South Luangwa is malaria country in every month. Its tsetse flies call for thick, neutral sleeves.

Yes, and the CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine for all of Zambia in every month, so Mfuwe and every camp in South Luangwa are covered. By day, the biter on drives and walks is the tsetse fly. A few carry sleeping sickness, which is rare among visitors but has been traced to this park more often than to any other in Zambia.

Malaria in every month

Eastern Province, home to Mfuwe, is high-transmission country. A 2012 national survey called it one of two "malaria hyper-endemic provinces," with PCR finding parasites in 54.3% of 873 children under six across Eastern and Luapula provinces. The CDC's Level 2 Global Polio notice lists Zambia, and adults may get a one-time booster. Our Zambia briefing covers the rest of the country.

Tsetse and sleeping sickness

The CDC lists African sleeping sickness, spread by tsetse, for Zambia, and the Luangwa Valley is a recognized focus of its rhodesiense form. Of 278 tsetse trapped around Mambwe District villages next to the park in 2019–2020, 85.3% were Glossina pallidipes, and 2 flies (0.7%) carried the human-infective parasite.

For visitors it is rare, but real. WHO counted 35 rhodesiense cases diagnosed outside endemic countries in 2011–2020, and 4 were infected in South Luangwa: a tour operator diagnosed in London in 2014 and tourists diagnosed in Baltimore in December 2016, Frankfurt in 2017 and Johannesburg in 2018. Zambia reported 70 cases in all in 2013–2022. WHO's highest-risk Zambian areas in 2018–2022 were small parts of Kafue National Park and the West Petauke area.

Visitors describe the flies as patchy, with a reputation for being worst in thick woodland and building toward October. They bite by day through thin fabric. The CDC says they are drawn to bright and contrasting colors, and visitors add dark blue and black. Wear thick, loose long sleeves and trousers in khaki, olive or tan, treated with permethrin as the CDC advises for clothing.

Evenings by the river

The Mfuwe lodges sit on the Luangwa and its lagoons, and malaria mosquitoes bite from dusk through the night, which covers sundowners, night drives and dinner outdoors. Reapply repellent before the night drive, keep long sleeves on and sleep under the net. Don't swim in the river or the lagoons, where the CDC's schistosomiasis warning applies, and check for ticks after walking safaris, since the CDC lists African tick-bite fever.

When to go

Most camps run from roughly May or June to October, and many bush camps tend to close for the rains. June to August is cool and tends to be lightest for mosquitoes and, by visitors' accounts, for tsetse. September and October are hot, with prime game viewing along the shrinking river and tsetse at their worst. The November–April rains bring the most mosquitoes and malaria.

Where you're going

Adding Livingstone? See our Victoria Falls briefing. For Tanzania's tsetse parks, see the Serengeti briefing.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from a TripAdvisor trip report and a camp review and linked so you can read them in full. Both trips are a few years old, and tsetse vary by area and month.

• Kafue, South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi · October · 2021

  On an October 2021 trip, the poster found tsetse minimal in South Luangwa and the Lower Zambezi but anywhere from terrible to tolerable in Kafue. They were heaviest on the tree-lined road to Busanga Plains, where the bites came on the slower drive back, and rarely a problem on the open plains. Lodges burned elephant dung on drives, which helped without stopping the flies. TripAdvisor ↗

• Island Bush Camp, South Luangwa · 2019

  The guest did the walking safaris in the mornings because afternoon tsetse could become unpleasant, and found that burning elephant dung on the vehicle did the trick. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit and a malaria test, and you tell the doctor you were in the Luangwa Valley and ask about sleeping sickness as well as malaria. With malaria in the picture, the rule holds for a full year.

Traveler questions