Zambia is situated mainly on a vast plateau, and has three of Africa's largest rivers - the Zambezi, Kafue and Luangwa - as well as one of the largest waterfalls in the world, the Victoria Falls, which it shares with neighbouring Zimbabwe.

The main safari areas are centred around these great rivers. The iconic South Luangwa National Park in the east is the best known of the safari areas and is one Africa’s greatest wildlife sanctuaries bordered on one side by the Muchinga Escarpment and the meandering Luangwa River on the other; The Lower Zambezi National Park situated on the banks of the Zambezi River in the south-eastern part of Zambia, opposite Zimbabwe's Mana Pools National Park; and the vast Kafue National Park at over 5 million acres is the largest conservation area and is a mix of miombo woodlands and seasonally inundated floodplains and is highly under-utilised but beginning to open up to more visitors.