About Zambia: Country Information

Zambia lies on a plateau, much of which is over 4,000 feet above sea level, so although it is well within the tropics, it enjoys a temperate climate. The Luangwa and Zambezi River valleys get the hottest and as the warm dry winter months of May to August recede, the hot dry summer commences, until thunderclouds release their life-giving rains in about November. It then becomes hot and steamy and some roads become impassable, forcing the more remote lodges to close their doors until May.

Zambia has set aside a large percentage of its land for the conservation of wildlife and has some of the most spectacular and least visited National Parks in Africa, such as North & South Luangwa National Parks, Lower Zambezi National Park, Kafue and Lochinvar. Zambia is particularly famous for night game viewing and walking safaris, which are a speciality of North and South Luangwa. Some of the guides have gained considerable worldwide renown.

Many rivers course through Zambia and none epitomise power and grandeur more than the Zambezi, after whom the country is named. Zambia shares Africa's most visited spectacle with Zimbabwe -The Victoria Falls - where the Zambezi cascades over a sheer rock face a 1.6km wide (1-mile). At Victoria Falls there is a bridge linking the two countries, and at its centre is Africa's most famous and terrifying bungee jump.

Zambia is a peaceful but poor country, where self sufficiency in growing crops relies on the rains arriving when they should. Regardless of how hard life is, Zambian people always seem to manage a wave and a smile and a big welcome to their beautiful country.

Safari Regions of Zambia: