contact 

links

The Kafue National Park is a huge national park: with its 22.400 km² the park covers an area, that’s about the size of Wales. So it’s one of the world’s largest parks and by far the biggest in Zambia with very varied terrain and a high biodiversity. The tarred Great West Road between Lusaka and Mongu bisects the park into two very different parts: Northern and Southern Kafue. You could probably spend months to explore all the different areas of this vast wilderness. So, if you go there, take your time!
 

Unfortunately I’ve only been to Northern Kafue. The most interesting sectors of the northern half are Lufupa and the stunning Busanga Plains. The Lufupa area is dominated by Miombo and Mopane trees and has a remarkable reputation for leopards. The remote Busanga Plains, further north, are a much larger area that is seasonally inundated. It starts to dry out around June and attracts large herds of red lechwe, puku and roan antelope. Large prides of lions and cheetahs use the natural drainage ditches here for cover and game viewing can be exceptional, as it is an open area. 2006 was a very wet year and parts of the Plains were still flooded and inaccessible. So we had to paddle and wade through deep mud to get to the camp J.
 

Heavy poaching  in the ‘80s and early ‘90s decimated Kafue’s population of game badly. This ensured the extermination of black rhino and a sharp reduction in elephant numbers. Now the situation is better. Organised commercial poaching is now relatively rare in Zambia and the ZAWA team, that’s protecting the park has become much more active in recent years. A steady trickle of tourists helps to add weight and finance to the ongoing effort to rebuild the park. Many camps have recently opened, so future looks prosperous. Nevertheless game is still very shy in some parts and in particular elephants aren’t regularly seen, at least in Northern Kafue.