Skirting grazing elephants, a pair of hyenas and a lounging hippo, we get a surprise as another massive hippo crashes out of a bush, heaving its pinky brown bulk at impressive pace, luckily not in our direction. They can reach 25mph.

Robin Pope grew up in Zambia’s copper belt and when he opened his safari business he had a clear view of what he wanted to contribute to Luangwa: “The three corners of the triangle are tourism, the community and the animals and natural environment.”

He explains how the national park is not fenced or stocked with game, but contains the “indigenous and natural” wildlife it has always had — except for rhino, which have been hunted out. He and his impressively knowledgeable local guides bring visitors close to nature on five-day walking and camping safaris, available from June to October, and at his camps, where the emphasis is on simplicity and minimal impact on the environment.

“I don’t think people should expect a boutique hotel, though obviously it must be comfortable,” he says. The “luxury” is the location, and also the size and space of the accommodation — especially so at the four-bedroom Luangwa Safari House, near Nkwali Camp, which was built from local materials and has its own chef, butler and rangers.

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Aaronovitch on a family safari of Zambia

In the company of lions, elephants, hippos, hyenas and countless exotic birds, David Aaronovitch and family get in tune with nature

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• Aaronovitch on a family safari of Zambia

The community aspect of Pope’s triangle is the Kawaza School Fund, set up to improve education in the local chiefdom. It has raised £250,000 from guests in the past five years (www.kawaza.org).

Pope’s tip for enjoying a safari holiday is: “Don’t come with a tick list. So many people get agitated about seeing the cats — but you can’t plan, organise or control what you see in the wild.” True, though I’m delighted to report that I had my first sighting of leopard in Luangwa.

Pope also showed me a sight that was as breathtaking as it was unexpected. As we neared Tena Tena Camp (even more at-one-with-the-bush than Nkwali, with smart tents to sleep in and no mains electricity), we peered over the the river bank, where a colony of red and blue carmine bee-eaters had made nests in the soft honey-coloured rock.

There were hundreds of them, wheeling, flocking, perching, swooping — constantly moving flashes of gorgeous colour against the bright sky.

We left Luangwa via a short flight over the dramatic Zambezi escarpment to land at a red-dirt landing strip close to Chongwe River Camp, in Lower Zambezi national park. This luxurious establishment, at the confluence of the Chongwe and Zambezi rivers (with Zimbabwe on the opposite bank), takes full advantage of its position to offer canoeing, fishing and cruising excursions as well as game drives.

So we spent a morning catching tiger fish from a line while chatting to our guide, who told us old legends about the river and shared the local gossip. Later, as we canoed carefully past the hippos and crocs, a leopard watched us from the bank and we goggled at the variety of birdlife as inch-long bright-red insects buzzed in the water hyacinths.

Chongwe is about 110 miles from the mighty Victoria Falls, and our last stop was the town of Livingstone to see “the smoke that thunders” for ourselves. The art deco architecture of the main street was a delight, but the falls are the star of the show here. We stayed at the Royal Livingstone hotel, a paragon of African luxury (the kind of place where you close your windows so the local monkeys can’t get at your complimentary fruit basket).

From the hotel sundeck you can hear the roar and see the spray of the falls — even in the dry season, when the volume of water cascading over the 350ft drop is seriously reduced, revealing the gleaming black basalt rock beneath. It’s what Zambia is famous for — but beyond that iconic spectacle is a whole country rich in natural beauty and wildlife.

Karen Robinson travelled to Zambia with Africa Travel Centre (0845 450 5705, www.africatravel.co.uk). A similar trip, staying for three nights each at Nkwali Camp, Royal Livingstone hotel and Chongwe River Camp and flying with British Airways, costs from £3,095 per person

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