Lower Zambezi National Park
in Zambia

Few safari experiences put you quite this close to the action. A canoe on the Zambezi at dawn, with elephant silhouettes on the bank opposite and a hippo surfacing a little too nearby, is the kind of thing that recalibrates your sense of scale. The park runs along the river's northern edge with Zimbabwe's Mana Pools facing it across the water, and the wildlife density between the two is extraordinary: lion, leopard, wild dog, and buffalo herds that move through the albida woodland in the dry season like slow weather. The camps here are small, considered, and very good. It is one of the least visited of Africa's great parks, which makes it one of the most rewarding.