South Luangwa pioneered the walking safari, but it's the after-dark game drives that reveal the park's nocturnal hunters.
South Luangwa closes its gates to day drives at sunset and opens them right back up for one of Africa's best night safaris, when spotlights sweep the bush for eyes reflecting back — genets, civets and, if the night goes well, a leopard easing out of daytime cover to hunt.
The park has one of the continent's healthiest leopard populations, largely because the thick riverine bush along the Luangwa River gives them cover most safari parks lack, and a good night-drive guide reads tracks and alarm calls from impala and baboon to work out where a leopard has just passed.
Book a camp inside the park rather than outside its boundary, since only camps with in-park concessions can legally run after-dark drives, and dress for a real temperature drop — even after a 40-degree day, an open vehicle at night in the Luangwa Valley gets properly cold.
