MAP - luangwa - kafue - west zambezi - bangwelu swamp - luangwa escarpment & lower zambezi

The Luangwa Valley forms part of the southernmost end of the great rift system of east Africa but it is much shallower with minor escarpments along its edges. This is one of Zambia's primary hunting grounds.

The Valley is a result of down-faulting dating back to pre-dinosaur days. It is intersected by the 247km Luangwa River, a shallow wide muddy river, that teems with hippo and crocodile. Its banks are lined by riverine woodland and ox-bow lakes are a prominent feature. Inland, mopane woodland covers the valley floor interspersed by deciduous thickets. At the escarpment edges the bush becomes thicker again, varying from thorn thickets to open miombo woodland. It is this varying habitat that plays host to the valley's numerous species from elephant down to grysbok.

The Luangwa National Park is divided into the North and South Luangwa and GMAs are concentrated between and around these two parks.

Luangwa is known for the quality buffalo shot there each season, particularly in the later months of September - November in the northern GMAs. Elephant are not permitted to be hunted but the population is on the increase, often becoming dangerous pests to hunters.

Lion and leopard hunting has been varied with the better concessions yielding decent, full maned bush lion and larger male leopard. However, it is thought that the quality is on the decline due to hunting pressure and one needs a good deal of time to be sure of a good trophy. There are many lion and leopard throughout the valley and baits are regularly "hit". Often the most difficult part of a hunt is exercising patience waiting for the bigger males to show up.

The Cookson's wildebeest, a subspecies of the more common blue wildebeest, is found only here as well as the puku which are mostly hunted in Zambia. Hippo, southern greater kudu, Chobe bushbuck, southern roan, Livingstone eland, southern impala, warthog, Sharpe's Grysbok, Lichtenstein's hartebeest, common waterbuck, spotted hyena, chacma baboon and common reedbuck are all resident in the valley and huntable. 

getting there
Mfuwe is the main entry point into the southern hunting areas and scheduled flights are operated by Zambia Express Airways with most concessions being within half a day's drive from the airport.

Depending upon your outfitter and the concession, chartering a flight from Lusaka is the other available option and is most often the preferred mode of travel. 

Often the outfitters will have constructed an airstrip in their concession and you will fly directly "into camp". This option does cost far more and is one of the major add-on costs of any safari in Zambia.

Most outfitters and PHs don't to drive to any of the Luangwa areas. Not only are the roads extremely bad but the drive is time-consuming and often PHs have a tight hunting schedule.

The hunting in the Kafue GMAs is possibly most representative as true Zambian hunting. It has large tracts of miombo forest, a vegetation type mostly absent from other sub-Saharan countries

The Kafue National Park is Zambia's largest and one of Africa's biggest wilderness areas. Central to the park and the hunting concessions, is the Kafue River and its tributaries, a large clear nutrient-rich body of water. 

The park used to teem with large elephant and many hunters swore they regularly saw 100 pounders. Sadly, the park was one of the hardest hit during the elephant poaching decade and today it faces assault by the bushmeat trade as it is intersected by one of the country's main roads west.

Most of the region is covered in miombo forest, an open well-grassed woodland which offers ideal hunting. At the northern end of the park are the Busanga Plains and at the southern end, the Kafue Flats. Both areas are floodplains and are home to thousands of Kafue lechwe.

The Kafue hunting areas are known as the best sable concessions in Africa and today it's still possible to hunt top 10 trophies here. Buffalo are not plentiful with good trophies being few, but they are encountered and hunted for fun rather than just the trophy.

Lion and leopard hunting are excellent in some areas. Full maned bush lion are shot regularly with some concessions having a very high lion populations. GMAs holding or bordering rivers have good leopard populations with the cats normally coming to bait early in the afternoon.

Other species include Defassa waterbuck, Lichtenstein's hartebeest, Livingstone eland, Chobe bushbuck, impala, puku, Kafue lechwe, common oribi, bush duiker, common reedbuck, southern roan, blue wildebeest and sitatunga. The yellow-backed duiker is found in the northern Kafue areas which is the southern-most end of its distribution.

The best rated GMAs for Kafue are Mumbwa West and Sichifulo. Both are excellent for sable, lion and leopard.

getting there
All the Kafue areas are within driving distance of Lusaka and the main road to the west has recently been resurfaced. Most hunters will be collected in Lusaka by their PH and driven out to the hunting area which is usually not more than a 6 hour drive.

The Kafue areas stay wet well after the rains have ended and hunting there in the early part of the season can be frustrating due to high grass. The best times to hunt are from July to October when the grass has burnt and the inland waterholes are drying up.

