Zambia

Livingstone & Luangwa

From March 20th to March 28th 2025

Day 1

• Landed from Johannesburg, took 45 mins to get to Toka Leya Camp on the Zambezi river, stopped to get cash, once we got to Toka Leya we noticed they had a pro pizza oven, so we indulged in a chili, cheese and garlic pizza. Delish! 

• Our first excursion was a boat cruise with Godfrey on the Zambezi where the highlights are the countless hippos, stealthy crocodiles, and the occasional elephant crossing the river. 

• We returned back to camp after sundown and took caution not to upset the hippo that was on property munching through the grass after sundown

Day 2

• We had a breakfast of fried eggs and fruit, then made our way to Victoria Falls for a tour of the Zambian side (last year we went to Zimbabwe and were able to see it from the Zimbabwean side). Our guide, Angel, took great care of us, taking all the great photos of us and even supplying us with waterproof jackets as we approached closer to the falls. The spray + wind from the falls gets so think that it feels like it’s raining from overhead. 

• We spent about an hour walking around the falls, crossing the bridge, learning more about Livingstone, looking across at the Victoria Bridge where people do bungee jumping, and watched bamboos not even bat an eye as we walked past them. Hailey picked up some malachite jewelry (a ring and bracelet) from the local market and we passed through the local side of Livingstone on our way back to the lodge. It was Friday, so there were many people and vendors out ready and willing to trade. 

• Back at the lodge we had our lunch of caesar salad with avocado and chicken, rested for a bit, then went back out with Angel for a game drive at the national park. It wasn’t too long before we came across a group of park rangers and knew we were onto something. We hopped out of the car and took a 5 minute walk with them to see a group of white rhinos going about their business. We sat and watched the family of 4 rhinos graze around the area before we left them back in their solitude and carried on to game drive in other parts of the park. 

• By sundown we were back at the waterfront having our “sundowner” drinks: Max with a Jack Daniels on the rocks, Hailey with a gin & tonic (and the occasional Mosi beer). 

Day 3

• At around 8:30am we were in the car headed back to Victorias Falls to take a closer look with a tour company that takes people to the edge of the falls themselves at either Devils Pool or Angels Pool. The water levels were too high to go to Devil’s Pool (perhaps a sign from above), so we opted to visit Angel’s Pool and that was adventure enough. 

• We took a boat from one island on the Zambezi, over to another island where the cliffside tour takes place. Once on the other island, we walked about 5 minutes to the edge of the falls and took pictures with a beautiful rainbow behind. After getting a first set of pictures on the edge of the falls, we were then taking to another spot on the edge of the falls - Angels Pool. Basically you get inside a little pool, also very close to the edge of the falls and somebody holds your feet as you pretend to hang over the edge. It’s definitely one of the wilder things we’ve done… you have to hope that the person holding your feet ate their Wheaties for breakfast. After a 10 minute (felt like eternity) photoshoot at the edge of the falls, it was time to head back to safety and have a bite to eat and decompress before calling the tour complete. The pictures are incredible, and yes, we recommend it. 

• We got back to the lodge by 11am and found out that the camp had been overrun by the migrating elephants. While we had to be safe walking to our room, once we got to our room, we noticed they were all hanging out and relaxing right in front of our room! For almost 2 hours we sat on the deck of our room, sipping white wine, and watched elephants pass back and forth right in front of us, some getting as close as 5 feet away. They bathed themselves in the river, ate whatever they could find in sight, made noises to communicate with each other, and threw dirt on each other also. This will probably make it in the top travel highlights of all time. 

Day 4

• The next morning we decided to go to a church service, because it was Sunday and most of Zambia is Christian. We went to Church of Christ Livingstone Central Church (plot #85 Likute Road) with our guide, Godfrey. We showed up at 9:28 for the 9:30 service and Godfrey put us in the second row. The church was already bursting with beautiful hymns. Although in their local language, we could feel the power of the song.

• The service was in English and then translated to their local language. About halfway through the service, a young girl, just barely walking age marched across the church and came to get a closer look at us. She leaned into Hailey’s lap in the 2nd pew and stared at both us of for 10-15 minutes. Eventually she had her fill and went back to her mother across the church. 

• After service was over, we headed to the airport and made our way to the next destination in Zambia - Mfue to start at Luangwa. We arrived at 7pm, but it was so dark that we couldn’t see much, but we did have to hop onto a boat and cross the river to make it to the camp for the evening. 

Day 5

• We started our morning at Chinzombo off with a game drive around Luangwa and saw hyenas, zebras, impalas, birds, giraffes, and hippos galore. After the game drive, we took a boat further down the river to stay at another camp, Kakuli, for a few days, a camp that’s a little deeper into the bush. It was hot! 90 degrees. 

• During our river game drives here we saw many crocodiles, hippos, baboons, monkeys, birds and more. We even had new a frog in our shower every day! The food was delicious.

Day 6

• We opted to do a walking safari this morning (kind of the reason we came to this camp in the first place), so we took a 20 minute boat ride to a “safe” part of the park (“safe” meaning shorter grass so we have visibility) so we could start our walking safari from there. Right when we got off the boat and climbed over the bank we saw honeymooning lions… a dark maned young male with his female. Although we caught them off guard, which made them a little skittish, we could hear them purring to each other from the 50 yard distance that we were from them. They were truly so beautiful to see and it was very unexpected. 

• We walked for about 90 minutes, got a good sweat in, walked by a herd of elephants on our way back to the boat to head to camp. 

• After camp we went for another sundowner cruise where we saw more hippos, more crocodiles, the skeleton jaw of a juvenile hippo, bee eater birds flying in and out of their nests, and marveled at the beautiful sunset. 

Day 7

• Went for another walking safari at 7am, saw a bunch of animals including an elephant up close, and Hailey got bit twice on the leg by an army ant (or termite). We then made it back to the other camp for lunch and moved there for the remainder of the stay. In the afternoon we relaxed at the pool and waited for our afternoon game drive. 

• We went out for our game drive around 4pm and within 15 minutes found a pride of lions. There must have been 10 or so lions in this pride with 2 males as the leader. The lead female had a tracking collar on. They were scattered all around the bushes in and out of sleep, so we left them for a bit and came back later closer to sundown to see what they’d be up to. 

• We came back a few hours later after the sun was down and it was more of a twilight hour, and that’s when they all started to get up and go on the move. They looked a little skinny, so we assumed they were going to hunt that evening. They all headed off one by one, slowly, stretching, licking each other, sitting back down, moving forward a little, etc until they were all up and moving in the direction of the lead female hunter. The most exciting part about seeing a pride of this size so closely was definitely when they all started to wake up for the evening hour and prepare themselves for the hours ahead of moving and hunting. We watched them as long as we could until we had to pull our flashlights, and even past that - before we headed back to the lodge. 

Day 8 

• We did one final walking tour this morning, saw giraffes, wart hogs, zebras and impalas before we called it a day. 

• That evening we were able to see Lucy the leopard with her 2 cubs. One of the cubs was hiding in the bush finalizing the feast of a recently killed guinea fowl. The fowl’s feathers were all over the place… leaving its final mark. 

• We made it back to the waters edge for our final sundowner with the whole group there, they made fresh popcorn, poured champagne, we ate dry aged beef jerky, peanuts and Max sipped on Jack Daniels on the rocks.

Day 9

• We flew out this morning and landed in Johannesburg at 1pm.