Zambia Travel Guide

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Top Things to See

• Watch the wildlife in the Kafue National Park, the second largest national park in the world. Noted for its beauty, the park is bisected by the Kafue River, which attracts hundreds of species of birds and offers good game fishing.

• Don't miss the astonishing Victoria Falls, on the southernmost edge of Zambia bordering Zimbabwe. They are the mightiest cataracts in the world - the 2.5km- (1.5-mile-) wide Zambezi River drops 100m (330ft) into a narrow chasm at a rate of 550 million liters every minute, with a spray that can be seen 30km (20 miles) away.

• See the attractions in the capital, Lusaka, including the Kabwata Cultural Village (devoted to the preservation of indigenous arts and crafts and displays of traditional dancing), the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the Munda Wanga Botanical Gardens and Zoo and the Lusaka National Museum.

• Visit the Copperbelt Museum in Ndola, an important commercial center and the gateway to the mineral producing region of Zambia.

• Visit Kitwe, the second largest city in Zambia and a place that owes a lot of its importance to copper. See the Mindolo Dam which is 7km (4.5 miles) away and the Makwera Falls and Lake, located 9km (5.5 miles) from the city.

• Discover the discover the oldest copper mine in Zambia, in Luanshya.

• See what Livingstone, the ‘Tourist Capital of Zambia', has to offer - several luxury hotels, a casino, the Livingstone Museum, housing Livingstone memorabilia and anthropological exhibits, as well as the Railway Museum.

Top Things to Do

• Stay in a lodge in the South Luangwa National Park (website: www.luangwa.net) amongst elephants, hippos, lions, zebras, giraffes, antelopes, buffaloes, monkeys and wild dogs with blossoming trees and exotic flowers forming the background.

• Explore one of Africa’s most spectacular surviving wilderness areas - the North Luangwa National Park (website: www.luangwa.net), covering 4,636 sq km (1,790 sq miles) and home to the beautiful Mwaleshi river, huge herds of buffalo and over 350 bird species.

• Go birdwatching in the exceptionally diverse Lochinvar National Park on the southern edge of the Kafue Flats, a wide floodplain of the Kafu river, famous for its large herds of lechwe, an antelope unique to the Kafue Flats.

• Enjoy the sandy shorelines of Lake Tanganyika in Sumbu National Park, where there are three all-year beach resorts: at Kasaba, Ndole and Nkamba bays. The park’s spectacular sunsets are not to be missed.

• Find more animals in the Kasanka National Park, one of Zambia’s smaller parks, that encompasses eight lakes and four rivers, the largest being the beautiful Luwombwa. Attractive and diverse, it is home to specialized mammals, including the rare blue monkey, and birds.

• Take a canoe safari along the Zambezi River in the Lower Zambezi National Park, 100km (62 miles) downstream of the Victoria Falls. Try fishing for tiger fish, bottle-nose fish or bream.

• Get adventurous in Livingstone, Zambia’s center for adventure sports. Bungee jump off the 111m (364ft) bridge linking Zambia and Zimbabwe across the River Zambezi, or abseil or high-wire down or across the gorge.

• Go white-water rafting on the Zambezi. Longer and quieter river trips usually follow the Victoria Falls-Lake Kariba itinerary, with Lake Kariba also offering the possibility to relax for a week on a luxurious houseboat.