When Travel Expert Kim Smith boarded an aircraft bound for Zambia, she was finally heading somewhere she had wanted to visit for years. The country had always held a special place on her personal bucket list (her mom was born there), and she wanted to experience Zambia’s rivers and floodplains for herself. What unfolded was a journey that kept bringing her back to one simple thought: less is more.
The River Sanctuary
Her adventure began in the Lower Zambezi. Stepping off the light aircraft onto a small, remote airstrip, Kim felt the shift immediately: a thick, warm heat carrying the scent of rich soil and distant water.
A brief drive brought her to the river’s edge, where a boat waited to carry her across a wide, shimmering channel. As it cut through the water, with towering riverine trees pressing along the banks and nothing else moving on the vast river, a thought settled over her:
“Everything here feels untouched.”
Arriving at Sausage Tree Camp, the river remained the focal point of every moment. The suites seemed to spill out towards the water, and Kim spent what she admits was an unreasonable amount of time sitting on her deck doing nothing in particular, listening to the current, watching light dance on the water, and occasionally spotting wildlife moving along the far bank.
"I could have sat on the deck of my room overlooking the river all day," Kim recalls. "I remember thinking, I could easily stay another week."
That peacefulness felt light-years away from the hustle of daily life, and perfectly set the tone for everything that followed.
At the Pace of the Wild
In the Lower Zambezi, the game drives had an unhurried, unscripted quality. The guides moved through a landscape they knew intimately, following tracks, reading the bush, pausing where something caught their eye. There was room to sit with a sighting and take it all in before moving on.
And somehow, even without looking for anything in particular, everything still came to you.
"We'd just be driving around quite casually and somehow manage to see everything," Kim smiles. "You'd almost be heading home, and suddenly, there'd be a leopard!"
Out on the Zambezi
Slowing down also meant swapping engine noise for the gentle lap of water against a hull. Kim and her guide paddled out onto the Zambezi, moving through channels fringed with reeds and overhanging trees, the water stretching wide and glassy around her.
Hippos surfaced in the distance, their rounded backs appearing between the reeds before slipping beneath the surface again, their low grunts carrying across the channel.
Then came Kim’s tiger-fishing debut. She loved being out on the water, though she did not manage to catch a single fish. She caught reeds. She caught a rock. At one point, feeling something heavy on the line, she thought she had hooked a monster, only to haul up another giant clump of river weed.
“You have to try the fishing,” Kim insists. “Although my guide did tell me that it was definitely the water conditions, not my angling!”
A Table in the River
The moments that lingered, though, were the ones where the pace slowed. One afternoon, they arrived at a sandbank to find a table set directly into the shallow river, dressed in crisp white linen and surrounded by director's chairs.
Champagne was poured, lunch was laid out, and the cool water curled gently around their ankles as they settled in. Upstream, elephants waded into the river to drink and bathe, entirely unconcerned by the humans enjoying lunch nearby.
It was wonderfully surreal: a little island of lunchtime luxury in the middle of the wilderness, with nothing between them and the elephants but the water beneath their feet. The sheer beauty and improbability of it all brought one of her travel companions to tears.
Into the Valley
From the winding waters of the Lower Zambezi, Kim’s journey shifted inland towards South Luangwa National Park. Arriving here felt different. The sky seemed wider, the floodplains more expansive, and wildlife was everywhere.
At Time + Tide Chinzombo, set along a bend in the Luangwa River, the wild came right to the doorstep. A bull buffalo, known to the staff as “Big B”, moved through the camp in the evenings like he owned the place. During a lazy afternoon, Kim lay in her open-canvas suite and watched a troop of baboons stroll down to take a drink from her plunge pool.
"They'd be drinking at the pool while I was lying on the bed watching them play. They were so sweet!"
Near camp, the group came across a clan of hyenas at a hippo carcass. With hyenas being Kim’s favourite animal, it was a particularly memorable sighting.
“I’m always having to defend hyenas,” she grins. “If they didn't have those short hind legs, they’d rule the bush! They aren't just scavengers; they are the true, magnificent queens of the wild.”
But it wasn't only the headline sightings that stayed with Kim. With time to watch what was happening around her, she began noticing the smaller, stranger moments too.
An elephant eating with one leg extended fully out behind it in a flawless “yoga pose”, as its trunk reached for the high branches. Along the riverbank, a water monitor stirred the sandy earth with its long claws, digging away in search of somewhere to lay its eggs.
Some things you only catch when you take time to look a little closer.
Boots on the Ground & Bush Wisdom
South Luangwa is renowned as the birthplace of the walking safari. With a team of master guides and scouts alongside you, walking the bush on foot makes you notice what you might otherwise miss.
What the Bush Knows
The sausage tree story is the one Kim keeps coming back to.
During a walk, someone in the group developed a sudden skin irritation. Their guide explained the sausage tree’s traditional medicinal uses, and, curious to see whether it might help, she wanted to try some of the natural sap on her skin. By the time they finished the walk, the irritation had already started to calm.
That was enough to pique the group's interest. By the time they were back in Cape Town, three of them had bought sausage tree cream. Kim keeps hers right next to her bed. Dry hands, cuts, bruises: sausage tree cream. She has been fully converted.
"It's not only about finding the Big 5," Kim reflects. "The guides have this incredible knowledge about the plants, the trees, the way they've traditionally been used, and they're proud to share it."
A Respect for the Wild
For Kim, that deep-rooted knowledge was something she noticed throughout her time in Zambia: a genuine pride in the place and a strong respect for the wild.
It was clear right at the park entrance in South Luangwa, where a female warden kept a close eye on passing vehicles to make sure drivers gave the wildlife plenty of space.
It was a small moment, but one she’ll never forget. There was a clear sense that being in the park came with a responsibility to look after the animals and the environment around them.
That same care carried into camp life too. The team surprised them by bringing a wood-fired pizza oven out into the open bush. Making your own pizza in the middle of the wilderness, surrounded by nothing but bush and open sky – it was hard not to smile.
“People here just want you to have a good time. Everybody is smiling. There’s no way you leave without taking a little bit of that joy home with you.”
The Joy of Simply Being There
Back home in Hoedspruit, Kim reflected on why her trip felt so different. That feeling of having all the time in the world wasn't just luck. It was simply how safari felt in Zambia.
Out on those still floodplains and private concessions, her days settled into a natural pace. Because the camps she visited were intimate in scale, and other game drive vehicles were few and far between, she found the space to simply take in the landscape around her. Her drives became about being completely present, noticing the tracks, sounds, and small movements unfolding around her.
Zambia didn’t leave Kim wanting more sightings. It left her wanting more time. Time to sit beside the river. Time to listen to her guide. Time to watch the elephant doing its strange little yoga pose.
Perhaps that is the real luxury of safari: having nowhere else to be and no idea what might happen next.
Ready to Experience the Magic of Zambia?
Want to experience the Zambia Kim fell for? Whether it’s canoeing down the Lower Zambezi, tracking wildlife on foot in South Luangwa, or enjoying a private lunch with your feet in the river, our Travel Experts can help you plan a journey that’s entirely your own. Get in touch and start dreaming.
