Kafue is ....

Large, wild and quite accessible.   We traversed the park from south to north. Stayed at Nanzhila, Kaingu and Lufupa camps.

The density of wildlife increases from south to north and therefore few visitors spend time in the south. Nanzhila Camp is rustic and in a beautiful location. The animals are skittish so it is not an area for the first-time safari visitor. But it makes up for it by offering a wilder feel, being the only people in search of wildlife has its advantages and we encourage visitors to give the place a chance.

We stopped by Kaingu Lodge (outside the park boundary) and found it beautifully situated and designed. A very relaxing place with focus on water activities. Unfortunately we did not encounter wildlife although it must be there (a few hypos and crocodiles excepted).

The prime areas are Lufupa and Busanga in the north of the park. We stayed at the only camp in this part of the park, Lufupa Lodge. We had wonderful luck with lions at Lufupa (on day and night drive), but no luck with the famous leopards. Busanga is very special but due to absence of camping it is always just a day trip for the self-drive. While in 2003 we were very lucky in encountering several cheetahs, this time we had no luck.

Kafue had the largest presence of Tsetse flies we encountered on this trip, so we left with a good number of bites.

In summary, Kafue is highly recommended and the new Lufupa camp is designed to increase traffic in this part of the park. To their credit, Lufupa Lodge convinced ZAWA (the Zambian Wildlife Authority) to charge visitors per entry and not per day, a good saving for us indeed.