Victoria Falls and Busanga Plains Safari
“The falls everyone knows, then a floodplain almost no one reaches”
Seven nights pairing the Falls everyone knows with a floodplain almost no one reaches: three nights at Victoria Falls, then four on the remote Busanga Plains in the far north of Kafue, reached by light aircraft. Lodge-based or privately guided.
Victoria Falls, Then One of Zambia's Emptiest Corners
A Victoria Falls and Kafue safari splits cleanly into two halves that could hardly be less alike. You start at Victoria Falls for three nights: the falls themselves, sunset cruises on the Zambezi, a game drive or two. Then you fly north into the Busanga Plains, in the far north of Kafue National Park, for four nights in one of the emptiest wildernesses left in this part of Africa.
The Falls are the busy part, and I mean that as a plain fact rather than a warning. It’s one of the seven natural wonders, and it draws a crowd for good reason. Busanga is the opposite. The plains sit on an old lake bed that has to drain each year before a vehicle can cross it, so the season is short and the camps are few. It also extends naturally, and my Zimbabwe and Zambia routes guide shows how it pairs with Hwange, Chobe or a stretch in South Africa.
Two halves on purpose. The wonder everyone comes for, then a plain most people will never stand on.
Two things shape this trip more than anything on the glossy side of it. The first is the season: Busanga runs from about the start of June to the end of October, and outside that the plains are underwater and closed. The second is that it’s a fly-in trip with two hops, a scheduled flight up to the Falls and a light-aircraft charter onto the plains. The charter is short and routine, and I’ll have you met at the airstrip. The camp is remote, which is most of its appeal, and it carries medical evacuation cover for the rare case that something goes wrong. Accommodation throughout is luxury en-suite tented: a proper bed, your own bathroom, and a good deal more comfort than the word “tent” suggests.
How This Zambia Safari Is Guided: Lodge or Private
You can travel this itinerary two ways, and neither is the compromise option. Guiding standards in this part of Zambia are high enough that a lodge-based trip is no lesser experience; it’s simply a different one.
If you’re not sure which fits, that’s a five-minute conversation once I know your party and your dates.
Your Eight Days, From the Falls to the Busanga Plains
The trip runs front-loaded on the icon and back-loaded on the wild. Here it is day by day, built on how it actually flows rather than a template.
You fly from Johannesburg up to the Falls, into either Livingstone on the Zambian side or Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side, depending on which side the river favours that month. A transfer takes you to your lodge, and the rest of the day is yours: settle in, and take an easy activity before dinner. It’s a soft start on purpose, after a travel day.
Two full days at the Falls. You’ll see them properly, from the viewpoints and, if the water’s behaving, from closer than that. There are sunset cruises on the Zambezi, game drives, and time simply spent near the smoke that thunders, which is worth more than any itinerary line makes it sound. Devil’s Pool sits on the Zambian side and can be arranged if it appeals and the river’s low enough to allow it.
After a morning activity and an unhurried breakfast, you head to an airstrip near Livingstone for the light-aircraft flight onto the Busanga Plains. Your guide meets you on the ground, and we make a game drive on the run to camp, which sits looking out over the open plains. This is the day the trip changes character entirely.
Three full days on the plains. Game drives morning and afternoon, and boating on the channels, with the days built around what’s moving rather than a fixed programme. This is remote country, about as far from a crowd as a safari gets. The lions here work the open grassland in the open, the red lechwe move in their hundreds, and the birding rewards anyone who looks up.
One last drive at first light, when the plains are most active, and a full breakfast back at camp. Then the light aircraft carries you back to Livingstone, where you connect to the flight home to Johannesburg. It’s a long way from where you started the week, in every sense that matters.
Kafue, Conservation, and Where Some of Your Money Goes
Some of what you pay for this trip goes directly into protecting the ground you’re travelling through, and in Kafue that matters more than the word usually does. Kafue is Zambia’s oldest and largest national park, proclaimed in 1950 and covering some 22,400 square kilometres, and it holds the highest diversity of antelope species in Africa alongside more than five hundred kinds of bird. For decades, that richness sat largely unprotected. Since 2022, the park has been managed by African Parks in partnership with Zambia’s wildlife department, and the conservation and park fees that come with a trip like this help pay for the law enforcement that keeps it. Low-volume tourism does something else too: in a wilderness this vast and this empty, simply having guests and guides out on the ground is part of how the line holds. The early signs are good, with the park’s lion numbers now appearing to stabilise after several years of sustained anti-poaching work.
