Migration

Description

This tour starts at the spectacular Victoria Falls. The Liuwa Plains is situated in western Zambia and will fulfil any game lover’s dreams. Every year, thousands of wildebeest converge on Zambia's Liuwa Plains in what is considered to be Africa's second largest animal migration. On the Liuwa Plains all sense of perspective is lost: a tree that looks five minutes away takes half an hour to reach; lions seem unnaturally large, with disproportionately well-muscled shoulders. The plains cover approximately 4000km² and are notable for the large herds of Blue Wildebeest that migrate into the area after the first rains in November, and remain until the following May.

We move onto Zambia largest national park – Kafue NP, which has an impressive range of over 400 species of birds and abundant wildlife. The Kafue River and its tributaries help the great diversity of this landscape of rolling grass plains and forests. Much of the park is wooded but opens up at intervals to wide grassy clearings known as 'dambos', where antelopes are attracted to the good grazing. These are punctuated with termite mounds, spouting fig trees and phoenix palms.

After we leave Kafue we spend a night stop in Lusaka to re-supply. From here we move into Zimbabwe and the Mana Pools! This is a scenically spectacular national park with great cliffs overhanging the river, Acacia and Mopane Trees and large open grasslands.

 The Zambezi River, which flanks the Mana Pools for 70 kms, is largely responsible for the park's great importance as a game sanctuary. Riverine terraces of lush, sweet grasses cover the floodplains, as animals descend in their thousands to revel in the coolness of these water and feast on the nutritious grasses, and are followed by the predators.This 2,500 square kilometers of river frontage, islands, sandbanks and pools, flanked by forests of mahogany, wild figs, ebonies and baobabs, is one of the least developed National Parks in Southern Africa. It was saved from a hydro-electric scheme in the early eighties which would have seen the flooding of this subsequent World Heritage Site. It has the country’s biggest concentration of hippopotamuses and crocodiles and large dry season mammal populations of elephant.

We then spend two days navigating the southern shores of Lake Kariba. This is not for the faint-hearted! Two nights of wild camping - amongst the wild animals, through the Matusadonna National Park and the Chete Safari Area.
 

Hwange National Park is one of Africa's finest havens for wildlife and is home to vast herds of elephant, buffalo and zebra and has a very large concentration of giraffe. It is also home to many predators and endangered species plus very large and varied birdlife. Hwange National Park covers just over 14 600 square kilometres. The Park carries 105 mammal species, including 19 large herbivores and eight large carnivores. Elephant make up the largest proportion of the biomass. The park offers you an interesting variety of landscapes with one part running alongside the North-eastern end of the Kalahari Desert. The south is sandy with extensive forests and open grassland. A feature of the area is ancient fossil dunes - ancient sand dunes held together by vegetation. Once we have completed our tour of the National Park we head back to the Victoria Falls area in Zambia.