The largest single GMA in Zambia is the west-Zambezi area, a vast floodplain covered by the sands of the Kalahari. It is know as the "Trans-Zambezi area" and borders warring Angola while its southern end stretches to Namibia's Caprivi Strip.

One would imagine a desert-filled landscape.  However its southern reaches hold some of Zambia's largest deciduous evergreen forests, a large area of miombo woodland with sandy soil and decent grazing. The northern reaches of the GMA are desolate sandy plains interspersed with small islands of wooded bush. The shared border with Angola does not pose a problem and a regular migration of blue wildebeest takes place during the later months of the year. 

Naturally, most of the hunting tends to concentrate around the movement of game in and out of the area. The major obstacle to hunters is actually getting into the hunting area which is often not possible before July or August if the rains have been heavy. When the river floods its banks, the water runs for miles outwards and does not easily seep away.

The area is primarily known for the black-maned lion which occur there, following the herds of wildebeest into the area. Otherwise there is not much there except tigerfish and long horned nguni cattle.

In 1999, two exceptional maned lion were shot in the northern section which coincided with the wildebeest migration into Zambia from Angola. It was the first year the area was hunted for several years. Due to the publicity and advertising mileage, West Zambezi has been toted as Zambia's answer to the massive lion shot in Botswana each year. Yes, the two lion shot were spectacular, typical Kalahari black-maned lion which have been scarce for a number of years, even in Botswana.

Review of lion shot in the area in the 1980s shows similar trophies. However the 2000 season thus far has yielded nothing but high water and cancelled hunts. The area cannot and should not be considered for hunting before the end of July. 

Outfitters may persuade their clients to book for earlier dates knowing full well that they will not likely be able to hunt the area until the water has subsided. We all know that bad weather is the most common excuse used by outfitters once they have your deposit money. We take this opportunity to warn you of this situation which can easily be confirmed by contact to any of the Zambian Wildlife Authorities or the Professional Hunters' Association of Zambia (PHAZ).

The area is the refuge and stronghold of the Lozi tribe, one of Zambia's strongest and fiercest tribes. In history they have never been defeated and their allegiance to the monarchy of Britain still remains today. The mighty Zambezi floods its banks many miles inland after the January rains and the King of the Lozi makes an annual pilgrimage in a massive dugout canoe or '"Royal barge" to an area of dry land known as the Winter Palace.

To sum up, West Zambezi is an area which is one of the last uncharted areas of Zambia due to its isolation. However there is a reason for this: NOT MUCH GAME.

All the GMAs here offer harder hunting as the terrain is both hostile and challenging with many steep hills and ravines to traverse in pursuit of game.

Buffalo, lion and leopard are available but with more limited quotas for each species. Waterbuck, impala, zebra, bushbuck, hippo, duiker, Sharpe's grysbok, and bushpig are also found. Although scarce, some areas do offer roan.

Mostly, people will hunt the larger game like buffalo, lion or leopard with the other species being coincidental to the hunt. However, lion tend to be smaller maned and leopard are very sensitive, coming to the bait later in the evening. 

Hunting in any of these areas means harder work and perhaps more rewarding hunting when success is achieved. However, for good trophies a good amount of walking is required and hunters need to be physically fit to maximise their chances. 

The principal GMAs are Rufunsa, Luano, Petauke-West and Chisomo and today, are rated as "B" class areas.

Rufunsa runs along the Zambezi river with the opposite side of the river being National Park in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, the only game capable of crossing the river are elephant and often one is left eyeing the buffalo which come down to drink in the evening on the opposite bank.

As a rule, the hunting in these areas should be offered at a cheaper rate when compared to the classic GMAs bordering the national parks. Trophy fees will stay constant with other areas.

Situated in the northern "head" of Zambia, the swamp is a vast area of uncharted floating papyrus interspersed by small dry-land islands and plenty of mosquitoes.

The occurrence of the Zambezi sitatunga and black lechwe makes the area a prime hunting GMA as most hunters visiting Zambia opt to hunt this animal. Hunting from raised platforms known as mushanes is the most effective method, waiting for the sitatunga to show at dawn or dusk.

Along the edges of the swamp great open plains support masses of black lechwe, tssessebe, common reedbuck and oribi. As a hunting destination it is one of the few places where the available species all feature highly in the SCI Awards Programme. Most of them are specialist species and easily huntable over a 7-day safari. In fact a Bangwelu hunt is one of the most affordable and species-effective in Africa. It does, however, remain a plainsgame hunt.