South Luangwa National Park

South Luangwa National Park

South Luangwa National Park is the most southerly of three national parks in the Luangwa River Valley in eastern Zambia. This is a world-famous wildlife paradise known by locals simply as 'the South Park', and this is one of Africa's best-known national parks for walking safaris. The park was founded in 1938 as a game reserve, and became a national park in 1972, currently covering 9,550 km2. Along the winding Luangwa River and its lagoons, the wildlife concentration is one of the densest in Africa. Full of hippos and crocodiles, the river is home to one of the highest biodiversity of habitats and wildlife, with more than 60 species of mammals and around 400 species of birds. The park is home to huge populations of Thornicroft's Giraffes, as well as herds of elephants and Cape Buffaloes, often numbering in the hundreds. The park is not fenced, and is bordered by a steep hillside to the west and the Luangwa River to the east. The Luangwa Valley is located at the end of the Great Rift Valley system of Africa, which stretches for 4,000 kilometers from the Red Sea to the mouth of the Pungwe River in Mozambique. The Luangwa valley, which is followed to the west by the Lunsemfwa River valley, is home to a few species of animals, like the Cookson's Wildebeest and the Crawshay's Zebra, which are either endemic or near-endemic to the valley. The valley is a natural barrier to human migration and transport, as there are no roads through it, and this has contributed to the conservation of wildlife. As from 2005, the protected area has been a Lion Conservation Unit along with the North Luangwa National Park.