South Africa And Zambia: Kruger/Victoria Falls/South Luangwa Itinerary

Summary:
Tour Duration: 12 Days | Start: Sabi Sands Game Reserve, South Africa | End: South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

With a choice of opulent hotels positioned in three of Southern Africa’s best wilderness locations, your 12-day South Africa And Zambia: Kruger/Victoria Falls/South Luangwa Itinerary has all the elements of an outstanding safari experience.

Start at Londolozi Pioneers Camp, where the sumptuousness of the lodge and its service will be the only thing vying with the amazing Big 5 wildlife encounters. You then keep on Zambia, where Thorntree River Lodge stands majestically on the banks of the great Zambezi River, right upstream from the thundering Victoria Falls. At Chinzombo Camp amid the epic wilderness of South Luangwa National Park, the trip transports you finally to where the exciting wildlife encounters that define this park just equal the elegance and beauty of the resort.

Perfect as a luxurious family vacation or a deluxe honeymoon with a difference, this trip is all about first-rate service, first-rate cuisine, first-rate lodging, and—of course—absolutely incredible animals in prime, unspoiled settings.

A Complete South Africa And Zambia: Kruger/Victoria Falls/South Luangwa Itinerary

Days 1-4: Welcome To South Africa! | 4 Nights

Sabi Sands Game Reserve

Private charter plane will take you straight to Londolozi as you land at Johannesburg. Londolozi is part of the Sabi Sands portion of the Kruger National Park, which together covers more than two million hectares of unspoiled wilderness where many species can roam unhindered. Given its far-off and untamed surroundings, Londolozi Pioneer Camp is the height of elegance, refinement, and style—amazing.

Steering out into the late afternoon cold air, you find a rainbow of birds and animals. Although the Big 5 are greatly sought-after, there is so much more to discover than a simple list of species. Here among the leopards are known for their laid-back attitude as they go royal about their life. And nothing can get you ready for the wonder you will experience at your first view of a pride of lions; the very existence of these amazing cats combined with rippling muscles and their eerie amber eyes will cause shivers down your spine.

Early morning and late afternoon wildlife drives in the hands of your seasoned guide and professional tracker abound every day. Following your early morning drive, the kind meal you find waiting for you on return is much appreciated. This luxurious dining is best enjoyed with a guided bush walk, which offers a wonderfully near-to-nature viewpoint of the animals and flora.

Days 5-7: Into Zambia | 3 Nights

Before getting on your chartered jet to Livingstone in Zambia and then onto Thorntree River Lodge, enjoy a last brunch. Thorntree exudes modern elegance and personal appeal. Set on the banks of the great Zambezi River upstream from the Victoria Falls, you may have the best of both worlds: close enough to be driven into the activity of Victoria Falls Town and far enough to have unlimited peace and quiet.

Taking a sunset sail is the ideal way to introduce the Zambezi. Gliding in the golden light across the lake, you see creatures descend to drink. African fish eagles scream their distinctive calls from the tall trees on the river while pod of hippos struggle and chortle in the deep channels. Surrounded by a wilderness of water and forest that radiates a wonderful intensity, you float in peace as the sunset paints the heavens in an unearthly pallet of colour.

From this picture-perfect site, you are exactly positioned to take advantage of the range of activities available, including a voluntary helicopter trip across the Victoria Falls. Local tribes called these falls, “The Smoke that Thunders,” a wonder of the natural world where millions of gallons of water spill over a large break in the crust of the earth into a boiling pit underneath. The roar from the falls is a deep rumble that shakes the earth, a really amazing sight that lives up to its name, and the view from the air above it is nothing less than breathtaking. The spray from the falls is evident kilometers around.

Days 8-11: The South Luangwa | 4 Nights

South Luangwa National Park – A wildlife photographer’s guide

Your plane leaves Victoria Falls and flies toward Mfuwe, on the edge of South Luangwa National Park. There your guide greets you and drives you to Chinzombo for a game drive. Chinzombo takes the South Luangwa bush-camp experience to a whole fresh level of luxury and refinement by deftly combining simplicity with sophistication. Built on a bend in the river amid a grove of trees, the lodge has embraced modern technologies to reduce environmental effect and uses locally produced sustainable materials in its building. There couldn’t be a more unusual place from which to enjoy an amazing wildlife encounter than the teeming wilds of the Luangwa Valley right on your doorstep.

Travel across a primordial terrain, unaltered in millennia, where hippos tumble and grunt in the river and fish eagles call their mysterious from the branches above. Open yourself to the experience. The region’s world-class game abundance guarantees an exciting experience. As your guide exposes the secrets of this amazing environment as they develop around you, such where the chattering of an agitated monkey could lead you to an immense tree, where he rattles the uppermost branches in a fury of agitation, With binoculars, your only view is dark woodland, scrub and trees until suddenly a shadow separates itself from a horizontal branch and the clear outline of a cat shows. Following his sharp-eyed glance. Black against the background and far away, a leopard moves with liquid grace from branch to branch then on to the ground before disappearing into the woods.

Day 12: Bid Farewell

At last the day comes when you have to say goodbye to this unique part of Africa. You consider the amazing adventures you have had: the views, the smells and sounds of a primordial land, where nature still rules supreme, as it has done for millennia on the trip back to Mfuwe and your flight home.

End of the 12 Days South Africa And Zambia Itinerary