Best Times to Travel in Zambia

Kafue National Park:

Game is best sighted in the dry season from April to October, but the beauty of the park is at its best after the rains in the first half of the year. Many of the parks internal roads are inaccessible between November and April.

Lochinvar National Park:

Anytime of the year is accessible although care is needed in the wet season after heavy rains. The profusion of birds is extensive during the wet season when migrants arrive from the north. The game however is easier to spot in the dry season. The park is a year round paradise for bird watchers and photographers.

Nyika Plateau National Park:

Anytime of the year is good for a visit to Nyika Plateau National Park. The warm season is from September to May, rains fall between December and March. When the sun goes down, even in summer, it can get very chilly.

The cold season is from June to August and frosts may occur. Lots of warm clothing is essential at this time. The best colours occur from November to March after the rains have come, the rolling brown hills turn into carpets of green and flowers spring up everywhere. Migrant birds also expand the bird population dramatically. Game viewing however is better in the dry season.

Birding:

Many bird species are found only in Zambia, while others migrate here during the winter to feast on the abundant seeds, fruits, and insects brought by the seasonal rains.

The rainy season in the region of South Luangwa Valley lasts up until the end of March and the migrant birds arrive in droves. Birdwatching is superb in the Valley. Near the end of the dry season, when the river and oxbow lagoons begin to recede, hundreds of large waterbirds can be seen wading through the shallows.

Around the same time, just before the rains set in, in November, the Palearctic migrants from Northern Europe and the intra-African migrants arrive to exploit the feeding opportunities that the warm rainy season brings.

These include the Red chested Cuckoo, White Storks, European swallows. Swifts, hobbies and Bee-eaters, as well as birds of prey such as the Steppe eagles and Steppe buzzards that come all the way from Russia. A special sight is the hundreds of brightly coloured Carmine Bee-eaters nesting in the steep sandy banks of the river.

With about 400 of Zambia’s 732 species of birds appearing in the Valley, including 39 birds of prey and 47 migrant species, there is plenty for the birdwatcher to spot, whatever the season.