The Safari Five at The Bushcamp Company

How to plan a South Luangwa safari around the five experiences that matter most.

The Big Five tells you which animals to look for. The Safari Five tells you what a safari should feel like: a true bushcamp, a walking safari, a conservation story you can see, the Big Three carnivores and a night drive. (The full story behind the idea is at safariheritagecollection.com.)

The good news is that you do not have to choose between them. Every one of the Safari Five is part of daily life on a Bushcamp Company safari, and a single journey through our camps can deliver all five. Here is how.

1. A true bushcamp: choose your camps by their ground

Our six seasonal bushcamps sit inside a 140,000-acre exclusive-use wilderness in the south of South Luangwa National Park. They are small, unfenced and open only in the dry season, roughly May to October, and each is placed for its own ground:

• Zungulila: our most remote camp, among spring-fed waterholes deep in the south.
• Bilimungwe: wildlife drawn right to the lounge by a busy waterhole.
• Chindeni: on a permanent lagoon beneath the Chindeni Hills.
• Kapamba: on a sand river, with dinner in the shallows and star beds under the open sky.
• Chamilandu: our most intimate camp, for six guests, on the Luangwa itself.
• Kuyenda: a walkers' camp around a natural spring, founded by Phil Berry.

Most bushcamps take eight guests; Chamilandu takes six and Kuyenda twelve. Pick two or three, and you have a safari that changes as the country does.

2. A walking safari: walk from one camp to the next

South Luangwa is where the walking safari began, and walking is built into every Bushcamp Company stay. Each walk is led by a licensed walking guide with an armed scout from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, usually in the cool of the morning, for three or four hours.

Our camps are close enough together that, on some days, the morning walk does not bring you back to where you started. It brings you to your next camp, with your bags sent on ahead. That is the oldest way to travel through this valley, and very few safaris anywhere still offer it.

Walking is always optional. Guests who prefer the vehicle can drive every day, and many mix the two.

3. A conservation story you can see

Since 1999, The Bushcamp Company and its charity, Charity Begins at Home, together with our guests, have raised more than $7 million for the communities around Mfuwe. That has paid for nearly 300 boreholes, a daily meal for more than 4,000 schoolchildren, 34 classrooms and scholarships for 350 students. Every night you spend with us supports that work and local jobs.

Ask your guide about a visit to a nearby village or school. It is the clearest way to see how stronger communities mean more wildlife: when families have water, food and work, fewer need to poach, and when people benefit from the animals around them, they come to protect them.

4. The Big Three carnivores: give yourself time

South Luangwa is one of the few places where lion, leopard and wild dog can all be seen in a single stay. The secret is time and ground: the longer you stay and the more of the valley you cover, the better your chances.

• Leopard: South Luangwa is known as the Valley of the Leopard, and they are seen most often on night drives.
• Lion: prides work the floodplains and lagoons, and the dry season's buffalo herds bring them into the open.
• Wild dog: packs range widely across the valley, so moving between camps improves your chances.

Seven nights or more across two or three camps gives you the best odds of all three.

5. A night drive: every camp, every evening

South Luangwa allows game drives inside the park after dark, and every Bushcamp Company camp offers them. The afternoon drive simply carries on past sunset, with a spotlight, into the hours when leopards hunt and genets, civets, porcupines and hyenas come out. It is one of the great privileges of this park, and one of the easiest to miss if you go to bed early.

A ten-night journey through all five

This is one way to do it. Every leg is a drive or a walk; there are no flights between camps.

• Mfuwe Lodge, 1 night. Our iconic gateway lodge, where elephants walk through reception in season.
• Zungulila, 2 nights. The remote south: waterholes, silence and big skies.
• Kapamba, 2 nights. A sand river, dinner in the shallows and a night under the stars.
• Bilimungwe, 3 nights. The waterhole camp, and some of the best walking in the circuit.
• Chindeni, 2 nights. The lagoon, and a last night drive before you head home.

Prefer more comfort at the start and finish? Begin or end at The Villas at KuKaya, where each villa has its own guide, vehicle and plunge pool. Want to go further? Add Lion Camp and Chibembe to the north and travel the full Heritage Circuit.

Questions we are often asked

Can I do the Safari Five in a short stay?

You can do all five in four or five nights, but seven or more gives you a much better chance of seeing lion, leopard and wild dog.

Do I have to walk?

No. Walking is always optional, and you can build a wonderful safari mostly by vehicle.

Are night drives included?

Yes. Night drives are part of the daily program at every Bushcamp Company camp.

When are the bushcamps open?

In the dry season, roughly May to October. Mfuwe Lodge and The Villas at KuKaya are open all year.

Is there rhino?

No. Rhino have not lived in this part of Zambia for decades, so South Luangwa offers four of the Big Five, and all of the Safari Five.

Ready to plan? Our reservations team can build a Safari Five journey around your dates: info@bushcampcompany.com