Night Drives

The other main activity that distinguishes Zambia from most other countries is the facility for taking night drives. Unfortunately these, too, like walking safaris, are not allowed in most Tanzanian locations, which is a shame because this special time of day in the bush sees the emergence of the nocturnal species and prime hunting time for a lot of big cats, who tend to spend the day resting in the shade to keep out of the sometimes fierce African sun. Another nice element of a night drive is the opportunity to stop mid-drive as the sun sets and sip a gin and tonic from the cool-box - all very civilised!

If you are fortunate enough to be able to take a night drive, you may catch sightings of civet, genet, porcupine, scrub hare, bush-baby and various mongoose species, as well as lions on the move and hunting for food. Although you will often have a single driver who acts as a guide during the day, at night you will have a driver and a spotter, who carries an extremely powerful lamp for searching distant trees or lake edges for the tell-tale reflection of predators' eyes.