The lion prides of Kafue National Park, Zambia

But above all, what Busanga is famous for is its lions. If you want to photograph these African kings in their natural habitat, then few places offer a better opportunity to do so.  Zambia is one of the few remaining African countries where massive prides of lions, the most social of the big cats, occur – and the greater Kafue ecosystem is home to the country’s second largest population. Their preferred habitat? Kafue’s northern wilderness and the 90,000-hectare Busanga Plains, where you will find Wilderness Shumba and Busanga Bush Camp.

The grassy expanse of these plains is quite different to the miombo woodland that blankets most of Kafue. The Lufupa Channel, a tributary of the Kafue River, feeds these vast fertile grasslands in the wet summer months. In the dry winter, as the Lufupa’s backflow from the Kafue recedes, it leaves behind a swathe of open grasslands dotted with smaller islands – creating one of Africa’s most remarkable landscapes.

And just as the water shapes the landscape, each season brings dramatic changes in the movements of the area’s lion prides and the big cat personalities that have attracted somewhat of a cult following. There’ve been the iconic queens: Killing Machine, Maggie and Princess; the pride males: Blondie and then General and Mohawk, that took over from the legendary Scarface; the five sub-adult males known as The Bad Boys; plenty of intruders on the hunt for a territory to call their own; and cubs galore. 

Busanga’s most famous residents are the Papyrus Pride – a group of lions adapted to semi-aquatic life, and the descendants of a solitary lionesses known as Queen who founded this pride some 15 years ago. The Papyrus Pride (named after the stunning papyrus-dotted landscape in the north) has split into various sub-prides over the seasons, with a 95% cub survival rate and an almost daily chance of sightings for guests in the area. 

Members of this group are frequently seen around Wilderness Shumba and Busanga Bush Camp. Martin Benadie, a visiting specialist guide once recounted, ‘Females with three cubs passed right by my room one morning. It was so close I could hear the heavier footsteps of the females, the contact yelps of the cubs, and even their breathing.’

This year there appears to be no fewer than six sub-prides, with lion numbers totalling over 60 individuals on the plains. And the males in charge? None other than George, once a loveable cub who was named after Curious George for his mischievous ways, such as his tendency to bite the tyres of vehicles. He has been joined by another male, Lushimba, to form a strong coalition, while a beautifully maned individual named Alex has control over a large group with a number of sub-adult cubs. 

Typically, when male lions reach maturity they will disperse, looking for their own territory. Many tend to migrate into the central part of the national park, but Busanga, with its plentiful prey, has been a hard place to leave for some pride members, which instead opt to play hide-and-seek with the current reigning pride males. This means that lion mothers in Busanga are frequently on the run, with cubs in danger of being killed by rival males. On the flip side, one of the big highlights of any safari season in Kafue National Park is witnessing a reunion of the mothers and daughters, bringing their cubs together. 

In fact, when the guides from Wilderness Shumba and Busanga Bush Camp returned to the plains for the 2026 safari season, they discovered two young, first-time mothers, each with a litter of very small cubs. One female had five cubs and the other three, with the cubs estimated to be around three to four months old.

Rather than remaining entirely separate, the two females were repeatedly seen in close proximity, eventually bringing their two litters together. When we visited in July these two young females were living solitary lives with their separate litters, but during the period we observed them they became a remarkably cohesive pride of two mothers and eight cubs. 

Seeing these two lionesses unite with their tiny cubs on our game drive was the absolute highlight of our safari in Zambia, and finding them again every day, with all their little ones still in tow, became a delightful ritual. Whether this association will continue as the cubs grow, whether the females will remain together or eventually separate again, and how the wider pride dynamics will develop, are all questions that only time, and continued monitoring by the guides, will answer. 

The survival of these eight cubs will depend on a complex combination of factors. At only three to four months old, they remain highly vulnerable. Their mothers must successfully hunt while protecting them from predators and other threats, and the arrival or movements of adult males can also dramatically affect the dynamics of a pride. Infanticide by unrelated males is a recognised behaviour in lions, and is one of the reasons the arrival of new males can have such significant consequences for females with young cubs.

Our sightings demonstrated just how much goes into successfully raising the next generation of cubs. After a successful kill, both females were seen with blood on their faces and paws with notably full bellies. And at another time, when the group approached water occupied by large crocodiles, the mothers repeatedly prevented the cubs from getting too close. The females remained intensely focused on the crocodiles, demonstrating the constant vigilance required when raising young in such a predator-rich environment. 

For now, however, the latest updates from the Wilderness team are encouraging: all eight cubs are still together and growing quickly.

But there’s more to Busanga than just lions. For safari enthusiasts this is an area that truly has it all. Frequent sightings here include leopards, cheetahs, big herds of sable, roan, hartebeest, oribi, puku, lechwe, elephants, and many hippos, whose deafening domestic disputes often compete with the roars of lions on the plains. 

Birders will love the Busanga Plains too. ‘On our early June visit we tallied 128 bird species over four nights. Specials included Fülleborn’s longclaw, southern ground hornbill, coppery-tailed coucal, incredible numbers of both grey crowned and wattled crane, lesser jacana, greater painted-snipe, brown firefinch, Hartlaub’s babbler, black-throated wattle-eye, white-winged black tit, Böhm’s bee-eater, western banded snake eagle, yellow-billed oxpecker, swamp nightjar, African marsh harrier, buffy pipit, plain-backed pipit and collared pratincole – to mention just a very few. The density of waterbirds such as African openbill and saddle-billed storks, spur-winged goose and white-faced whistling duck, amongst many others, was a sight to behold. The numbers were just staggering,’ recounts Martin.

If you want to go on safari somewhere completely different in Africa, try the Busanga Plains. You won’t be disappointed.