Zambia luxury safari vacation

Planet

In addition to having one of the highest leopard population densities in the world the South Luangwa National Park also has a healthy lion population and a thriving wild dog population – these endangered animals are declining elsewhere in Africa and as an indicator species are a sign of a healthy ecologically ecosystem. The national park is also home to three endemic mammal species you will not find elsewhere, the Thornicroft’s Giraffe, the Crawshay’s Zebra and the Cookson’s Wildebeest – in addition, the Luangwa River also happens to have highest density of hippos. Operating lodges and camps in protected ecosystems in Africa alongside local indigenous communities and wildlife comes with a great deal of responsibility.

We work together with community development, wildlife conservation and responsible tourism specialists to ensure that we operate in accordance with these principles. We are guided by our Responsible Tourism Policy along with annually prepared responsible tourism plans that detail all of our activities.

Chikuntu is over time introducing the latest green technologies into all of our properties. This includes solar energy systems for providing power, solar water heaters for guest showers and the use of green design construction principles including living grass roofs, natural air cooling and the use of non-fired bricks. The benefits are clear - our outlet of CO2 to the ozone layer is significantly reduced, along with our use of firewood and the resulting contribution to deforestation.

The conservation of water is of critical importance in the environments we operate, where many local people do not have ready access to safe, clean drinking water and droughts are commonplace. We conserve water through regular maintenance to reduce leakages, fitting flow restrictors on showerheads and taps where possible, watering our gardens and grass roofs at cooler times of the day, planting only drought resistant native plants where landscaping is necessary, and implementing a guest towel re-use and water conservation programme.

People

Chikunto Safaris is a small independent hybrid camp that is run by an experienced and passionate team that is 100% Zambian, you will also get the opportunity to visit one of the local schools and villages and to understand how the local communities live and work together. There will also be the opportunity to visit the likes of Tribal Textiles, where they proudly donate to local community and conservation initiatives such as Conservation South Luangwa, Zambian Carnivore Program, and the local Malimba Community School. The school was opened in 2001, to help with overcrowded other schools in the region. The school is supported by raising funds through sales for Extracurricular actities such as creative art and sports and by supporting with teachers salaries. They also support Mulberry Mongoose whose moto is ‘Creating Beauty from Brutality’, as they transform brutal poachers’ snares into beautiful jewelry. They also donate part of the proceeds to BirdWatch Zambia, supporting the study of birds and their habitats. They also support Hanada Orphanage with weekly delivery of fruit and vegetables. An automatic Guest Levy is added to go towards the broader headings of Conservation & Community, focused on the Human Wildlife Conflict side that forms part of the wider brief of the excellent Conservation in South Luangwa.