Published on 21 November 2025.
By Chris Lotz
I led a spectacular 36-day birding tour of Zambia in August/September this year. We saw so many spectacular, localized birds (see details of the avian highlights at this blog), but the purpose of this current article is to showcase the rare and elusive mammals we encountered as we searched for birds. Not to mention a rare snake (only the second confirmed one for Zambia).
If you are interested in a rare mammals tour in Africa (or elsewhere), do contact us for a custom tour, or peruse our set departure tours that have a mammal focus. Birding Ecotours runs some of the most successful rare and elusive mammal tours in South Africa, Namibia, across Africa and throughout the rest of the world. If you want to see a pangolin, for example, do ask us about Ghana, Namibia or South Africa rare mammal tours. We have a high (around 90 %) success rate at finding Aardvark, especially in South Africa. And so forth.
Back to the Zambia mammals blog, thanks very much to tour participant Tim Williams for getting the great photos featured in this blog. Enjoy the photos below!
Rare mammal number 1:
We had a pack of African Wild Dogs with pups all to ourselves (not uncommon in Zambia to be away from other people), in the vast Kafue National Park.
Rare mammal number 2:
Few people have seen a Zorilla (also known as Striped Polecat or African Skunk), but the scenic Liuwa Plain National Park, a remarkable place with its deep Kalahari sands, is actually reliable for this species.
Rare mammal number 3:
Sitatunga is not supposed to be in the open (it usually remains hidden deep within Papyrus or Phragmites swamps), but something seems to be wrong with the ones at Kasanka National Park and it is surely the best place on Earth to see this species.
Rare mammal number 4:
South Luangwa National Park is Africa’s Leopard capital and we were not disappointed, losing count of the number of sightings we got of this beautiful cat species. Below is Tim’s photo of the first one we saw.
Rare mammal number 5:
This Cheetah in Liuwa Plain National Park was hiding cubs in this long grass, but we could only hear the youngters and not see them; good job, mom!
Bonus rare reptile:
Zambia’s second Jameson’s Mamba, near legendary (for rare animals and birds) Mwinilunga.
Some final words about this epic Zambia birding and wildlife tour:
Some people have asked me how we could spend a full 36 days in Zambia, a poorly known country. A picture speaks a thousand words, so do take a look at the tour map below.
We’d love to hear from you so do contact us if you don’t mind, and tell us:
- Have you been to Zambia?
- Which of the above mammals have you seen?
- Which of the rare mammals featured in this blog do you most want to see?
