Night drives are an integral part of safari in many camps in Zambia, and at some point during your trip, you'll have the opportunity to get out under the cover of darkness.

There are two schools of thought about the relative advantages of the wildlife experience that this affords in light of the discomfort that you might let yourself in for.  On the up-side, there are certain very special creatures that you will only see if you venture out into the bush at the same time as they do: between sunset and sunrise.  These include the spotty/stripy civets and genets...beautiful and fascinating members of the mongoose family.  The impressive porcupine also tends to venture out at night, as does the rare and interesting honey-badger (which, despite it's diminutive size, has been known to face-off against several lion and come off on top).  You're more likely to see leopard and lion doing something other than sleeping at night as this is when they normally hunt.  While seeing a kill is still a rare experience, you've got that extra chance at night.  For keen birders, nightjars, coursers, dikkops and owls are out about in the dark.  And there's always the one in a million chance you may see an aardvark...

On the flip-side, night drives can be pretty cold and you may drive around for an hour or two and see very little...it really is the luck of the draw.  The best approach is to head out with minimal expectations (and a warm blanket) and then you'll be absolutely delighted with what you do see.  However, if you decide that you really don't enjoy the experience and would rather stay by the fire or curl up in a warm bed, then that's ok too and you shouldn't hesitate to duck out.  Often a night drive will form part of an afternoon game drive.  You'll head out after tea, stop somewhere lovely for a gin and tonic to watch the sun go down and head back to camp with the spotlight on to see what might be on the prowl.