Lilayi Elephant Nursery, Lusaka National Park and Chaminuka

You do not have to board a bush plane to see Zambia's wildlife. On the woodland fringes immediately south and north-east of Lusaka, three distinct reserves let you watch rescued baby elephants, guarded white rhinos and dozens of antelope species on a half-day or full-day outing from your hotel.

GRI Elephant Nursery at Lilayi Lodge

Thirty minutes south of central Lusaka off Kafue Road, the Game Rangers International (GRI) Elephant Nursery sits inside the private game reserve of Lilayi Lodge. Established in 2008 in partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, the nursery rescues orphaned elephant calves from across Zambia and cares for them here until they are old enough to move to the Kafue Release Facility and eventually rejoin wild herds. Every day during the scheduled midday viewing window, the calves walk in single file out of the miombo bushveld into the nursery boma to guzzle giant bottles of specialized formula, play-wrestle in the mud bath and dust themselves with red earth while keepers explain each calf's rescue story from the elevated viewing deck. Afterwards, linger on the shady veranda of Lilayi Lodge for lunch while impala, warthog and bushbuck graze on the lawn.

Lusaka National Park: white rhinos ten minutes from Lilayi

Opened in 2015 across 6,715 hectares of formerly coppiced woodland just east of Lilayi along the Leopard's Hill / Shantumbu link road, Lusaka National Park is Zambia's newest and most accessible national park. Because the entire perimeter is fenced and lacks big cats or wild elephants, it is a tranquil place to drive slowly through regenerating miombo and teak woodland in search of giraffe, plains zebra, eland, hartebeest, sable antelope, nyala, blue wildebeest and spotted deer. The park's star residents are its heavily protected southern white rhinos: armed wildlife police scouts escort visitors on foot to view the rhinos up close at a respectful distance, and a climb to the park's central viewpoint looks right back toward the Lusaka skyline. Bring Kwacha cash for entry fees.

Chaminuka Game Reserve and Kalimba Reptile Park

Forty-five minutes north-east of the city past Kenneth Kaunda Airport, Chaminuka Game Reserve spans 10,000 acres of private savanna and woodland around a 1970s Zambian manor house overlooking Lake Chitoka. Day-trip packages include a guided morning game drive (spotting giraffe, zebra, eland and cheetah enclosures), a boat cruise on the lake, a tasting of Chaminuka's farmstead cheeses and a buffet lunch. Families with younger children can also pair Chaminuka with Kalimba Reptile Park in Ngwerere to see Nile crocodiles and indigenous snakes.