Zambia: The world's walking safari capital |
Zambia is the world's walking safari capital
As safari crowds grow across Africa, Zambia's walking safaris offer a quieter, more immersive way to experience wildlife.
Our guide, Thomas Mulonga, leads us single file through the mopane woodland of Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, near Victoria Falls, Zambia. I'm on high alert, scanning the bush for signs of life, half hoping, half fearing we will find something. Two armed wildlife scouts bracket our group, rifles slung across their shoulders.
We are tracking near-threatened southern white rhinoceros, though it's hard not to think about what else moves through this dry savannah: notoriously aggressive hippos, unpredictable Cape buffalo prone to ambush, elephants slipping through the trees, cantankerous baboons barking in the shadows. We've seen many of them before from the safety of a vehicle. But now we are on a walking safari – and on foot, the calculus is different.
Mulonga walks as if he belongs to the landscape, pausing often and listening more than speaking. He stops and points to a shallow indentation in the dust.
Then we see him. An imposing patriarch lies sprawled in the sun, massive and still, like a sleeping dog.
"It's Louis II," Mulonga says quietly.
We are close enough to see the craggy folds of the white rhino's dusty, crepey skin, etched with what resemble dry riverbeds meandering across his immense frame. There is no windshield on a walking safari, no engine for a quick getaway – only open bush and a few yards of earth between us.
A walking safari, I begin to understand, is not simply about seeing wildlife. It's about entering a world up close and on its own terms.
On foot, you're on your own
Wildlife tourism is booming globally, and premier African reserves like Kenya's Masai Mara and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania now grapple with convoys of vehicles jostling for predator sightings. Their fragile ecosystems are feeling the strain.
Zambia once teemed with southern white and black rhinos, but by the late 1980s, poaching driven by the illegal horn trade and weak protection had devastated both populations. Southern white rhinos were declared extinct in Zambia by 1989, followed by black rhinos in 1998. Through determined conservation efforts, international partnerships and the support of local communities, both species are slowly returning. Today, Zambia is home to 60 black and 54 white southern rhinos. Walking safaris help fund the anti-poaching patrols and community-based conservation programmes working to secure their future.
At the same time, conservationists and many safari operators are advocating for lower-impact models that prioritise higher-quality, immersive experiences. Zambia's deep-rooted practice of walking safaris – tracking wildlife on foot through the bush with expert guides presents a compelling alternative.
Moving slowly through their habitat is an exercise in respect and sustainability. On foot, the rhythm changes. There is no need to race from sighting to sighting. Time slows, and........