This reference map of the South Luangwa National Park was published in 1988 (South Luangwa National Park Map, 1st edition, Astle, W.L., 1989). It identifies the major vegetation and land-cover types of the Park which are fundamental aspects of the ecosystems and the habitats of the fauna. Unlike the Zambia Survey Department’s 1:50,000 topographic series, this map shows land cover, vegetation, topography, rivers, ox-bow lakes, lodges and tourist camps, and names of many areas and topographic features throughout the Park. On the back of the 1st edition there are detailed descriptions of the land cover types from Astle, W. L., Webster, R., & Lawrance, C. J., 1969 (Land Classification for Management Planning in the Luangwa Valley of Zambia. Journal of Applied Ecology, 6(2), 143–169. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2401534 ).

A third map depicts the river system alone.

A 2nd edition of the map (South Luangwa National Park Map, 2nd edition, Astle, W.L., 2002) has greater detail of land cover, rivers, and roads, and names of more areas in the Park than the 1st edition. It also includes a limited continuation beyond the Park boundaries. On the back, to be more informative for visitors, there are photographs of land cover types and lists of animals and birds, rather than land cover as on the 1st edition. Greater detail of land cover is given in Chapter 2.

Thus the 2nd edition should be used whenever available.

The locations of seasonal roads, river banks, sand banks, alluvial deposits, and smaller water bodies often change between years as a result of the annual floods in the relatively flat basin of the Luangwa River and the lower reaches of its main tributaries. Thus, the locations of these features on any map, inevitably, may change each year. These changes often require annual relocation of some of the seasonal roads. Also, since the map was created, some of the tourist camps and lodges have moved, and others have opened or closed.

All maps are coregistered with the Zambia Survey Department 1:50,000 series topographic maps.

The Maps are reduced in size here to match the page size of the website. They can be magnified to make the text more readable using the + and – buttons on the tab at the bottom of the page. The native resolution of 25.5 by 30.3 inches (65 x 76 cm) can be downloaded as a .pdf file (select the three dots symbol on the right of the tab).