The Two Halves of This Trip, and Why Each Earns Its Place
The Falls and Busanga do completely different jobs, and pairing them is deliberate. One is the wonder you’ve already seen in photographs; the other is a place you almost certainly haven’t.
Victoria Falls
The Icon, and Which Side to Stay
Two to three nights cover the Falls without the town starting to feel like a stopover. You get the viewpoints, a Zambezi sunset cruise, and Devil’s Pool when the water allows. Which side I base you on depends on the river: the Zimbabwean side carries water all year, while the Zambian side runs seasonally, so I read your dates against the flow. The full comparison lives in my Zimbabwe and Zambia planning guide, which is where to go if you want to weigh the two sides in detail.
The Busanga Plains
Remote, Seasonal, and Empty
The Busanga Plains sit in the far north of Kafue, on an ancient lake bed that floods each year and has to drain before any vehicle can reach it. That’s why the season is short, the camps are few, and it’s also why the place stays as empty as it does. What you get for the remoteness is specific: lion prides that hunt open grassland with almost no cover, so you watch behaviour rather than catch a glimpse; red lechwe and buffalo in real numbers; and birding that stands out even in a country known for it. One small mercy worth mentioning, since nobody does: there’s no tsetse fly out on the plains themselves.
The Best Time to Visit Busanga Plains: A Short Season
The whole trip is governed by one hard fact: Busanga opens from about June to the end of October and closes the rest of the year, while the plains are underwater. Within that window, the best time to visit the Busanga Plains still shifts with the water.
Whichever end you choose, the Falls work year-round, so the timing is really Busanga’s call, not the Falls’.
What's Included, What's Excluded, and Staff Tipping
Remote travel carries a lot the guest never sees, but the cost does, so here’s plainly what your rate covers before you travel.
From the Field: What Guests Say After a Trip Like This
Four nights on a remote plain puts you in close company with your guide and camp team, and that’s most of what the days come down to. Past guests tend to put it better than I would.
Questions Families and Couples Ask About This Route
Most of the questions before this trip are about the season and the remoteness rather than the wildlife. Here are the three I’m asked most, answered plainly by how the trip actually runs.
Busanga runs from roughly the start of June to the end of October. Outside that window, the plains flood and the camps close, so the whole trip is timed to it. June and July give you high water and green plains; August to October dry out and concentrate the game.
More comfortable than the word tent suggests. Accommodation throughout is en-suite tented: a proper bed with linen, your own bathroom, and the camp run so the remoteness never feels like roughing it. At Busanga, the camp looks out over the open plains, and the lions are sometimes heard, occasionally seen, from it.
Very remote, which is the point, and you reach the plains only by light aircraft. The camp carries medical evacuation cover for the rare emergency, so a serious problem means a plane rather than a wait. The isolation is what you came for, handled quietly in the background.
My Other Zimbabwe and Zambia Safaris
Explore. Discover. Safari
Kruger, Cape Town & Victoria Falls in Ten Unrushed Nights
Three of southern Africa’s most distinct environments, one well-paced trip. Four nights in Kruger, three in Cape Town with your own private guide, and three nights at Victoria Falls — staying at a lodge with a genuine safari component rather than a hotel in town.
Victoria Falls and Busanga Plains Safari
Seven nights pairing the icon and the wilderness: three at Victoria Falls, then four on the remote Busanga Plains in the far north of Kafue. En-suite tented camps, light charter flights between the two, lodge-based or privately guided. June to October.
Victoria Falls, Mana Pools and Hwange Safari
Eight nights across three contrasting corners of Zimbabwe, from the upper Zambezi above Victoria Falls to the Mana Pools floodplain and Hwange’s dry-season elephant. Privately guided or lodge-based.
Occasional notes from the field. Thoughts on planning, places I’m spending time in, and changes that actually matter when you’re thinking about a safari. I send it when there’s something worth saying.